A little bit of marketing would do wonders for bitcoin

[gomotomoto]

I'd like to preface this post with a statement: I don't know shit, and I don't pretend to know less than that.

With that said, I am embarrassed to say I just learned about bitcoin. As soon as read my first paragraph on the topic, I bought two coins immediately. I paid a lot. Really, I didn't care - I just wanted to support all the positive elements it stood for. Obviously, I don't want to, but I'm fully prepared to loose my entire investment. I won't complain if they are worth 100k in ten years either.

Shortly after jumping in head-first, I made a few observations from a newbie perspective:

1. I'm waaaay late to the game - this almost kept me from buying. The fact that most of the coins have already been mined has to be a deterrent for other newcomers, which are critical for the bitcoin to peak and momentum to continue. I have met several people that want in, but don't want to spend 2500 for a single coin.

2. Mining - after watching some videos about the farms, I realized that trying to mine my own coin would be alike to buying lottery tickets - Also a deterrent for newcomers to get involved.

3. I know that you can buy a fraction of a coin - but basic psychology has it where we don't want to buy fractions. We want to buy things identified as whole. I think this will be a major factor down the road and will impact bitcoin's growth on a very simple, but obvious level.

I'm sure there are real reasons this can't happen, but I believe assigning names/symbols to lower denominations would be a good solution for new investor encouragement.

The currency name from 36,000 feet should remain "bitcoin" - but lesser denominations should have actual identities. Remove the fraction and give it a name.

Full
Half
Quarter
Tenth:
And so on....

This way people will be more encouraged to hop in, even though they are late to the party. Instead of associating the bitcoin with the 25% remaining/limited amount left to be distributed - this could instantly expand and accurately represent what's left as far as value. Maybe I'm an idiot, but maybe this will open things up to the rest of those that may become discouraged by it's entry point.

[Iranus]

1. I'm waaaay late to the game - this almost kept me from buying. The fact that most of the coins have already been mined has to be a deterrent for other newcomers, which are critical for the bitcoin to peak and momentum to continue. I have met several people that want in, but don't want to spend 2500 for a single coin.

I don't think you're too late to the game at all.  It's impossible to tell how many people are using Bitcoin but it's still a tiny fraction of the population.  Well done for considering something new.

2. Mining - after watching some videos about the farms, I realized that trying to mine my own coin would be alike to buying lottery tickets - Also a deterrent for newcomers to get involved.

Miners gather together in "pools", which are collections of miners that all mine together, and then when the pool mines a block it distributes the reward to miners based on the hashrate they contributed to the pool.  This keeps the miners' variance in profit pretty low.

3. I know that you can buy a fraction of a coin - but basic psychology has it where we don't want to buy fractions. We want to buy things identified as whole. I think this will be a major factor down the road and will impact bitcoin's growth on a very simple, but obvious level.

You can identify it as a "whole" fraction.  People don't necessary have to see 0.001 Bitcoin when they're spending, they could instead see one millibitcoin.  There are also microbitcoins, sometimes called bits, which are a millionth of a Bitcoin.  All it needs is rebranding, and when it's needed it'll happen.

I'm sure there are real reasons this can't happen, but I believe assigning names/symbols to lower denominations would be a good solution for new investor encouragement.

Most commonly, units of bitcoin are expressed in decimal exponents such as BTC ("bitcoins"), mBTC ("millibitcoins") and μBTC ("bits").

[Ucy]

Exactly bro. It's very surprising why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

[Kyraishi]

Exactly bro. It's very strange why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

I think that this is not strange at all, actually for me it is kind of obvious why nobody is hardly advertising any cryptocurrency out there in the internet, or TV, radio, anywhere.
Take a look what is the common thing of every trusted and reasonable coin that people trade all over the world: it is decentralized.

Decentralization means that nobody has any control over it, except the market.
The price is a result of a price disagreement between traders, if someone has 100 bitcoins and thinks that they are worth 1000$ per one and someone else has 1000 bitcoins while he thinks that value is more like 950$, then obviously we will tell that BTC price is 950$ ( if it is the lowest price available ).
If you dont have any control over bitcoin, there why would you advertise it? It makes no sense, because you would not get any returns from such an activity.

[gentlemand]

Exactly bro. It's very strange why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

Neither the protocol itself nor the exchanges can handle the current levels of demand. Just imagine what would happen if every box of cereal contained 0.1 BTC.

It's all moving up organically and that's the right way.

[buwaytress]

Welcome to the world of Bitcoin, and glad you went ahead and got yourself 2. It's more than most of us have (at least, those who are "new" like me anyway).

There probably exists a lot more marketing than you might realise, but by way of the media and the fintech industry anyway. Bitcoin has been in the news for years and seems to be shedding a lot of its former reputation as the shady currency of criminals.

