Steve pfp
Steve
@stevedylandev.eth
Evangelism > Sugar Coating I'm honestly not convinced we're going to bring the next bazillion people onchain by sugar coating crypto Yes we need to improve the UX Yes we need to make it safer But are we making users more free? What if the best way to onboard someone is to explain why you go into crypto? I worked in a customer service call center at a local bank for 4 years. One of our biggest sources of income? Fees. Users who didn't want their card charges declined could opt into a system that let them go into the negative by an amount determined by their risk factor. For some it would just be $500 because their deposits were low, for others it was $2000. Every time they went into the negative they paid the bank $35. This safety net became a crutch. People living on the poverty line would develop a pattern of getting a deposit, going into the negative, and then the next deposit would cover the the negative balance, and if their coverage algo would allow it they would go back into the negative for X amount. That was the big "if". I can't tell you the number of old widows and single mothers who would start crying because their coverage wasn't the same amount it had been for months, and now they had no idea how they would afford food or their electric bill. You can try to pass blame on personal responsibility or money management, but imo it was institutional and predatory for a bank to profit off that behavior. The truth of crypto is that it isn't "normal," it's revolutionary. Much like cryptography in the 90s it's radical. It's freedom. We still have a lot of work to do. While most crypto can make users more free it certainly isn't safe. I'm not at a point where I feel comfortable trying to convince a normie to get into crypto, but I will unabashedly tell them why I'm working in this space. I want people to understand that this space is more than just monkey pictures, scam tokens, and online casinos. We can do better. Make users more free Make users more safe
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Joshua Hyde (he/him) pfp
Joshua Hyde (he/him)
@jrh3k5.eth
A thing that's been bouncing around in my head: We eliminate predatory fees. That's all well and good - but now the people who relied on being able to go into (predatory) debt to keep the power on lose that option, and, consequently, lose their electricity, water, or home. It feels like there's an upstream problem that needs to be addressed, where we remove the need to rely on going into debt to make ends meet.
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Zenigame pfp
Zenigame
@zeni.eth
I got screwed by a bank/paypal/hosting service once when they charged me for a subscription I had already cancelled. I had since moved countries and so wasn't paying attention to the bank account. Checked in to see tons of fees from a negative balance. What a nightmare. I can definitely get on board with making users more free and more safe.
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Frank pfp
Frank
@deboboy
There’s a great opportunity - right now! - to lift up the poor with the primitives we all enjoy and gain from. But, as you infer they’re not going to get it right away because they’re trying to avoid homelessness or worse. What’s the project level next step on this? I’m in.
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Colin Charles pfp
Colin Charles
@bytebot
So well written I hope everyone reads this. 37 $tipn
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Jacob pfp
Jacob
@jrf
it is more free in terms of money movement on the internet, across borders, p2p, gig economy, etc. tho i totally hear your point and agree that the 1-liner for normies needs work
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christopher pfp
christopher
@christopher
@bracky summarize this for me
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P RE SHUS pfp
P RE SHUS
@preshus
Make users like me more free and safe
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