For a long time now, the cryptocurrency community at large has been focused on what it will take to bring the masses to crypto. What will it take? What is the impetus that outweighs all other messaging for crypto? Let's take a look at a few of the possibilities, as Gordon assesses where he thinks we stand.

Where could mass adoption come from?

1. Retail market

2. The apps

3. Ideology

4. Massive pumps

5. The banks

6. World economic disasters

7. The Great Reset

Okay, so there is a short list. Now, Gordon gonna break it down!

1. Retail market

The most obvious way for something to become more widely known is for it to be more useful. Duh. Next! 

Though this is obvious, we can probably agree this has failed on all fronts. It's been over a decade that most see Bitcoin as a successful use case for crypto formed on top of a blockchain. For years, people in the crypto world have made YouTube channels, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts aimed at telling people cool places to buy and sell with Bitcoin. The issue that I see, is that retail and Bitcoin have largely remained inside the crypto world. Sure, it has picked up in the messaging, but the real use case continues to be, in my opinion, store of value (the HODL), and trading (mad gainz on the short time frame 'buy the dip'). Is that really a bad thing? I don't think so, but it isn't gaining traction towards mass adoption. The issue with retail use, is that the message isn't reaching outside the crypto sphere.

The second major issue for retail use, aka buying stuff with Bitcoin, is assessing the daily value and retailers getting whacked on the head with price swings. Volatility is our friend when it comes to buying the dip, but for retail, margins are everything. If it costs $15 to cover the electricity, employees and supplies when selling a shirt, for instance, then selling a $17 shirt gives the shop $2 of profit. Is there any question that $17 of Bitcoin could easily be worth $12 or $21 at any given point in the day? Even though the value at checkout will likely be a fair market price converted into BTC, every time it changes against the retailer's favor, it makes a case for sticking with e-fiat. Even easier stated, if a company relies on 2% for everything, and crypto is likely to fluctuate 1-3% in either, perhaps both directions every given day, then it is unpredictable enough to ruin the only thing that makes most shops work; being able to program reliable profits.

Even with big names like Starbucks, IBM, Microsoft backing huge moves in handling crypto fees to widen recognition, in the end the numbers aren't there. I'd imagine lockdowns haven't exactly helped.

The third point I'd make here, is that stable coins serve a solution, but no one is that excited about them, and many think that stable coins are just evil central bank money given a friendly blockchain to rest upon. Well folks, as long as the world agrees to a standard, regardless of that constant 2% annual  depreciation built in, it's still the only way that businesses can lock in a planned value for their products and stay afloat. Therefore, those who will thrive in a Bitcoin marketplace are the ones that have intangible goods sold as a hobby, with the aim not at profit to keep the lights on, but rather with an underlying goal of hodling profits for the BTC payout.

2. The apps

I'm not talking about the pre-meal nachos and lobster rolls. Applications have become the mainstay for Gen-Z. They walk around staring at that smart phone and iPhone screen all day long, yo! Hip apps focused on the hip crowd encourage them to ignore banks and use crypto instead... as soon as they hook their bank accounts to their crypto accounts- lol. Yeah, big LOL! Okay, they can buy with credit cards too, so take that central banks! (Wait, those are banks as well). The apps of which I speak are new platforms for buying and selling crypto, but also DeFi, storing crypto and earning a tiny bit of interest on top. Kids are learning about DCA, or dollar cost averaging, meaning buying a set amount regularly to accumulate crypto over time.

Once again, as more of these platforms pop up, more people will find it useful to enter crypto, mainly once mass adoption kicks in. But, sorry to say it doesn't really seem to be speeding up the turtle-like rate of increase in popularity. Yet again, we seem to see more interest inside the crypto community, largely shifting the same crowd from one lane to another. So, Gordon thinks the apps help set up a good meal, but for now they aren't shoveling the way for the snowball effect just yet. They will help keep crypto friendly and easy, but only once other conditions bring the crowds here.

3. Ideology

Sure, the crypto idealists would love to see this be the answer to crypto. By talking up the injustices of the world, needing to level the playing field, taking your financial future into your own hands, and sticking it to the bankers who are too big to fail, mass adoption can readily come at any point.

So, here's my question; who's listening?

The messaging isn't wrong, it just isn't designed to target the new crowd. Until the crypto world learns to get the messaging in front of the people who still have yet to hear about crypto, mass adoption is just going to be something that seems logical to the crypto world, but doesn't reach outside the bubble. This is tied to #4, because it may be the few times the crypto news does reach the masses.

4. Massive pumps

This one works really, really well, once every year or two, for a solid 35 seconds. Okay, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but not by much. The pump works, because people are always looking for mad gainz in a short time. FOMO kicks in when the world hears Bitcoin outperformed the top stocks or reached an all time high. And then it happens, the newbies enter our world and start asking questions.

Much like the now-internally-famous JK Rowling incident, Bitcoin messaging is pitiful. When a famous withcraft fiction author asks "what is Bitcoin", the right answer is "magical internet money", not an immutable ledger decentralized form of finance with zero 3rd party control. That's kind of like saying a horse is a biologic quadra-pedal method of wonky transport fueled by hay, instead of a beautiful animal with a long nose that knows how to win races- lol. Nobody has a clue what it means, and certainly don't see the point in risking actual fake money with fake internet money. Add to that we don't know the creator, hacks, scams and remembering a private key, and one has to wonder why on earth the massive pumps aren't working?

