Can you guess what city this is? It’s where we had our last meetup! On our most recent Cryptotraders Pro podcast: cryptocurrency Chicago, Matt and Kurt talk about their experience at the latest CTP VIP meetup in Chicago. Were you able to make it? We had a lot of fun; we hope you’ll be able to join us at the next meet-up! Between great food (Matt must’ve grilled close to 20 pounds of hamburgers and brats!), great drinks, and great company.
During the meetup in Chicago, Matt and Kurt talked to a lot of people and asked “Have you heard of cryptocurrency?” That didn’t get them very far. When asked “Have you heard of Bitcoin?” the answer suddenly flipped.
Cryptotraders, a lot of people have heard of Bitcoin, not realizing that it’s a cryptocurrency. A lot of people have misconceptions about bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and its various uses. Furthermore, a lot of people, even in our community, are heavily divided as to what the purpose of Bitcoin really is! Merchant adoption, knowledge, and coin politics were topics discussed in the podcast. You can listen to it here!
Merchant Adoption
While Kurt and Matt were in Chicago, they came across a lot of merchants who were interested in cryptocurrency. But, as they noted, here in the Midwest United States, there isn’t a lot of movement in adopting cryptocurrency by merchants. Could that change? Definitely!
One of the biggest concerns of merchants, and quite frankly, to a lot of new investors and traders, is the price volatility. It’s a viable concern. But as noted by Matt and Kurt, Venezuelan businesses, including brands that we know and love here in the US such as Subway, have completely embraced crypto!
Why is that? Well. The Venezuelan Bolivar is depreciating at a rapid rate. What’s been holding steady in Venezuela? Dash. Without blinking, a merchant in Venezuela can weigh some cookies, figure out the cost of those cookies in Dash, flip the screen around, and the buyer can use the auto-generated QR code to pay for the cookies and walk away!
So what will it take for merchants to offer a cryptocurrency payment option?
- Easy and seamless integration either with existing systems or a new system entirely (that is EASY to implement!).
- A quick and reliable way to convert cryptocurrency to fiat (if desired).
- Knowledge!
So what can you do? What can we do? Well, first and foremost, we need to understand what cryptocurrency is, and how it can be beneficial in our daily lives. Here is a link that explains what the benefits of using cryptocurrency are over traditional fiat currency. We are early adopters. We need to be ambassadors of our cryptocurrency community and help merchants adapt quickly to changing technology. As Kurt noted, there are a whole bunch of rich millennials who might not even know that they’re rich! Maybe they traded some goods and services for some bitcoin back in 2013, who knows!? But unless merchants start accepting cryptocurrency, where else can we use our digital assets?
What do you think? What else should we, as a community, do to increase adoptionof cryptocurrency by merchants? Here’s our Facebook page, let us know what you think!
Knowledge
So how can merchants, traders, and your everyday Joe and Jane use crypto? Can they buy something on Amazon with it? Can they turn the giveaways that Kurt and Matt did of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) into fiat easily? How would they do so? It’s important that we, as members of this community, know how to educate the newcomers to cryptocurrency. And arrive, with questions, they will. Thanksgiving and the holidays will be here before you know it. Last year, the craze of the bull market had everyone excited – what will you say this year when your uncle asks how your bitcoin investment is doing?
We know what we’ll be telling our families and friends. Do you know about the Halvening? Do you know how scarce Bitcoin will become in a couple of years? Most importantly, do the people around you know this as well?
Wouldn’t you like to personally protect yourself, your family, and your assets? What do you have planned in case the government seized up to 40% of your assets in a bank account? What would you do if owning traditional hard assets like gold was illegal, and was actually seized by the government? I bet these examples sound far-fetched, right? Cypress and the United States would disagree with you.
At the end of the day, we place value on fiat currency because society does. But we also place our faith in things outside of fiat-currency, such as precious metals, commodities, and maybe for you, digital assets. Would you accept 5 dollars-worth of gold for a product worth 5 dollars? Why or why not? What’s the fundamental difference between a product worth 5 dollars and 5 dollars-worth of digital assets?
Knowledge is key – we are at the start of a life-changing, industry-changing, and society-changing revolution. Do you want to be successful in crypto? What do you want to see from us to help you get there? Let us know! We want to help you succeed!
What can you do right now to get yourself on the path towards enriching yourself and preparing for the future of this space? Subscribe to our Youtube Channel, subscribe to our podcasts Stitcher, Apple, or Spotify, follow us on Facebook, and register on our website for up to date news, information, and updates in cryptocurrencies.
Coin Politics
One of the last things we cover on the podcast is coin politics. This somewhat loops back into industry knowledge, but something that was covered by Matt and Kurt was the purpose of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Do you side with Bitcoin Maximalists in thinking that bitcoin’s purpose is to be a “digital gold”? Or do you think it should be used as currency, like cash, with real-world everyday utility?
Matt and Kurt discuss how there’s a lot of competition and bickering in the cryptocurrency community right now. Is bitcoin cash the real bitcoin? Who has the best privacy coin? Is it Dash or Monero? Which crypto is best for border remittance? Is it Bitcoin, Steller Lumens, or Ripple? Everyone you ask in the industry will give you a different answer! As Kurt says in the podcast though, this is just an example of a very free market operating in its truest form – what comes out at top will likely be the best.
Do we know what will come out on top in 10 years? 30 years? No, but we can speculate, can’t we? Who do you think will end up at the top? Some of the most popular cryptocurrencies in this space, with very loyal devotees include bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), basic attention token (BAT), cardano (ADA), digibyte (DGB), ripple (XRP), and tron (TRX). Are there some others that you’re a fan of? Let us know and tell us why!
What’s Next?
At the end of the day, as we kickstart our podcast and blogs, we want to both welcome new visitors, and encourage existing traders and investors that cryptocurrency is not dead. We’ve had overwhelmingly great news come in the last few weeks. From the US Congress introducing 3 pro-crypto bills, institutional firms expressing interest and developing products for crypto, and to unprecedented developer job growth, these aren’t the signs of a dying industry. Rather, we should see what kind of ecosystem is being built, see what the “whales” are doing, follow the job growth, and see this as an opportunity for exponential growth.
What can you do to be prepared? Read as much as you can about this cryptocurrency. Get yourself acquainted with arguments for and against cryptocurrency. Ultimately, you’ve also got to make a decision. If you’re ready to enter, re-enter, or strengthen your position in cryptocurrency, here is a checklist of things that you can do right now. You’ve seen our links all over this blog post – here they are again.
- Follow us on Facebook
- Subscribe to our Youtube Channel
- Subscribe to our podcasts on Stitcher, Apple, or Spotify
- Share this blogpost on Facebook
- Register on our website
- Let us know in the comments what you think! Engage with fellow community members. Most importantly, learn as much as you can about this space.
