7
Two things are necessary for crypto to reach widespread adoption -- continued interest and everyday usability. Continued interest is a measure of a product/service remaining of interest -- sustained public attention as opposed to a popularity peak and then disappearance. Crypto has achieved continued interest, but primarily at the hands of outsiders. However, although it helps drive adoption, its influence diminishes once a product/service becomes widely adopted. Continued interest can be thought of as the fuel tank of a rocket; once the rocket reaches the exosphere, the fuel tank drops away, expended, but the rocket cannot reach orbit without the fuel tank.
Do we need to do anything to create or maintain continued interest in crypto? It's a dangerous thing to allow the least knowledgeable people to craft the story about your product (i.e. reporters). That is why companies have marketing departments -- they want to tell their own story. In the realm of ideas, movements have think tanks. They are time-tested ways of generating continued interest by telling their own story, instead of relying upon transmission by others. This is not to argue for just one source, but rather for at least one think tank or PR source to promote crypto from the perspective of crypto users themselves.
Everyday usability -- easily using crypto for common products and services -- is also required for widespread adoption. We're still in the gold rush days of crypto where a major use of crypto is speculation. Like the the American prospectors of old, many people have a get-rich-quick mentality. That isn't all bad. It's actually helpful because it attracts many people from all different walks of life, and that in turn creates a foundation for widespread adoption. However, the gold rush days are not and cannot be permanent. How do we get from there to everyday usability? That process consists of three steps.
The first step is making it possible.
We are living in this now. It is possible to use crypto in a variety of everyday ways, but the difficulty varies from moderate (paying your phone bill) to extreme (obtaining a stable income that pays in crypto).
The second step is making it easy.
This involves the efforts of two seeming opposites: smaller, nimbler companies, and larger, established companies with a maverick streak. They are united in their willingness to take risks. In the latter category also fall large companies with a development/in-house lab approach (Apple, Google, IBM, etc.).
These companies seek opportunities to peel away customers from their existing routines through two methods: convenience alone or through demonstrably better products/approaches. Either of these comes with a price, but both the convenience store and the iPhone demonstrate that people are willing to pay a premium, especially early adopters. Businesses know this and salivate. When many things become easy with crypto, then the second step has been passed.
The third step is making it ordinary.
The companies just mentioned will have proven that the "water is safe", and that is when other companies jump in. The resulting competition drives down the price for the customer. As this continues, the convenience becomes a highly-desirable option, and so businesses compete to offer such an option. As more people choose the option, over time, the option becomes an expectation. The dedicated company becomes swallowed up by larger ones, or the product/service becomes inextricably bound to another product/service, and so the lack of the original item is what seems strange, not its existence.
This process happens not only in the same market segment, but at a slower pace, across market segments. Some market segments are much more risk-averse than others, and so they typically wait for others to go first. Musicians, artists, and artisans have been quick to embrace crypto; utility companies have been reticent. Retailers are closer to artists/artisans, thus Overstock.com and smaller computer shops. As the demand for crypto-related products/services crest, market segments will follow, those businesses seeking to tap the same market that prior segments have shown exists and is profitable. Each inevitably claims the same mantra: "The market of those paying in crypto was simply too large to ignore."
Specific developments could take entire books to discuss and a fair amount remains unknown and unknowable in advance. However, the path to mass acceptance is a familiar one. It has been trod by many other industries and services. Human nature is a constant; only the particular technology changes.
Finally, which company will do this or that is not critical, because those in the crypto space will discover them in time. The only enduring question is what will we do to drive the process of widespread adoption?
