During this bear market, there are many people complaining about the value of their investments. Generally speaking every cryptocurrency is down 90 percent or more. People are waiting for institutional investors to jump in in order for the market to blossom, but instead of waiting we can also do something. Here are ten things you can do to embrace blockchain technology and help to speed-up the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
1. Get paid in crypto
One of the things you could do to speed up adoption, is just making sure you’re being paid in crypto. It’s the obvious elephant in the room. There won’t be many companies out there that will actually do this, but if you’re a freelancer or have web shop then consider accepting crypto as a payment option. You can even add a bit on top of the price, to eliminate your risk as a result of the market’s volatility. Getting paid in crypto is something that sounds scary, but it does not have to be. At exchanges like Coinbase it’s relatively easy to change your crypto for dollars or euros and put the money on your bank account. If you own a shop, services like OpenNode allow consumers to pay in crypto, while the retailers receives fiat money. Financial services crossing the boundaries between crypto and fiat are developing fast, and are making it much easier for retailers to start accepting cryptocurrencies.
2. Spend crypto
Of course, when you’re receiving money in crypto it’s better to also be spending it like that. If you find a shop that accepts cryptocurrencies, please use that payment option. Consider paying in crypto to be your preferred payment option at all time. Don’t think that spending your coins is a stupid idea, because it’s not. Just put a part of your crypto aside and see that as your savings for the future, but always make sure you have some crypto at hand to spend on every day expenses. There are some nice options to have debit cards that tie in to your crypto bags. A Wirex debit card allows you to pay with several currencies. This is by far one of the most popular crypto cards on the market. Bitpay has its own bitcoin powered VISA card. While Uquid is very interesting, because it allows you to spend a wide variety of coins using their credit card. Obviously there are fees involved in using these cards, like with every financial card.
3. Book your hotels
Travelling is becoming an easier option while using crypto. Currently there’s a variety of booking platforms that offer payment options in crypto. TrezarTravels allows user to book through Expedia but pay using TrezarCoin (TZC), but that’s not really benefiting the consumer that much. Travala.com claims to be blockchain powered and offers payment options through a variety of cryptocurrencies, but it’s still 15 to 20 percent more expensive compared with LockTrip. LockTrip doesn’t take any fees, as its value comes from the utility of the LOC tokens. Every fiat payment is being converted into LOC tokens, which can also be spend by hotels on promotion on the platform. So far, LockTrip has the cheapest hotel offerings, and they are planning to add flight tickets to their services as well. Currently there are 100 thousand hotels in their system, and another 300 thousand will be added in January. If you’re planning a short stay at a hotel, consider using LockTrip. It really saves you money, and LOC itself could be a good investment for the crypto traders among you!
4. Go to festivals
If you ever go to a theater, concert of festival, you know that the ticketing system is always a bit iffy. In the old times you would bring a ticket with you, printed out on a piece of paper. Nowadays you can keep the ticket on your phone. However, there are still problems with ticket fraud. This problem can be solved by issuing tickets on the blockchain and tying them to a name. When selling the ticket to a third party the name can be changed, but there’s only one exact copy of that ticket and that’s the ticket issued through the blockchain. Obviously you don’t influence which organization uses blockchain based ticketing, but Amsterdam based GUTS tickets is already using their tech in the local Dutch market. Soon ticket behemoth Ticketmaster will also start using blockchain tech. When you are at a festival, be sure to be on the look out for blockchain payment solutions. Pundi X is working on blockchain POS services at festivals, while Festicoin is completely dedicated to bringing blockchain payments to festivals.
5. Monetize your web traffic
Embracing blockchain technology isn’t only about spending money. There are now plenty of ways to just use blockchain. Just surfing the internet on your computer can already be done using a variety of blockchain features. The outstanding Brave browser is a new web browser based on Google Chrome. However, it uses a built-in privacy system that allows you to block ads, cookies and trackers. It also has a Basic Attention Token (BAT) wallet integrated, which you can use to tip your favorite websites some BAT tokens. The fact that you’re not seeing ads, doesn’t mean that content creators shouldn’t be paid of course. While you’re busy, also make sure to download Bit.Tube AirTime, an extension for both Chrome and Brave. This allows you to monetize the time you spend online. Websites get paid for your visits, while you get paid for surfing the web. We’re talking very little money here, but it’s the ecosystem that’s interesting. Again, also AirTime allows you to tip a website, while the service blocks ads.
6. Embrace blockchain video platforms
Whenever you’re online and you want to watch some videos, YouTube generally is the place to be. However, please also embrace blockchain video platforms like DTube and Bit.Tube. Bit.Tube is a video platform that pays viewers and content creators alike for the time they spend online. D.Tube is based on the technology behind blogging website Steemit, and motivates interaction as a way to provide financial benefits for both content creators and commentators. Especially Bit.Tube is still very, very early in its development. The content offering on DTube is much more diverse. Anyway, have a look, make an account, and if you’re creating content on Youtube, just make sure you publish it on DTube and Bit.Tube as well.
