Hello and welcome to my first real article, woo! For those coming from my intro, thanks for checking out the real deal!
The topic of today is the main challenge facing adoption of cryptocurrency by the masses.
Transparency Note: I am paid to work on solving the problem of mass adoption of PIVX. This article is not in an effort to do that, but to talk about my thoughts accumulated in pursuing that goal.
Mass adoption of any currency focused crypto is a tricky thing in this stage of the game. Application focused cryptos like Steemit and Golem have to simply market themselves and explain why they are good. It's not quite that easy, but compared to the currency coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, PIVX, etc it is less of a challenge. Coins with an application merely have to show that application is useful. Is it really hard to sell people on the idea of a blog platform that pays you for up-votes? Steemit needs to work on its presentation, functionality, and simplicity. Worthy challenges, but it doesn't have to answer "why?"
That is where currency coins fall short. To a crypto enthusiast, why seems simple. It's private, fraud resistant, theft resistant, controlled by the holder, separate from banks and government, and the list goes on. For the everyday person though, why is extremely suspect. Why use a currency with no legal oversight, with no account recovery, that you can't hold in your hands, and that can't be spent in most places, even in the most developed cities. To add even more difficulty, you not only have the people to sell on crypto, you also have the merchants. Neither one wants to try it until the other does first, so you have to get them both in at the same time.
Each point above is an entire article on how to effectively explain the positive aspects of cryptocurrencies. At some point, I likely will write about each thing, but today I want to point out the true root of resistance facing cryptos. That is comfort, comfort is why people will resist change of all kind. People think that the current money system is safer, more efficient, more honest, and more stable than cryptos, just to name a few things. We in the crypto-sphere know that the opposite is more true, except perhaps stability, for now. However, the average person fully believes that the current monetary system is perfect. That any problems with it are the government or banks, not the money itself. This applies to merchants as well, not just the consumers. If you want to get to the core of the problem, you need to essentially shatter their whole world. It sounds extreme, but it's true. You need to convince people that one of the most immutable things in their world is a complete farce. That everything they believe about it and have believed for decades is a bad joke. That is the challenge that truly faces cryptocurrency.
Developing infrastructure and making it usable is what will convince people there is a place to go to. It won't tell them why they need to leave where they are though. To do this requires time and careful explanation and I don't believe there is a magic bullet. You need to carefully dissect their understand of currency and find the route that leads to their conversion. You can do this individually, but how do you turn millions in one move or one campaign? I don't have an answer frankly. There's one thing I can think of that would sweep a developed society and I wouldn't dare hope for it. A complete economic collapse and the resulting disillusionment of the people would likely make cryptos far more appealing, but I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that. Until the magic bullet is found, I leave you with this to chew on.
How do you break even the most stubborn perception of fiat currency? How would you talk your brother into it? Your best friend? Even your grandmother?
I hope this sparks some awesome discussion in the comments, maybe I'll find new perspectives and tactics I can share in future! I hope this has been interesting for you and feel free to comment on improvements I can make to my format in future. I'm new to blogging and would looove the feedback! Thanks for reading!