Originally published on Yours.org on October 18, 2018.
When there’s no gatekeeper or central authority, you get what you get. Volunteers pop out of the woodwork.
Bitcoin Cash “marketing” consists of a bunch of individuals with a wide range of views, a few of whom own companies with marketing-focused arms (e.g. Bitcoin.com, Coingeek – e.g. this latest video starring Jimmy “Win” is just serious and fun enough to capture the interest of their intended target market).
Some individuals have small production budgets and other stakeholders have greater resources. Our assets include: resourcefulness, passion, creativity, ability to collaborate, and unwillingness to quit (despite looming “hash war” threats and politics). Our challenges include: ego management, self awareness (or rather lack of, at times), poor audio quality, poor trigger control on Twitter, and tendency to speak to an echo chamber of those who are like-minded rather than being inclusive to everyone (who may not have compatible political values, so-called “statists”, for instance, i.e. Bitcoin Cash is for Americans who think they are “Democrats” too).
What do decentralized Bitcoin Cash promoters do? They make stickers and pamphlets in orange or green (or sparkly pink). They apply Bitcoin tattoos to conspicuous body parts. They decorate vehicles (e.g. Satoshiware NQ, BCH Jeepney Project, Bitcoin Cash Hyper Mini Sprint Car, “A Tale of Two Bitcoins“). They create memes, doodles, tunes, articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, projects, websites, applications, etc. They organize meetups and conferences. They sponsor athletes (mixed martial artists like Mei Yamaguchi and Rory MacDonald, basketball teams in the Philippines or NBA, and soccer/football teams). They organize on-line poker tournies. Sometimes they chase down and challenge BCH-naysayers to public “debates”. They mark their territory on Twitter by tipping BCH relentlessly. They spend a lot of time sharing current news items, politely correcting misinformation and also noisily arguing on Twitter. They are “the crazy Bitcoiner” of the family or circle of friends.
Nothing has an official stamp of approval from the Bitcoin Cash CEO (because there is none). In case you missed it, here are the unofficial principles of our decentralized marketing team:
OUR SEVEN SOCIAL PRINCIPLES:
WE ASSUME GOOD FAITH.
WE REWARD THE POSITIVE.
WE ACT WITH DIGNITY.
WE TRUST EACH OTHER TO FAIL WELL.
WE DO NOT ASK PERMISSION.
THE NETWORK IS MOTHER, THE NETWORK IS FATHER.
WE HAVE FUN, BECAUSE IT ATTRACTS MORE PEOPLE.
Shout out to CoinSpice for their recent coverage of BCH DevCon in San Francisco, as well as regular spicy articles on current crypto news. Clearly, these guys are having fun too. (See: the seventh social principle above, as outlined by @Falkvinge.)
It would be remiss to not mention the Bitcoin Cash Association (formerly known as the Bitcoin Cash Fund) whose mission is “to help Bitcoin Cash (BCH) serve one billion users within five years”. But even they as an organization cannot contain the craziness that is the decentralized motley crew of BCH users and promoters.
Unfortunately, as a later joiner, I missed the early years and associated efforts to promote Bitcoin to the world. (The original Honey Badger of Money billboard comes to mind. I’m sure there are many other examples. Feel free to mention in the comments if you have a story!)
Whatever you see out there, if it makes you feel upset, you can ignore it. At this fledgling stage it’s somewhat important not to discourage well-meaning participants, despite the occasional cringe factor. We are all learning along the way, and done is better than perfect. It’s an opportunity to challenge yourself to do better and create the kind/quality/vibe of “marketing” content you wish to see instead, and promote it.
In the end it’s going to be the usefulness of Bitcoin Cash to people, and probably some viral/FOMO element, that will help push things through to mass adoption, if it happens. One day we *may* be able to look back with nostalgia on these days of hodge-podge grassroots marketing (with some professional efforts mixed in), warts and all.