At the beginning of 2018, I wrote an article outlining a New Year’s resolution that I thought could help boost cryptocurrency adoption and awareness in 2018, as long as enough people were doing it. Last week was the eighth installment of my year of cryptocurrency challenge. Admittedly, this week was a bit slower for me, as I got bogged down by some personal items and was unable to evangelize as much as I usually do. Having said that, let’s jump into my week!

TRY TO SPEAK TO AS MANY PEOPLE ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN

Sometimes I begin to feel bad about how often I discuss cryptocurrency with my non-cryptofluent friends, and I wonder how effective my short conversations are with Lyft and Uber drivers. However, this week I received some encouragement.

1. A friend of mine, who I was positive had tuned me out every time our group talked about crypto, sent me a text asking more about it. I was surprised, but excited to explain further. He was particularly curious about mining, what it was, and why it was even necessary. We had a long text conversation about it and plan on getting drinks next weekend to discuss it further. I may even give him some Dogecoin to play around with to see how it works!
2. A Lyft driver of mine asked what I did for a living, and I explained that I worked in the wild world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. They had “heard about that Bitcoin thing” on the news and were concerned because what they had heard was that it was a “bubble.” I explained that while a lot of the volatility is definitely due to speculators, the technology itself is sound, being improved, and is a massive step up from the current system of data reconciliation and integrity. By the end of the ride, they told me they would consider printing out a “Crew R code” (I corrected them) and accept tips in cryptocurrencies moving forward.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT CRYPTO

There’s always more to learn in the cryptocurrency space. As a departure from my usual “I learned about X this week,” this week I learned how to better explain mining to the non-cryptofluent because of the many conversations I’ve had. While explaining it to my aforementioned friend, I finally hit on a super succinct and potent way of explaining it to the non-crypto crowd, and I have a work colleague to thank for helping develop the idea.

While I plan on writing an article elaborating on this further, the general flow is this: everyone understands announcements, work, and recording. Stay tuned for that article in the coming week.

BE GENEROUS – GIVE AND USE YOUR COINS

This week, my Lyft driver was a missed opportunity to send some crypto as a tip, though it’s probably for the best with the (lower but still kind of high) fees on the Bitcoin network. I plan on giving my friend a bit of Dogecoin when we get that drink to talk more about cryptocurrency mining, and will try to tip the bartender at my local pub tonight (I’m writing this on a Saturday).

Are you also participating in this challenge? How do you get past slower weeks in your challenge? Let’s make 2018 the year of cryptocurrency!