Ever had a hard time educating someone about #Blockchains, #Bitcoin or your new favorite #Altcoin and want it to be easier? Just start with #Steemit.
As stated in my intro, I have been a avid Bitcoin supporter for a little over 6 years now, and in that time, I have attempted, failed and succeeded my at educating certain people in my life about Bitcoin and the Blockchain tech in general. I have tried every single way I could think of to convince people that Bitcoin is the future, from flat out giving out Bitcoin (hundreds of dollars worth at this point), to designing full on power points that explain Bitcoin, all while trying to figure out the inner workings of these gran new technologies. I found a few techniques that worked, some that almost worked and even more that flat out failed. And I was hoping to share these with you, and add some extras to bring it altogether and explain why Steemit is going to be the glue that makes crypto as a whole stick with the public.
Bitcoin came first.
As we all know Bitcoin showed up on the scene, long before anyone took it seriously, except Satoshi of course. When Bitcoin launched everyone assumed it was some internet fad that would die off in the next few years and that would be that. But to everyones surprise, Bitcoin did the opposite of die, it took off. Bitcoin was poised to be the next big thing, and turn the entire world upside down in the process. We heard of a bankless society, instant transactions, a whole new tax system, anonymous transactions and the whole idea of the blockchain was something earth shattering in and of itself. Bitcoin was here. Bitcoin isn't going anywhere. But we did find out that Bitcoin wasn't all it was cracked up to be soon after, transaction fees started to rise, companies popped up that started tot ake control of Bitcoin and more than anything, politics had finally reared its ugly head inside the Bitcoin ecosystem. This made it clear to alot of us veterans that Bitcoin wasn't going to turn the world upside down, not yet atleast. There were still some problems to figure out and some goals to accomplish before Bitcoin could become the next USD. Thus came the altcoin wars.
The Altcoin Wars.
Enter the Altcoin wars, #Litecoin started everything off by forking Bitcoin and changing a few paramaters such as blocksize and the coin supply. This was the beginning of a long list of new altcoins, and boy did they come fast. Before you knew it there was 100+, 200+, 300+ then finally 500+ alt coins out there. Some of which have died off since and other that have popped up where those died. Now the altcoin scene is full of coins claiming to be the next Bitcoin. From Litecoin to #Darkcoin (#Dash), #Ethereum, #Dogecoin, #Monero, #Nubits, #MaidSafe, #Ripple, #Mastercoin, & now to #Steemit, the altcoins were here to stay. Some of them had very valid ideas but poorly executed plans. Some will die and some will succeed, some might even get baked into Bitcoin at some point in time. Only time will tell. So do your research people! Don't listen to the trolls!
The trouble with spreading crypto currencies.
As most of us have experienced, often times trying to explain "#cryptocurrencies" becomes a mess, and quickly at that. Even if you know the #currency top to bottom, translating this all into an easy to digest format that explains the value as it pertains to that individual, can be very very difficult. Either you find yourself digging into the idea of what money is to begin with, to trying to explain how Bitcoins are created, and none of it sounds easy, let alone welcoming. Finding a way to explain #crypto currencies to the masses needs to be as easy as convincing someone to signup for paypal, this is often times near impossible. But it still needs to become that simple. No one using a bank asks the bank teller how they expect to get their money from point A to point B, they just trust the system and then that is that.
This is how we need to approach crypto currencies, we need to take the complexity out and just communicate the value proposition that person would need to hear about to become interested.
Why Steemit is going to bring it all together.
Steemit won't have the same problem that Bitcoin and other currencies have suffered from for the past 7 years, Steemit is already easy, minus the technological understandings some of us current users are seeking, most users won't care how Steemit works under the hood, they will just want to use it. Why you ask? Simple, its a better product than the ones the world currently uses. The entire world already knows how to use social media platforms, and the learning curve will be immesnyl less than that of Bitcoin or other cryptos. Get ready for the flood folks. The barrier to entry for Steemit is 1000x less than that of Bitcoin, and it's a 10 billion dollar industry already.
We have always talked about the need to pay content writers and curators for their efforts, without a middleman to add to the cost. And now we have it, this project is going to literally change the world, for the better, and I am glad to be able to be an early adopter.