Bringing Crypto to the Masses
What would it take to get Average Joe to use cryptocurrency for everyday transactions?
When browsing through your Twitter feed or a crypto-focused subreddit, it’s clear that crypto HODLers want nothing more than for Average Joe to use crypto for everyday payments. However, despite their reasoning, pleaing, and guilting, he just won’t do it.
We generally recognize that the first step toward mainstream adoption is getting the technology up to speed. The lightning network is still in its infant stage, but it has already made massive improvements to Bitcoin’s speed, transaction fees, and scalability.
However, if we really want Average Joe and all of the stores he regularly shops at to forego their existing habits, it’s not enough to simply get the technology to the same speed and scale as credit card systems; it needs to surpass existing systems in some way that adds significant value to both the customer and the shopkeeper. Lightning swaps, a brand-new technology that allows each party to choose their preferred currency for a given transaction, customizes the financial system for each individual, so it can better meet their needs.
Scenario A
Allie wants the convenience of cryptocurrency payments (especially international transfers), but she’s concerned about Bitcoin’s seemingly-random fluctuations in value. She therefore opts to hold her assets in stablecoins, like Dai or TrueUSD, which are designed to maintain their value relative to the US dollar. However, she realizes that some stores in her area only accept Bitcoin. They reason that, because it is the most well-known and used of all cryptocurrencies, accepting Bitcoin is most convenient for their customers.
Rather than going through the long and expensive process of converting her stablecoins for Bitcoin each time she wishes to spend them, Allie downloads a lightning swap-enabled wallet onto her phone. It uses a decentralized, peer-to-peer system to quickly and inexpensively convert her TrueUSD to Bitcoin each time she makes a purchase. The wallet determines exactly how much TrueUSD is necessary for each purchase, so her remaining assets stay in their original form.
Scenario B
Ben sees cryptocurrency primarily as an investment, so his wallet consists of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The merchants in his city, however, are concerned that they would have to adjust their prices each day (or even several times per day) in order to receive the same payment for a particular good. They also don’t want to store unstable currencies within their accounts because they worry that their stores would lose a significant portion of their assets in a bear market.
Just like Allie, Ben can use a lightning swap-enabled mobile wallet to pay shopkeepers in one currency and have them receive it in another. He exchanges just enough of his Bitcoin or Ethereum to pay for a good or service, while continuing to invest in unstable currencies.
In order to get cryptocurrency into the mainstream, the public needs to see how this new system is an improvement over the current one. By enabling easy and inexpensive transactions across currencies, we allow each user to set their own financial priorities while remaining part of an integrated economic system.
