Bitcoin Needs Mainstream, but do I want Mainstream?

So, Bitcoin is once again approaching that popularity flux. Bitcoin is here, and Bitcoin is there, but I don’t know how I feel about this reoccurring popularity. On the one hand, adoption is the only real metric that matters when it comes to a successful experiment (as they call it), or an unsuccessful one. On the other hand, along with these cyclical waves of adoption, there are more and more buzzwords and buzz-themes than ever before. I’ve never felt like such a hipster in my life, “I was into Bitcoin before people starting using blockchain as a pronoun.” Nevertheless, it is true, I feel like Bitcoin is becoming bastardized a little more and more everyday. I have been asking myself two questions repeatedly lately: Does Bitcoin need to go mainstream? And, do I want bitcoin to go mainstream?

Does Bitcoin need to go mainstream?

The obvious answer to this question is yes. However, when I think of the answer more critically I think that yes is conditional. When I sit and ponder about money and how it affects peoples’ lives, and how popular it is, and what type of popular it is I find it hard to view it as mainstream in the pop culture viewpoint. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are amazing, fresh, new, and pioneering in the fact that they are over-the-moon about money! Think about it, when is the last time you recall seeing someone outside of a rapper with $ signs all over their property? Yet, a crypto enthusiast will have their currency of choice plastered on their notebooks, laptops, shirts, cars, and maybe even on their skin. Is that mainstream? Is that popular? I don’t think that it is. Even more so, it is strange to replace that plaster with money signs from different fiat currencies. Bitcoin does need to go mainstream, but not in the, “Oh did you hear what Bitcoin is up to lately,” kind of mainstream. I believe the only way bitcoin needs to go mainstream is in the sense that it is functional enough to be used as a currency for any means, from a person’s Hot Cheetoh and Taki purchases, to their Yacht and Fiskar buys. As far as its popularity, I think Bitcoin is simultaneously breaking and creating a mold where currency and finance can be ‘cool’ to discuss. In my opinion the main reason that the current financial system has been aloud to grow so cancerous for so long is because they have made money and finance so ridiculously boring and convoluted to approach. So, we as society make it totally cool to just leave it to the men in suits. But, look at a crypto enthusiast and you’ll likely see a pair of chucks and a Green Lantern t-shirt, and then you get hit with some pretty concentrated and poignant discussion on global economy and currency valuation. So…

Do I want Bitcoin to go mainstream?

All bias aside, yes, yes I do. Psyche! Totally biased. I want Bitcoin to go mainstream because I think it is paramount, now more than ever, that finance and economics become part of a dinner conversation for a family from time-to-time. The next generation that is poised to sit in the metaphorical “throne of power” is going to be inheriting a world that has never existed before. Let’s just sit back and think, right now humans are boinking more, dying slower, working less, and dramatically increasing the probability of twiddling one’s thumbs on any given day. And, those affects will only deepen as this century marches forward. With constructs like automation, artificial intelligence, robotic labor, and virtually augmented reality, every aspect of humanity is poised for disruption and a new renaissance emerges. We need to have conversation and be well versed in finance and economy for the simple fact that it cannot solely be left to the men-in-suits to handle. They have shown us how well they handle the responsibility, and we shouldn’t need to relive 2008 to show us that they are too human to handle everyone’s money. We need to approach a time where decentralized, peer-to-peer finance that is backed and founded by mathematics is the norm; it needs to be mainstream. Not only do I want Bitcoin to go mainstream, but I envision a time when someone can ask a question like, “What credits do you take,” and that person wont be met with a face of confusion.

If I had to ask myself the question I ask all of my guests, can I describe Bitcoin in ten words or less? Bitcoin is the money of the future. With four words to spare.