It’s school summer holiday season and I’ve made the regular trip out to Mallorca with family and friends. Imagine my pride paying for some ice cream, when my 7-year-old son turned to me and said “why do they have different money here Dad? Wouldn’t it be easier if every country just used the same money?” I resisted the temptation to go into a full pro Bitcoin lecture, but he’s picked up a few bits and pieces and likes to regularly point out to me a Bitcoin ATM that they have close to the apartment we stay in. We first saw that ATM a year ago, and I thought it was a sign of widening adoption back then, which has got me thinking about where we are on that journey a year later:
1. Steady as she goes
I must admit, I expected last year to be a bit of a watershed moment, where adoption really started to scale. It’s grown, certainly, but it’s not as mainstream as I thought it would be yet. That’s ok though and on reflection it took me a long time to grasp it, and I’m still learning, so it will do so for others too. Many people have heard about Bitcoin or may know a little about it but having the conviction to get some and do the work to store it safely, simply takes time.
2. One Billion Addresses
The signs are that it’s growing steadily. A few weeks ago, the number of Bitcoin addresses ever created passed 1 billion (link below). That doesn’t mean to say there is one address for every person and a billion Bitcoin holders, I myself have multiple addresses, but the growth is an indication of both new users and old users using Bitcoin in different ways.
Bitcoin: Total Addresses - Glassnode Studio
3. Friends and Family
Over the last year, I’ve helped to onboard quite a few friends and family. I’ve never told anyone to buy ever, I simply tell people what I do and how I do it and they can then choose to take the leap themselves or not. The question I’m always asked is if now is a good time to buy and my reply is always the same “it depends”. Because everyone’s circumstances are different, if you’re looking to make an instant return on your £ or $, then that’s risky and if you’re looking long term, I think that’s a bit less risky, however, it’s all new and you’re investing in new technology, so there is inherent risk anyway.
My favourite thing to do is just give a few £ worth to people, so they can see how quick and easy it is. It only takes a few minutes to download a lightening wallet on their phone and I send it to them instantly from mine. I have to credit Mike Still with this idea. He makes some great YouTube videos doing the same thing around the UK and he explains Bitcoin very well.
4. The Institutions
For years Bitcoiners have been saying the institutions (legacy banks, hedge funds and investment firms) are coming. Back in 2017, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Bitcoin had “no intrinsic value” and that “regulators are going to regulate the hell out of it.” Today JP Morgan offer their clients access to Bitcoin via 6 different crypto funds.
Then we have BlockRock, the most powerful Wall Street fund in the world with over $9 Trillion of assets under management. CEO Larry Fink once called Bitcoin “an index of money laundering” but this week they launched a Bitcoin private trust for their investors. The institutions are very much here, and that can be a good and bad thing. Good because it may add legitimacy to the space but bad because some believe Bitcoin was created as the antithesis to such institutions who they say were the cause of the financial crisis in 2008.
5. Experimentation
Finally, we have companies trying to understand and experiment with Bitcoin and crypto in many ways. Not least in my field of marketing, where brands are entering the Metaverse, buying up plots of land in Decentraland with their token Mana, and trying to create user experiences that they hope will benefit their brand. In doing so, they’re having to work out how to safely store and legally hold those assets, although mainly that will be done through agencies who bare the risk. Whatever, it’s great to see companies like Unilever, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Nike, Visa, and so many more, with very well-known brands, all trying out new things and willing to experiment. Some of it won’t work but they’ll learn a lot in the process, and that alone makes it worthwhile.
Adoption is growing, although we’re not at mass adoption with a rapid pace yet. Despite Bitcoin being a teenager, it’s still early in its adoption cycle and comparable to early stages of the internet. Everywhere you look, there are signs that point to it becoming more mainstream and before we all know it, I think we’ll be exchanging Bitcoin and crypto back and forward with ease, even to the local ice cream vendor.
Peace, love, and Bitcoin,
Rob