I Don’t Care About Mass Adoption In Crypto — Rant

A lot of people, including trusted and smart friends, are constantly talking about and encouraging mass adoption of crypto.

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube… all one huge echo chamber about how we need or how they have the solution to the world’s woes of slow crypto adoption.

But… not me.

I don’t give a shit whether grandmas or grandpas ever use crypto.

I don’t care if Margaret or Bertha ever slide into their crypto wallet to buy red hair die and grandma lipstick at Ralph’s.

I don’t care if teenagers ever buy Slurpees at 7–11 more easily with their Dogecoin cold wallet on their blockchain compatible phone.

I don’t care if my landlord ever uses crypto, actually, I hope they don’t because they piss me off and I’d rather they didn’t get more rich even if it’s by accident.

It just doesn’t matter to me.

And most of all, I don’t give a fuck whether or not the world “mass adopts” crypto.

Why?

Why should I?

Common knowledge says it’s our responsibility.

There is a ripe market of virtue signaling in crypto, and it should be called out before it gets OUT OF HAND.

The crypto herd says it’s our responsibility to make this cutting edge technology become the next microwave or refrigerator.

It’s a revolution, they say.

Crypto has to have a credit card so we can swipe it at the grocery store, right?

I don’t think so!

The Problem

Here’s the problem with this way of thinking…

The concern with “mass adoption” is, ironically, directly at odds with how mass adoption actually works.

Expecting mass adoption is like boiling the ocean, it’s trying to burn the whole forrest down without a spark.

It’s the wrong problem to solve.

Everybody is the wrong audience.

The real problem to solve is hiding in very subtle places.

Disgruntled bank account holders, employers trying to pay employees overseas, back alley goods sales and upstart vendors, secret communities, immigrants and troublesome remittances, micro payments for obscure digital goods.

Gaming, tipping…

Simple interactions.

Simple, small problems.

AND TOTALLY NEW THINGS.

Crypto could be what we pay for all kinds of new activities that weren’t imagined like how much time your avatar spent in a virtual room sitting on a chair that some kid made in Google Blocks.

Let Sally buy her Wonder Bread with her Wells Fargo card, that’s totally fine.

Right now I’m earning crypto for every step I take with an app I don’t want to tell you about because I don’t even care if you adopt it or not. The fact that I don’t want to tell you just makes you want it more… AND THAT’S WHAT WE NEED.

Mass adoption is the worst problem ever to solve. It’s the worst because it’s unsolvable. Even the internet is struggling to bring the entire world online.

The result of people believing that their goal in crypto is mass adoption isn’t leading to very meaningful value. The meaningful value is coming from people who want to solve very simple problems where crypto is a very good solution.

Oil Salesmen Crew

For the most part, belief in mass adoption is leading to fake promises, vacant crypto parties and Meetup’s, a bunch of phony baloney marketers jumping on the bandwagon wondering where they can squeeze out a few dollars.

Mass adoption philosophy is creating a new world of spam and scams.

Crypto Burner Bros and Fairies.

Crypto Evangelizers (ironically, I’m one of them).

Crypto Cruisers.

But are they really igniting massive change?

Some of them are, but most of them PROBABLY AREN’T.

My guess is most of them have some token (pun intended) project that isn’t doing jack shit but it’s definitely good enough for them to pull their crypto bible off the shelf and smack it over people’s heads.

Real Needs

Most people need something far better and more useful than crypto.

We need to build something for somebody, *not* EVERYBODY.

Gertrude needs an electric can opener so she doesn’t have to worry as much about her arthritis when she opens cans of tuna for Sparkles. She needs that, and not crypto.

Some people need therapy, not crypto.

Mass adoption evangelists need a serious reality check.

Millions of “unbanked” people need a bite to eat and don’t give a fuck about how easy Bitcoin Cash is to use at Hipster’s Cafe Joint. They don’t even have a cafe where they live.

(I haven’t even seen any product in the crypto space that has made an impact giving unbanked people a bank. Have you?)

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if of these people would say I don’t need a fucking bank, I need a job (or something else).

Is anybody listening?

When was the last time you heard:

“Bro, I’m basically starving and life sucks here but I want to pause for a moment to admire how dope your Zcash anonymity algorithm is.

We need simple tools.

We need to disintermediate in a meaningful, simple way. That’s the promise of smart contracts right?

We need to figure out why we aren’t even sending crypto between ourselves.

We need to ask ourselves how trends happen and realize that nothing amazing was ever built for everybody, it was built for somebody.

Next time you hear “we need mass adoption” I want you to think about this, and ask yourself, is what this person doing driving mass adoption, or are they just fueling their own ego?

Kurt Braget is a writer at White Rabbit — ICO Discovery… Find more of his work at https://www.whiterabbiticos.com/author/kurt-braget