Re denominations, as pointed out by Iranus, there already exists several (detailed in Bitcoin wiki) but there are those like me who actually prefer the decimal system and satoshi as the smallest.

[DannyHamilton]

1. I'm waaaay late to the game - this almost kept me from buying.

Bitcoin is a brand new technology that has only been around a bit more than 8 years. Most people haven't even heard of it yet, and even less people have any or are using any.  The reference client still self-identifies as "experimental" software.

You are not late to the game.  You are very, very early.

The fact that most of the coins have already been mined has to be a deterrent for other newcomers, which are critical for the bitcoin to peak and momentum to continue.

Just like the way nobody has any interest in gold anymore because most of it has already been dug out of the ground?  Bitcoin doesn't lose it's benefits just because it's already been "mined".  It actually probably gains benefits and value as there is less new bitcoin to be mined.

I have met several people that want in, but don't want to spend 2500 for a single coin.

"A Bitcoin" is a slang term for 100,000,000 spendable units created by the person (or people) that developed the bitcoin protocol.  It's a bit like how "A Benjamin" is slang for $100, or "A grand" is slang for $1000, or "A rack" is slang for $10,000.  You aren't paying $2500 for "a single coin".  You are paying $2500 for 100,000,000 spendable units.  That's less than $0.000025 per coin.

2. Mining - after watching some videos about the farms, I realized that trying to mine my own coin would be alike to buying lottery tickets - Also a deterrent for newcomers to get involved.

Over the past 8 years, mining has grown into a very competitive business.  Like any competitive business, "getting involved" is a bad idea unless you have access to some competitive advantage (such as access to inexpensive resources).

Mining is a misleading term anyhow.  What miners are actually doing is processing transactions and securing the blockchain.  In exchange for this service, the users pay a transaction fee and the "miners" are also rewarded with a subsidy that comes from the introduction of new value into the system (inflation).

3. I know that you can buy a fraction of a coin - but basic psychology has it where we don't want to buy fractions. We want to buy things identified as whole.

Yep.  I woudn't want to put in 15 minutes of work if my employer was only going to pay me a half a grand for that time.  I mean I know that it can be divided into fractions, but psychologically I don't want only a half.  I want to be paid in things that are "whole", so I insist on a whole grand, or else I'd rather have nothing at all.

I'm sure there are real reasons this can't happen, but I believe assigning names/symbols to lower denominations would be a good solution for new investor encouragement.

The currency name from 36,000 feet should remain "bitcoin" - but lesser denominations should have actual identities. Remove the fraction and give it a name.

It has already happened.

Many people and services already refer to 0.001 BTC as a "milli-bitcoin"  (or a milli-bit, or mBit, or milly, mBTC)
Many people and services already refer to 0.000001 BTC as a "micro-bitcoin" (or a micro-bit, or mike, or μBTC)
Many people and services already refer to the smallest spendable unit (0.00000001 BTC) as a "satoshi".

So, at $2500, you are paying just $2.50 per mBTC or only about a quarter of a cent ($0.0025) per μBTC

[BitHodler]

In terms of investments, it's definitely not too late to hop on board. People might get that impression by looking at the price right now, but the same happened a long time ago as well.

I even remember those that were saying people would be too late if they don't hop in at sub $500 prices. Exactly the same with $600 ~ $700 ~ $800 ~ and the list goes on.

Mining is something you as average person should forget about. In recent years simply buying Bitcoin has always been more profitable than mining.

[Superzpay]

Exactly bro. It's very surprising why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

Because this is the bigger community of crypto currency related people and only these people often invest in projects like that so if they will advertise in any other community then the chances of investment is lesser while if they will advertise on here then many people are here available to invest.

[coolcoinz]

3. I know that you can buy a fraction of a coin - but basic psychology has it where we don't want to buy fractions. We want to buy things identified as whole. I think this will be a major factor down the road and will impact bitcoin's growth on a very simple, but obvious level.

It's so obvious you were raised in the world of hyperinflated fiat money. You don't remember, but many currencies started with a very high value, not as high the value of Bitcoin today, but much higher than it was 5 or 6 years ago.
100 years ago you were able to buy a lot for 1 dollar and people were commonly using cents. What can you buy for like 1c now? Nothing! 5c? Still nothing!

[crazyivan]

I would not say it s too late to get into the game cause BTC will go up much, much more.

If you do expect to see 100x growth within 6 months, then you might try your luck with some other alts.

Awareness and acceptance have been constantly growing, there isn't much to do besides hoard and wait.

[mrcash02]

Call it satoshis and you will be buying in full numbers and not fractions of Bitcoins (truly it's the same thing, but as you can see in another way...).

