Adoption Blues
Despite our best efforts, cryptocurrency remains a fringe pursuit. Could a new film help spread the love?
Sometimes blockchain can feel like a Magic Eye picture: the kind of thing you either get instantly and it blows your tiny little mind, or that you’ll never understand no matter how much people try and explain it to you and the more they try the more you just decide that you hate it and everything it stands for. Meanwhile, people like us are shaking them by the shoulders and yelling, “LOVE THIS LIKE I LOVE YOU!”
While solid data is hard to come by, ING conducted a survey in August last year that suggested only 7% of Australians owned cryptocurrency. Perhaps more worryingly, only 15% said they were interested in buying it in the future. While those numbers may have changed over the intervening months, it still points to one of the crypto movement’s prime dilemmas: how to spread the word beyond the true believers?
Spreading the gospel
To the broader public, cryptocurrency is, at best, something that seems both complex and irrelevant to their lives, at worst, black market drug money that a bunch of idiots lost their life savings to back in 2017. While neither of these things is necessarily true, perception counts for more than we’d like.
Part of the fault lies with us crypto enthusiasts, surely. As a community, we are prone to unabashed boosterism and an attitude towards outside criticism that could charitably be described as “defensive”. I imagine that to an outsider peering in it can feel a little cult-like, everyone staring back at you with wide eyes, chanting, “Join us. It’s bliss. Also, please give us all your money.”
The way forward?
There are no easy answers to this dilemma, but a film like Torsten Hoffmann’s forthcoming Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet could be part of the solution. A globe-trotting look at the who, what and how of blockchain that covers four continents and more than 25 of the scene’s most important and outspoken personalities – as well as an eye-opening visit to Xapo’s top secret bitcoin storage vault – Cryptopia wants to understand not only what the hell is going on here, but also what it might actually mean.
What makes Hoffmann’s film so refreshing is that he approaches the blockchain question without an obvious agenda. Cryptopia is more interested in blockchain’s place within a broader history of innovation – a history that encompasses both world-shaping inventions and abject failures. Where will bitcoin and blockchain fall on this spectrum? The jury is out, but Cryptopia makes a compelling case that it’s something we should all be paying attention to.
Keen to catch the film? Here are the screening dates for your closest cities:
We’re giving away a double pass for every Cryptopia Film premiere in Australia. Enter here to go in the draw! Terms and conditions at the end of this post.
One more thing
Crypto domains are here! That’s right, for the small price of US$20, you can immortalise your name/nickname/dog’s name in a .crypto address that you will own FOREVER. While this might sound as legitimate as that company selling real estate on the Moon, a .crypto domain will allow you to put all your wallet addresses in one place, so that if anyone ever wants to send you cryptocurrency all they’ll have to do is address it to bigloverboy69.crypto… or, uh, whatever you choose to register.
Ask CoinJar
What does it mean when something calls itself an ERC-20 token?
Alright, classify this under “technical but important”. ERC-20 stands for Ethereum Request for Comments 20 and, as the name suggests, it refers to a 2015 protocol upgrade on the Ethereum network that set common rules for cryptocurrencies that wanted to use smart contracts to execute themselves on the network.
Whew.
This might sound impossibly arcane, but the ramifications were, suffice it to say, explosive. Prior to this, any time someone wanted to build a blockchain, they pretty much had to start from scratch. When the ERC-20 standard debuted it gave developers the capacity to invent fully functional, interoperable currencies with only minimal technical know-how. The result? The ICO boom of 2017 and the entire modern blockchain ecosystem.
Even today, many of the biggest crypto projects in the world have been built using ERC-20, including the Basic Attention Token, USD Coin, 0x, Binance Coin and ChainLink, along with literally hundreds, if not thousands of others. While it’s not the only game in town, ERC-20 remains Ethereum’s primary use case and the closest thing to a guarantee of blockchain reliability that we have.
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CoinJar x Cryptopia Film Competition Terms & Conditions
General
- By participating in the CoinJar x Cryptopia (Promotion), each participant fully and unconditionally agrees and acknowledges that these terms and conditions are binding.
- The promoter is CoinJar, trading as CoinJar UK Limited, CRN 08905988 of Level 39, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB (Promoter).
- The Promotion commences at 10am on 17 October 2019 and close at 11:59pm on 20 October 2019 (Promotion Period).
- Entry is open to Australian residents only who are over 18 year of age.
How to Enter
- To enter this Promotion you must go to https://coinjar.typeform.com/to/QoJDub and complete the entry from online including your email address and nominated film premiere event.
- This is a game of chance and skill plays no part. The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into with entrants.
- Multiple entries are not permitted.
- Entrants can only enter in their own email. The use of automatic entry software, mechanical or electronic devices that allows an individual to automatically enter the competition is prohibited and may render all entries submitted by that individual invalid.
- Entries not completed in accordance with these terms and conditions are void. Entries will be deemed void if stolen, forged, mutilated or tampered with in any way.
Draw and Prizes
- Judging for the prize will take place at 10am on 21 October 2019.
- Each winner will receive two tickets to the film premiere at their nominated film premiere event.
- Winners of this competition will be notified via email to their nominated email address by 5pm on 21 October 2019.
- In this email the winner will be notified their prize and instructions to redeem their prize.
- This prize is non-transferable, non-refundable, cannot be sold, exchanged for cash.
- If the winner cannot be contacted, the Promoter reserves its right to select a new winner.
- The Promoter reserves the right to alter the rules for the competition at any time without prior notice.
Personal Information and Privacy
- The details contained in your entry are protected by security safeguards detailed in the Promoter’s Privacy Policy, which is available at https://www.coinjar.com/privacy.
- You can contact the Promoter’s Privacy Officer if you would like the details of the personal information that the Promoter may hold about you or if you would like to be corrected. Our Privacy Officer can be contacted at support@coinjar.com.
- By entering this competition, you are subscribing to the CoinJar newsletter database.
- Your privacy is important to us. Your information is collected by the Promoter and will be used and held in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Information you provide will be used for the purpose of conducting this Promotion, sending you our newsletter, keeping in touch with you about news and information. Promoter may disclose your information to companies and agencies in connection with this Promotion or as set out in the Privacy Policy.
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