Marketing Bitcoin and Crypto on Trains, in Cabs, on Buses and in Parks – Gemini Style

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is back on the streets of New York to shine a light on Bitcoin and its fully regulated trading platform. Following last month’s crypto campaign on wheels, which rolled out Gemini ads on trains, cabs and buses, the company just hosted another conversation in Manhattan at Zuccotti Park to explore crypto concepts with New Yorkers.

Staffer Sara Olsen, who spoke with a passerby about Bitcoin’s unique utility, tried to answer a frequently asked crypto question: What is Bitcoin’s use?

“Bitcoin is a network in which you can transfer information in a decentralized way. Similar to the internet – except with the internet you have certain companies that own information and certain products. This is decentralized, so no one owns it.” 

The participant who engaged with Olsen brought up a critical point about the long-term stability and adoption of Bitcoin.

“Like any product, it has to be used productively. It can’t just be millions of people investing in it, hoping that other millions of people invest in it.” 

Marketing Bitcoin isn’t easy. It’s cryptic and complicated and full of technical jargon that doesn’t rhyme with “cat” or “hat”. The computer-speak makes breaking it down for the average lay person a big challenge, one that an increasing number of developers and innovators in the space regard as an undeniable step on the road to mainstream adoption. How do you pitch Bitcoin like it’s a rock star?

Gemini’s campaign is a gutsy twist on more traditional educational approaches. Crypto exchange Binance launched its crypto education platform Binance Academy last year. Several other web pages offer explainers on blockchain, Bitcoin and crypto.

• Reuter’s Visual Guide – Blockchain Explained
• Cash App’s – My First Bitcoin
• Coinbase – Bitcoin and Blockchain Basics

For crypto skeptics who champion the greater fool theory, Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme and a bubble, only valuable to the degree that it can reel in new investors and always be sold for future profits, since people are blind enough to believe in its speculative value.

For Olsen, however, the argument returns to what distinguishes Bitcoin from not only a pyramid scheme, but virtually any currency or commodity in existence: it’s just too practical.

“It’s fungible, it’s global, it’s globally recognized. It’s just better than gold because you don’t have to physically carry it. It’s infinitely divisible. Basically, every property that gold has, Bitcoin is better.”