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What are new potential holders lacking -- or what is Bitcoin lacking -- that bitcoiners need to be more focused on addressing to help with mainstream adoption?
Of course, if the "right" answer isn't listed here (or perhaps there's a lack of nuance here), say so!
LACK OF CARE18.5%
LACK OF AWARENESS11.1%
LACK OF ACCESSIBILITY3.7%
LACK OF EDUCATION53.7%
OTHER (What is it?)13.0%
54 votes \ poll ended
640 sats \ 1 reply \ @Ge 14 Sep 2023
I could say lack of education but I'm going with other most r like Cypher (bald guy in the 1st matrix) they know something is wrong but they don't want to look at it or even act on it would rather be plugged back in and not remember a thing and they all wanna be rich...
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It’s what I’ve come to think too…lack of resources to learn isn’t the issue — it’s a lack of desire to look for them
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Probably they or someone they know got rekt last cycle by Saylor telling them to 2nd mortgage their house. Or a ponzi rugged them, or their exchange got hacked, or they fell for a scam. Or they tried mining and found out its unprofitable for them and they sold their ASIC for 80% loss. Or they just bought the top and aren't exactly pleased that short dated treasury bonds are outperforming their BTC position.
Only time BTC is in the news is when we're at ATHs or some criminals are using it. Only time normies need to use BTC is to pay the ransomware on their laptop. None of this really signals "generational wealth" to people. This scares away most people who don't even want to associate with something that could make them lose money or is used by criminals.
The people who care the most about sovereignty are already bitcoiners.
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OTHER: Bitcoin terrible image in mainstream media and general audience.
For most people on this planet, Bitcoin is:
  1. a speculative toy (true, sadly)
  2. bad for the environment (totally wrong, but we failed to convince people on that)
  3. not safe or not a safe as government-issued money kept in a bank (wrong)
  4. overall useless (debatable, depends a lot on country, level of living etc.)
Therefore, my wet finger feeling is that a good 90% of people who know what Bitcoin is still think that Bitcoin is overall "bad" — and prove it by staying away from it.
So it's close to "Lack of education", but it goes beyond that. Bitcoin as a "product" suffered (and is still suffering) from a lack of proper "marketing" and dramatically failed to convince the average Joe of the benefits it can bring.
The only way to solve this is to radically change the Bitcoin narrative. It's urgent and I've been saying this for years, but nobody would listen. Too bad.
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what do you think's the best approach to shift the narrative?
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I think you're right but I do think the narrative is changing. I also think people are listening and there's plenty of Bitcoiners that see and understand these issues. Some of them are trying their best to change the narrative little by little.
That said, I have no idea how long it will take or if there'll ever be a point in the future that most people "get it". I can't see any way to rush it.
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I would say pro-bitcoin is the mainstream financial media position now, but definitely not the general MSM
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Mainstream media negativity.
And they spin it around links to illicit activity, the suggestion it’s a ponzi and the public are too late, it’s purported lack of utility and all in addition to the energy/climate debate go against it.
What do the media stand to gain from opposing it so vehemently?
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The media doesn’t have anything to gain, they’re just following orders
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And that’s all around what they have to gain or want to avoid losing I guess… fiat chicanery…
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the exact same issues that enabled fiat to work at all is the gigantic hurdle that must be cleared to understand that btc is even needed. fiat-tax-sheep is a very hard concept for us sheep.
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Lack of usecases. The doomsday hyperinflation scenario has not happened yet, but as a currency BTC is too slow (or L2 like LN is too difficult).
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Doomsday is not a prerequisite for Bitcoin. Doomsday prepping is often just a larp anyway, but it can still be good when it means the person doomsday prepping is prepared for natural disasters and things that actually happen.
What is a prerequisite, is a general disdain for the status quo, and a desire to opt into a different system. That is all. The current system does not have to fail for people within that system to network and establish trade networks among themselves.
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That's just utopian imo. People don't do anything at scale because of goodwill or consciousness: they do things at scale when it's absolutely necessary, lucrative/rewarding or when there's a mass psychosis.
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These "people" you speak of aren't referring to me and my homies apparently.
Again, your network, who you choose to trade with. Fuck everyone else
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Clearly. The original question was about the mass adoption, I am referring to the masses.
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“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.” — The Internet, circa mid 2000's
They are the same discussion
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Collectivism.
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All of the above. 😂
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yes but the MOST lol
perhaps trying to root out where the core issues sway towards more (newcomer issue vs bitcoiner issue) is a futile effort, bc yes it all matters "equally" i suppose
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Lack of channel factories
JohnLaw2 on using CTV for scaling lightning: https://github.com/JohnLaw2/ln-scaling-covenants
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Thanks, reading through this. lightning channels are a big issue right now...funny too bc I feel like i've been noticing more and more people complaining about channel fees lately.
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Yeah, but there would be more demand to make them if we could get adoption going enough to need it immediately. If people were better educated about Bitcoin then we would quickly figure out the scaling stuff
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"Quick" is never how changes to Bitcoin go. If you tried to soft fork something in quick, the social consensus of Bitcoin would rather shoot themselves in the foot than implement a change that wasn't communicated and discussed for at least a few years (see CTV controversy)
We will get them when people have been educated about them well enough over a long enough time frame for them to feel comfortable with accepting them.
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If I look around at what going on here even though people say South Africa has high % of BTC ownership most people I've spoken to that do own it, do so with a custodian and see it as a small allocation to diversify from real estate, the JSE (local stonks), EFTs/Unit trusts that most people who have money to invest would push into because the returns are pretty gross when inflation-adjusted, people might not realise they're getting shafted but they kinda feel it so I think basically by taking a flyer at something with alpha they found Bitcoin
As for why more people don't adopt it, there have been a lot of scams here, MTI, Africrypt, and Mining City that ran away with people's money under the guise of investing in Bitcoin so people still point to those examples
So yes definitely a lack of education on what it is, why it exists, why its an improvement on what we have, if those 3 things can click, I think people move into it, either that or the fiat pain becomes so unbearable, right now, people are still willing to take the on average 15% decline against USD in their local currency thats been going on for 25+ years, its amazing how people can just shut off those pain receptors and keep going
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The narrative is everything. But the funny thing about the "narrative" is that it's not just one thing. There's multiple narratives being spewed onto people all the time.
The word narrative is just another word for story. And the story people have been told doesn't match up with reality. There's many stories, but there's only one truth.
Over time, people will start to see the cracks in the narrative that don't fit with reality. We're already starting to see this happen, for those that are paying attention. Most people are not paying attention and don't think they have any reason to care.
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  1. FUD.
  2. pre-coiners dont care about bitcoin, YET.
  3. hard no-coiners dont want to change their mind about bitcoin.
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