Much is said about what needs to be done to increase the rate of mass adoption for the crypto space. The industry is far from perfect in its current form. At times, it feels like an endless loop of events, a Groundhog Day of sorts. A never-ending cycle of regurgitated FUD, largely from established names in the TradFI space that seemingly change and go back and forth on their opinions faster than your average shi*t coin rugs on Uniswap. It makes more sense to initiate more widespread conversations on the existing barriers that are truly stopping mainstream adoption. Regardless of what individual projects are building and promising in their whitepapers, we aren’t going to get the industry to a point of mainstream adoption without a collective effort and consensus.
Education
The first major hurdle in bringing crypto to the masses is unquestionably the educational process. Think about it. If you stopped 10 random people on the street tomorrow and started asking them about Bitcoin, Ethereum, Uniswap, and Self-Custody, how likely is it that anyone is going to have close to a clue what you’re rambling on about? We’d argue a very small minority as let’s face it, we all fit into that category if we’re speaking on a global scale.
There’s an issue around some of the overly technical language around most aspects of the space that no doubt terrifies new entrants to the market when starting out. Simplifying these onboarding stages will be crucial. Helping new players understand the core aspects and elements of how the wider market works are vital, otherwise, you have people joining, going straight to YouTube and losing their life savings because some clickbait maxed out 4-minute clip promised them a coin was going to the moon.
Education about securely storing digital assets is critical also. How many potential investors in the space have been put off by daunting headlines of others losing their life savings? Self-custody is a massive hurdle that exists within the space. The FTX debacle perfectly highlights this fact. Thousands of users were completely wiped out because they thought they could trust the exchange.
Perhaps some weren't comfortable in moving their funds into their own possession. For good reason also, some estimates claim that as much as 20% of the total existing Bitcoin supply has been lost forever because of lost seed phrases of users passing away without leaving a method by which loved ones could access their assets. Already, we’re seeing some innovators moving to eradicate such issues. One notable example is that of WalletPort, which is aiming to provide an additional layer of security for users to ensure no assets are ever lost again, regardless of the extenuating circumstances.
Emphasis on setting a standard in terms of the level of education around the space will be pivotal in ensuring that the space grows to the exponential levels needed to make a true impact on the wider world.
Messaging
Some critics of the space liken it to a glorified casino. To an extent, this is a fair assessment. One whole section of Crypto Twitter and the market is devoted to finding the most extreme Degen plays imaginable in the hope of discovering the next 100 or 1000x. There is no shortage of successful examples of this happening. There’s a strong case to be made that nothing attracted newer entrants and retail investors more during the last cycle than Doge and SHIB. Let us be straight here with our thoughts. It’s a free market. If people are making money, no one can begrudge that.
But one must question whether this is the type of advertisement that we want for the overall space if the goal is to be taken seriously amongst the wider global population. The burden lies with us that are responsible for the marketing behaviours utilised throughout the market to ensure that the overall space is depicted as seriously as possible. There will be outliers of course. We’re not suggesting banishing projects that don’t buy into this notion. But it would appear from our perspective at least that some projects prefer to opt for the path of least resistance and adopt similar strategies as meme projects in the hope of gaining similar attention.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Truly, it doesn’t. If you’re serious about building in this space at present, you have a vision that involves developing a quality product. Surely the messaging you put out to the wider space and ideally the wider world reflects the quality of both your idea and working product. It’s something that we at TONSMA certainly drive home when discussing strategies with clients. This approach will outlast the noise surrounding the pump & dump schemes of today and will only benefit the wider industry in the long run.
Improving On Established Industries
This isn’t rocket science really. Think about the wider world as it is, how many activities and hobbies or aspects of our lives that we enjoy day to day. For the sake of this example, we’ll use gaming. An already established, mammoth industry. It’s been around for decades and it’s only becoming more and more popular. We’ve already seen a lot of hype around blockchain or on-chain gaming as it’s called. The Play & Earn model is one avenue that will definitely play an important role in bringing an array of new users into the space. Look at everything as being generational. The kids that grew up accustomed to the internet, couldn’t survive now in a world without it. Their parents, on the other hand, likely still struggle to browse the web at all. Imagine 10 years from now when the next generation of gamers knows the world of on-chain gaming only.
If this is to be the case, it will take time of course, but developers and those tasked with taking the industry into these new frontiers will have to deliver on several fronts to ensure this transition occurs. Building quality, fun and engaging games that will keep players coming back. Of course, this is just one example of one industry. There are constructive efforts underway at present to deliver these results. VEMP Studios for example are pioneering this movement with an exciting range of genres spanning from arcade racing (Penguin Karts), to strategy-auto battlers(Antara – Raiders & Royals). No genre is off-limits.
It's not mutually exclusive to gaming of course. You also have music, art or even travel which has been one area that has been in the headlines recently, in relation to AirBnB. The once-heralded travel accommodation website has been catching flak on many fronts in recent months for its seemingly overly expensive hidden fees. Many established industries are ripe for the picking when it comes to bettering themselves in Web3. This is a guaranteed way to increase mainstream adoption in the long run. But many efforts and focus need to be placed on delivering quality products in the meantime.
These are but a few ideas we have on the topic. Many issues remain at present. They are unlikely to be resolved in the immediate future. But for those here right now that are determined to build a better future for all today, the opportunity is there. For those that are actively striving towards these goals, we here at TONSMA are always happy to lend our help and support along the way in any way that we can. With specific relation to marketing, there’s no single avenue of support that we can’t cover. If you’d like to get in touch with our team to discuss how we could help, please reach out below.
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