I probably should have included all of that in the ideology, but the two are connected, and in the end, the massive pumps don't lead to mass adoption because they are followed by the other side of the mountain. What goes up must come down, and by the time newbies are setting up their Coinbase accounts, the 'experts' are already talking about the price of Bitcoin plummeting. Anyone who bought the FOMO and then FUD sells for a loss decides to leave their savings where it is the next time.

5. The banks

This one is interesting, and 2021 is going to serve the first real world examples that matter, in my opinion. The top of the list is PayPal messaging to their 300+ million U.S. customers that crypto is coming to their PayPal and Venmo accounts. The crypto world has been pumping on the news for more than 30 seconds which is a miracle in itself. But, we live in uncertain times. The financial world is going to experience more unrest pivoting around violence, rioting, an election, massive job loss and a global economic reset led by the worst globalists to date. Can the positivity of massive economic growth outweigh the fears of a virus, lockdowns, UBI and other trash? I think so. I don't know if it is actual resilience, or whether most people simply don't have a choice but to try to adapt to crappy conditions. It's just what comes along with it. If tomorrow we all woke up to a return to prairie days, okay well some weirdos would be happy, but most of us would be hatin' it, but what else would we do? You either check out or worse, or you adapt.

So, we have other banks announcing their bank coins being used, some with blockchain patents, others using XRP for remittance and it is working, and PayPal at the top. I do think this will be one of the first truly successful mass adoption triggers. Most likely a mix of bank and marketplace, PayPal and Facebook Libra may both be huge spikes in actual mass adoption, but it will be rocky. Don't forget, the crypto world is still going to be ushering in the hand-holding and we haven't learned how to clarify crypto in the least. The platforms, apps, banks simplify terms and definitions for newbies, but it is an over simplification of crypto, to the point where it sounds mundane instead of easy.

6. World economic disasters

Will it be the currency war between China and the U.S., the digital national coins ushering in an understanding of digital money, or worsening conditions in society and politics? Perhaps wave 2 of corona; the sequel? I dunno, but something tells me we are going to see it all in 2021, and the "return to normal" will simply give way to the "new normal". The bad thing about adaption is that people get used to bad things when they don't really have to. We will adjust, and we are adjusting, but that ain't a good thing, folks. 

The economic disasters have already been taking place, and we keep propping them up with new band aids. The world mostly knows this can't keep going forever, but sadly it really can go on a much longer time than you may realize. So in my opinion, the economic impact is not going to be the major shift into crypto we all hope for. In some countries like India, temporary sprouts of good news do lead to real spikes, because they fully understand the need for money without government intervention. A safe haven from tyranny is one of the world's best use cases, but it is hard to get mass adoption when we still need to see a longer tail of growth in the actual wealth of the people. Until there are better solutions for living conditions of those masses in India, for example, their millions cannot turn into billions. So, they absolutely will spread the word on crypto, but I perceive this as a race against time, and time means a race of the freedom loving world of crypto that gives us BTC, LTC and ETH, against national coins that could come to crumble that wonderful market. I pray not, but since when has government done helpful things in that sector? Not often.

7. The Great Reset

This involves everything on the list and the dozens of other potential categories I have intentionally left out. The great reset is a total transformation of society by a global governance that supersedes any single country. It is not a good thing, and the feeble-minded who embrace it are on the wrong side of history. Gordon has strong feelings about this, but Gordon is also basing this on "how we get tyrants 101" and it never fails. The great reset may usher in crypto, but it very likely will not be OUR crypto. Would you prefer Vitalik or Putin? Would you rather a decentralized exchange or the CCP? The linking of a social credit system to crypto is going to be happening, whether it is months or years. The question is whether it permits the continuation of our favorite coins or if it kills the markets with regulation.

I remain slightly optimistic about crypto and mass adoption, not because we've done a good job thus far. It's been dreadful at best. But, the move by PayPal is going to be the ultimate FOMO for the banking sector, and there is enough greed from enough whales in traditional finance for this to be the wake-up call they need. Greed will be a strong short term motivator, and it may come under the guise of idealism, but in the end banks want to earn off of fees and the spread, and they are masters at this process. I believe 2021 is going to usher in phase 1 of mass adoption. It may come with a serious drop on the other side, so be careful. Just like a tsunami; the biggest waves also bring the biggest pull-backs, and eventually there is a point where it levels out, and people get stuck hodling positions they didn't intend to get stuck in.

Mass adoption is coming, and I believe it will be several small shifts and several major shifts. It is the banking system that the crypto world dreads, that is essentially going to come in and do our jobs for us. Unless some of you folks devise a better marketing plan, February is likely going to be the biggest month in crypto growth and messaging since Satoshi first wrote his white paper. And that, you can take to the bank!

For now, Crypto Gordon Freeman, super hero and crypto enthusiast/realist out.