Originally published on Yours.org on September 3, 2018.
Every conversation is an opportunity for evangelizing. Or is it? There is a fine line between enthusiasm and badgering. Honey badgering, that is.
We, the Bitcoin Cash “evangelists” at present, have a tough road ahead. Fundamentally, despite being a functional cryptocurrency with lightning fast transactions (depending on your wifi connection) and ultra low fees (practically free), Bitcoin Cash since its inception is under constant attack via “Proof of Troll” (credit to Ryan X. for that phrase) on social media.
Popular “thought leaders” such as Andreas Antonopoulos contend that Bitcoin in 2018 is still at an early stage of development, basically for geeks and technical users, not yet ready for regular folks to adopt. I watched a recent video in which he recommends that current holders of Bitcoin should not bother trying to convince others to use it. (I would have included a link to the video but unfortunately, I can’t find it at the moment.) Contrary to that opinion, Bitcoin Cash is rapidly becoming more usable for non-technical people, Yours.org being one example.
Additionally, in order to not be our own worst enemy, self awareness is helpful. Unsolicited evangelizing can have the opposite of its intended effect, as described in this unrelated-to-crypto blog post. To sum up:
As a final note, ultimately nearly everyone says that evangelism comes from a desire to share a wonderful gift with others. If, in fact, one evangelizes because it is a duty, because it will increase one’s social status, or for any reason other than a desire to share a deeply transforming faith with others who will benefit from it the odds of anti-evangelizing rise significantly (and you will be evangelizing as an act of intellectual domination, hardly a good thing). Most people are happy when you try to give them gifts even if the gifts are awkward and ultimately not what they wanted. Almost nobody is happy to sit through your sales pitch.
Situational awareness and the ability to read social cues is paramount.
Tipping is an easy way to share the love of Bitcoin Cash. Leaving a paper wallet “tip” in addition to (not in place of) the usual dollar amount is easy.
Speaking of user-friendly paper wallets, here is a new one:https://tipcash.tips/
I’ve been fiddling with various paper wallets and this one is the easiest to use yet. Go to the site, click to “create”, save as a .pdf, print on one sheet of paper*, cut, fold, load, and share. Although there are no tamper-proof stickers, it is suitable for small amounts (tips). I do wish the text printed a bit bigger but the QR code is scannable which is the important part. (*If your printer uses A4 paper, you get six tips/paper wallets per page.) If your printer uses “letter” sized (8.5″x11″) paper, you get four tips per page because two paper wallets are cut off and need to be printed on the next page. I managed to “fit to page margins” and use 11″x17″ paper to get larger paper wallets (and bigger text). I used the highest print quality setting on my home office printer. The green design looks especially nice.
Beyond paper wallets, a receptive and curious person might be persuaded to install a new app on their phone to receive some Bitcoin (Cash), e.g. Bitcoin.com wallet or Handcash app. Having watched numerous videos in which Roger Ver onboards new people, I believe that his positive intentions and sincere wish to share the wonders of Bitcoin (Cash) with the world must come across in person. This is how he earned the nickname “Bitcoin Jesus”! Roger has probably gotten really good at reading the body language and facial expressions of potential “targets” (lol). For example, two random Japanese ladies on the beach who expressed hesitation at timestamp 2:20 in this hilarious video were not (honey) badgered any further. Roger does not discriminate between a bartender, taxi driver, makeup artist, or CEO in his mission to evangelize Bitcoin (Cash).
On another note, those who attempt to evangelize BTC by trash-talking BCH (or vice versa) may be achieving some increased social status within their own community echo-chambers (circle-jerking?) but at the cost of demonstrating the kind of petty, toxic behaviour that alienates many onlookers.
For next level evangelizing beyond individuals, I’d be interested in knowing more about the process of the Satoshiware NQ team in North Queenland, Australia, for laying the groundwork and onboarding local businesses with Bitcoin Cash. i.e. What exactly do they do to present themselves as the friendly, knowledgeable, “crazy-in-a-good-way” Bitcoin Cash people?
In the end, people would rather be pulled than pushed into getting involved with cryptocurrencies. FOMO (fear of missing out) during the last bull run is indicative of most people’s motivation to be interested in Bitcoin: profit, a concrete concept that pulls most humans.
Whether or not you are one of these passionate Bitcoin Cash evangelists, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.