In my estimate, this is signalling a new chapter in the life of cryptocurrency most especially the Ethereum network which experienced clogging due to the volume of transactions for CryptoKitties. In another instance, this exposed a great weakness for the network to handle such a deluge of micro-transactions never seen in a long time. Will the same thing happened with Bitcoin if they also use it as one of the mode of payment?
It essentially caused the same effect as spam attacks in Bitcoin. It's comparable to Satoshi Dice during its heyday. You just need to pay higher fees (gas) to get instant block confirmations. The real problem with the CryptoKitties launch was that exchanges weren't prepared for the volatility in required gas.
I am sure that it can paralyzed the whole Bitcoin network which is telling us that there is something wrong here and things need some upgrade. While we are dreaming for mainstream adoption, it is unfortunate that the whole infrastructure is not fully ready yet. The time has come for us to squarely face this big challenge and make cryptocurrency two steps ahead of its time. Will those in charge in deciding the direction of Bitcoin listen to us? I am hoping they will.
Honestly, I'd say that no blockchain is ready for production/mainstream use. Linear scale is completely inadequate for Visa or even Paypal-like volume. So that's the main problem. The primary exponential scaling methods being proposed (payment channels and sharding) are nowhere near ready for production, but at least we have a spec for the Lightning Network now.
We should be thankful: if the technology and ecosystem were mature already, we wouldn't be able to buy at such a discount.
