Get Through the Crypto Winter with a (Use) Case of the Good Stuff!

Ah, the holidays are here again. Time to revisit all those classic stories about how the season is really about helping others and not just about presents and shopping. They never get old, right?

Well, mileage may vary :)

The way we see it, at the end of the day the holidays are about both the heavily commercialized self-interest and spreading holiday cheer. Those holiday heroes wouldn’t have those dramatic epiphanies and gotten into the “real holiday spirit” unless they had to struggle with all the more commercial aspects of the season first. And at the end of the day people just like presents! The trick is striking a balance and keeping things in perspective.

This year — the year of the so-called crypto winter — is a good one to apply that thinking to the cryptosphere as well. Here’s why:

It’s worth getting into “real crypto spirit” — but it isn’t necessarily easy.

As you know, crypto prices are waaaayyyy down. And that matters. Everybody looks at cryptocurrency prices. Prices are the obvious way to judge what is working and what isn’t in any free market.

But on the other hand, prices aren’t everything. The “real crypto spirit” — as we see it as BlockStamp anyway — is about people using blockchain tech to lead better, more prosperous lives with other people who share their values. Finances are obviously part of that, but the trick is striking a healthy philosophical balance.

Unfortunately, that whole idea can be pretty abstract and difficult to buy into when you are watching value evaporate. We can relate. A few weeks ago the price of the BST — BlockStamp’s native crypto coin — dropped significantly. Price swings can be quite dramatic when you’re only listed on one exchange, as we were at the time :-/ Recently we were listed on a second one. More to come soon!

So how can you make the idea less abstract? Especially in relation blockchain projects with a crypto coin or token that got hit hard in this crypto winter?

• One way to make the idea less abstract is simply to focus on whether a blockchain project has delivered something that people can actually use in the first place. Obvious? Maybe so obvious that it often gets overlooked! See more in our last article on execution.
• When a usable product has not yet been delivered, the other way is to evaluate the crypto project technology’s use case. Common sense that is surprisingly uncommon in the cryptosphere!

You might think of blockchain use cases as ways to get into the “real crypto spirit” just as holiday stories are ways to get into the “real holiday spirit.”

A nice holiday story gets you to a fairly predictable feel-good ending with an interesting plot you can relate to, i.e. with a mix of characters, problems, and solutions, that tickles your fancy.

Similarly, it’s pretty predictable where a blockchain use case is going to end up, philosophically speaking. The technology will improve something by making it more decentralized, transparent, efficient, etc. The question is if you like the way the dots are all connected.

Why would you like one use case and not another one? There’s no one answer. Different people like different types of holiday stories, and different people do different types of due diligence on crypto projects.

No matter how you do your due diligence, however, there’s one thing to keep in mind:

Good crypto use cases have clearly defined jobs to be done.

The “jobs to be done” concept is originally from a business management theory. Whether or not a crypto project is profit-driven, it is a useful thought framework for anyone developing a solution intended to help people do something.

Basically it goes like this. People have things to do (aka “jobs”). For fun, for work, for health, etc. And they try to use (aka “hire”) the best available solutions to help them do whatever it is that they need to do.

Therefore, to deliver that best available solution you first need first to clearly define:

• the specific job or jobs it will help user do and
• how it will be able to do so better than any other available solution.

In contrast, it is difficult to deliver that best available solution when you haven’t defined those things. You’re shooting in the dark.

Note that if a technology’s use case involves a clearly defined job to be done it doesn’t automatically mean you should believe in the project. You might not think, for example, that the project’s team can execute and deliver something to help that job get done. But if they don’t have something clearly defined to execute around in the first place, you should obviously be concerned.

In conclusion, take a look at how we’re defining a few of the “jobs” that we’re helping users get done with the BlockStamp blockchain:

• Gamble online with 100% confidence that you aren’t getting ripped off
• Publish content with 0% risk of being censored by any man or machine
• Prove what information was available when and to whom in a way that is cheaper, easier, and more transparent than any existing attestation service

Can’t you feel the crypto cheer already? :)

And of course we are executing. All blockchain functionalities are live now. Most of them are accessible via the desktop interface available here. The online wallet was released this week, and we will be rolling out user-friendly online interfaces for all BlockStamp applications during H1 2019.

Happy Holidays!

About Blockstamp:

BlockStamp is a multipurpose Bitcoin blockchain fork developed by the BlockStamp Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. Designed to promote liberty, transparency, and sovereignty in areas of the digital economy where these fundamental values are most at risk, BlockStamp hosts a radically fair gambling platform, a digital tool for transparently sealing data, and a censorship-proof internet Domain Naming System.