The 2018 Year of Cryptocurrency Challenge – Week 17

At the beginning of 2018, I wrote an article outlining a New Year’s resolution that I thought could help boost cryptocurrency adoption and awareness in 2018, as long as enough people were doing it. Last week was the sixteenth installment of my challenge. I’ll apologize to my readers for the tardiness of this installment, as I’ve been very busy this past week.

TRY TO SPEAK TO AS MANY PEOPLE ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN

The recent uptick in cryptocurrency’s price (particularly Ethereum) has captivated the minds of the crypto-curious again in the wake of a rather bearish few months. I’ve been traveling a bit more than usual these past few weeks, and last week I was able to strike up conversations in airports and cab rides.

1. While purchasing a coffee while waiting for my red-eye flight, I jokingly asked the barista if she took bitcoin. Luckily there wasn’t anyone in line after me, and she struck up a conversation with me. “I’ve been hearing more and more about that lately!” she exclaimed. Unfortunately, she said they did not take crypto – not that I had really expected her to say that they did. I told her that if she really wanted to get some cryptocurrency she should consider trying to earn some through freelancing, or heading over to /r/dogecoin and participating in the community. While I suspect she was just looking to kill some time on her shift, she seemed engaged in the conversation and I actually believed her when she said she’d check it out.
2. Oddly enough, right after I sat down from buying that coffee to get some work done (or try to take an uncomfortable, seated nap at the gate), a fellow traveler noticed the bitcoin pin on my lapel. “Love the pin, is it meant to be ironic?” she asked. “Well, no, why would it be?” I responded. She went on to explain that she thought bitcoin was just for nerds and criminals. This is a topic I love to debunk as often as possible (though I am, admittedly, a nerd). I explained that I had just used crypto to book the flight we were about to get on, and that immediacy seemed to resonate with her rather profoundly. Demonstrating an actual use case, a non-abstract value, is always a good way to check the naysayers. I had only just started to explain why the pin said “free the market, free the world” on it before our flight began to board. Sadly, our seats were not next to one another.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT CRYPTO

This week, after trying to explain how to back up a wallet to a family member, I learned that the experience is really quite onerous to newbies. I suppose I’ve taken my experience in the space for granted recently when trying to explain how to actually use cryptos to newcomers. With this realization, I’ve strengthened my resolve to help make cryptos as approachable as possible.

BE GENEROUS – GIVE AND USE YOUR COINS

This week I didn’t get much of a chance to use my cryptocurrency, so I will likely head over to /r/dogecoin and tip some users there. But admittedly, I failed to give too many coins away since my last update.

How is your challenge going? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!