Crypto Biz Magazine—July, 2014/Issue.02

YESBITCOIN
by EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BRANDEN PETERSEN
Page.12 July.2014
Crypto Biz Magazine
For five years, Bitcoin advocates have
helped build an ecosystem that has
caught the attention and interest of the
world’s most powerful institutions. Yet
today, less than five million people worldwide
use Bitcoins in their everyday purchases.
Bitcoin remains an enigma to the mainstream
consumer marketplace despite exponential
growth in venture capital and number of
commercial business entities. Bitcoin investors,
users and commercial interests are depending
on the adoption of Bitcoin as a mainstream
currency with upside value heavily dependent
upon its use as a currency in the everyday
marketplace. In order for this to happen, the
broader community of diverse interests must
communicate effectively to the marketplace
at-large, as well as key constituents who have
a stake in the successful adoption of Bitcoin as
a global currency and technology.
To address the challenges, a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization named yesbitcoin will launch as the
world’s first strategic, consumer—and merchantfacing
communications effort on behalf of the
world’s most prominently accepted crypto
currency. yesbitcoin will focus primarily on
driving understanding and acceptance of Bitcoin
as a mainstream consumer technology.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Coinbase recently
said in an interview with CNBC about Bitcoin’s
mainstream adoption, “The biggest hurdle
is education.” But educating the broader
marketplace is a challenge when talking about
something that is inherently decentralized.
The decentralized and diverse nature of Bitcoin
interests and core constituents makes large-scale,
focused communications and
public relations an overwhelming
challenge for the community.
Individual business entities or
interest groups, no matter how
successful, will likely be unable
or reluctant to “carry the water”
for the Bitcoin ecosystem
because those organizations
will not be the sole, direct
beneficiaries of such an effort.
Any investment they make in
large-scale communications on
their own behalf will benefit
competitors and the ecosystem at large.
Secondly, Bitcoin interests can’t scale
communications efforts in a way that makes
economic sense for their organizations and
business objectives. Again, the decentralized
nature of the Bitcoin ecosystem makes
informational and advocacy work on behalf of
bitcoin use problematic. Of course, given that most
consumers are unaware of Bitcoin, this educational
advocacy must be done before a brand can even
begin to talk about their own value.
Bitcoin needs a single, recognizable, central
advocate that can help the entire ecosystem by
communicating on behalf of all interests on an