7. Use blockchain powered apps
Besides video platforms, there’s a wide variety of blockchain or cryptocurrency powered apps out there that are worthwhile to use. Steemit is one of the biggest examples. This blogging platform allows people to upvote useful content, earning the creator STEEM. Useful comments can also be upvoted, adding another way to make some money. The more Steem Power an user is getting, the more influence he’s able to get on the platform. Everything that’s posted, ends up on the blockchain.
But there’s a lot more out there that’s interesting, especially if we start talking about mobile applications. BitGuild, known for building a gaming ecosystem using its PLAT token, has a chat application build on the blockchain. This app is called Guildchat and it allows users to build communities and share cryptocurrencies and tokens using so-called drops. The app also allows you to vote for representatives on the Tron network, play dApps using their built-in browser and you can create your own chat groups as well.
Another application that allows users to use dApps and spend crypto, is Coinbase Wallet. This app was formerly known as Toshi. The app allows you to manage your Ethereum and all ERC-20 tokens, and soon it will include BTC, BCH and LTC. You can receive ICO tokens and airdrops, buy NFTs and use them in games or trade them on marketplaces and so on. These type of apps are free, can be installed on any phone, so you have no excuse to use them and be part of the Web3 revolution.
There’s a wide variety of other applications out there, based on blockchain technology. Using these apps, getting to know them, spreading the word, will help to grow the market for cryptocurrencies. Utility is key!
8. Use blockchain cloud storage services
Cloud services are everywhere, but these are all centralized on servers. Decentralized services build on blockchain technology are the next step of the evolution. Why not offer some of your storage space to other users? Or use a decentralized storage service for one or multiple projects? Services like Storj and Sia allow you to rent your hard disc space in exchange for their currencies. Or maybe you want to use somebody else’s storage? With Sia you’ll be pay like 25 cents per TB per month, while Storj costs $0.015 per GB per month. This isn’t about making or paying lots of money, but about adding blockchain services into your life. Both Sia and Storj are also a lot cheaper than centralized competitors, even though they are not as fast as for example Amazon’s servers. Blockchain powered storage can be a first step for your business, to move towards a decentralized future.
9. Setup a masternode
Getting into Proof-of-Work mining, like Ethereum and Bitcoin, is perhaps a bit demanding. You will need to buy an expensive machine that will cost you like $1000, and then you’ll need to accept that your electricity bill will be going up. And still, at the current price of the currencies you are still likely to be operating at a loss. However, setting up a masternode for a Proof-of-Stake currency is much more easy. It does require a bit of technical knowledge to work in Linux, but thanks to the many online guides it can be done. First decide in which coin you want to invest, make sure you buy enough coins to setup collateral, get a VPS server from a provider like Vultr, and follow the installation guide that can often be found on the official website, Github or Discord channel for the coin of your choice.
The only problem with these masternode projects, is that there are plenty of scams out there. And if the projects is not a scam, you might have to wonder whether the team is up to the task to actually build what they are promising. Quite frankly, setting up a masternode does not come without financial risks.
10. Start playing blockchain games
Many believe games will be very important in pushing blockchain to a mainstream audience. It will certainly take more time before World of Warcraft and the next Assassin’s Creed are build with blockchain technology in mind, but there are already some games out there that have embrace this new tech. Spells of Genesis is a trading card game for PC, Android and iOS. You collect, trade and combine orbs to build a strong card deck. Cards can be sold and BCY is the token that can be earned. Other blockchain games would be Alien Arsenal, the social world Bitizens, or a virtual mining business in Worldopo. Most of these games are available on iOS and Android, Spells of Genesis can also be played in your browser on a PC, while Bitizens is PC exclusive.
These games are among the first of their kind. These are not Cryptokitties collectible cards, but actual games build on blockchain technology. None of these games are very popular at the moment, but they are definitely worth it to be checked out. There’s no need to delete your favorite mobile games, but just add these blockchain games as well. Did you know that a rare card in Spells of Genesis sold for 6.65 BTC back in 2016. That was equivalent to $3700, and would be over 25 thousand dollars by now.
Adopt
The blockchain revolution is still in its early days, but as you can see there’s already a variety of ways to start using blockchain technology. You can book a hotel with 20 percent discounts, play games on your phone, monetize your web surfing, watch videos on blockchain powered platforms, use a blockchain enabled web browser, get concert tickets, and just get paid and spend your cryptocurrencies at local stores.
Not everything is there yet. There are currently many tools in development, and plenty of them will not hit the mainstream market for the next 2-3 years. But if you are serious about cryptocurrencies, if you feel blockchain technology is going to revolutionize our lives, then it’s also time to get real. Use blockchain tech whenever you can, and tell your friends about it!
This article was originally published at NEDEROB.