Instead of buying 0.1 Bitcoin, you are buying 10.000.000 of satoshis.

[franky1]

others have pretty much covered it...

in the future there will be some tweaking to the User interface, the wording, visualisation, ease of use and ease of obtaining.
we will move to where people are trading in 'bits' (0.00000100)
whereby 1 bit will have 100 sats to give the user-friendly feel of

1bit=100sat much like
1dollar=100cents
1pound=100pennies

but we are still in the innovation phase.

bitcoin(protocol name) still has a long way to go before being mainstream ready. so marketting it now can actually end up causing more negatives.

the only fools that want to market it now are the ones that are too impatient and just want to cause a price rise so they can run off to fiat with lots of profits.

we need to concentrate on the innovation first, which itself should take care of the rest

[TryNinja]

I think that this is not strange at all, actually for me it is kind of obvious why nobody is hardly advertising any cryptocurrency out there in the internet, or TV, radio, anywhere.
Take a look what is the common thing of every trusted and reasonable coin that people trade all over the world: it is decentralized.

Decentralization means that nobody has any control over it, except the market.
The price is a result of a price disagreement between traders, if someone has 100 bitcoins and thinks that they are worth 1000$ per one and someone else has 1000 bitcoins while he thinks that value is more like 950$, then obviously we will tell that BTC price is 950$ ( if it is the lowest price available ).
If you dont have any control over bitcoin, there why would you advertise it? It makes no sense, because you would not get any returns from such an activity.

Wtf? Why do you need to control something to be able to advertise it? If you really support Bitcoin and want the coin to become mainstream how would you be so selfish to "only spend your money if you will directly earn something from that"? No one from the Bitcoin ecosystem owns the technology but they still spend their time and dedicate their lives to make Bitcoin better.

That's just dumb. Do something for Bitcoin because you want it to succeed and not because you want more profit.

[megynacuna]

Exactly bro. It's very surprising why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

I believe those advertisements don't come for free and so  whose pocket should the tv advertisements come from, and do if nobody will be willing to spend then I guess the adverts won't come on except maybe the ones in social media.

[GreenBits]

Exactly bro. It's very surprising why cryptocurrency developers don't do serious marketing outside of the cryptocurrency ecosystem like on Social Media , TV, Radio, etc. Am still trying to understand why this is so

I believe those advertisements don't come for free and so  whose pocket should the tv advertisements come from, and do if nobody will be willing to spend then I guess the adverts won't come on except maybe the ones in social media.

For all of the special.interest groups out there that would benefit from bitcoin going mainstream, a few advertising dollars is a small price to pay. We have people that were overnight millionaires from the expansion of BTC, kind of limiting if you can't spend a few more dollars to make yourself any even greater fortune.

We could get the Foundation to do it, but they have more pressing concerns

We could use the forum fund, by now it should be just enough to make a three hour full length film about bitcoin starring Dwanye Johnson

[wxa7115]

Op you are not too late to the game, not even 1% of the human population is even using bitcoin, if bitcoin was able to reach lets say 5% of the human population, the value of bitcoin could reach tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, so don’t get discouraged because of it.

[TryNinja]

I believe those advertisements don't come for free and so  whose pocket should the tv advertisements come from, and do if nobody will be willing to spend then I guess the adverts won't come on except maybe the ones in social media.

That is what our gigantic community is for. There have been cases in which the community of a cryptocurrency has mobilized to raise money for some cause for the sake of currency.

Dogecoin raises $ 55,000 to sponsor Nascar driver
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/27/nascar-dogecoin-sponsor-josh-wise-talladega-superspeedway

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/dogecoin-nascar-dogecoin-sponsors-a-nascar-racer-1398210273/

As I said in my previous comment, we do not deserve users who only think about their own profit and do not care about the growth of the currency itself if it is not in exchange for more money.

[RedNovember]

I think part of the problem with this idea is the governance structure, or lack there of, with bitcoin. Sure there are lots of developers working on the code and what not, but who can decide where money would go? This is why the DASH governance structure for instance is appealing to some people because it gives you central governance.

Anyways, in my opinion, bitcoin has the first mover advantage, and simply does not need marketing. It has always spread by word of mouth, and it's rising price is already enough marketing as it is

[freebutcaged]

As you put it yourself too late to the party and yet with a small community we still have critical issues with the network and development.

You should not advertise at all and let us at least take advantage of these early phases of Bitcoin launching for the moon. we're at least 40-70 years

Away from when we would be needing to call satoshis mini satoshis. now that you bought @ $2500 better keep them for long and even if you

See price is going back down just don't panic to sell because you'd lose a few weeks later.