Sonny Singh, the CCO of BitPay looks to build a coalition of leading Bitcoin companies to boost Bitcoin’s public image and bring Bitcoin’s talents to the masses.
Stumbling block
Bitcoin has many things going for it. It provides a secure, smartphone-compatible online payment network right when the security of traditional payments systems is falling apart, worldwide. It moves money in seconds when standard wire systems still take days. Bitcoin even limits its own supply to instill appreciation into its own economic formula for success, long-term. It solves many, many problems that plague the status quo everyday, yet it can’t seem to solve its own problems.
The mainstream just isn’t ready for it, and aren’t biting. Only the most forward-thinking, tech-savvy minds are in the Bitcoin space right now. That might soon change if BitPay’s CCO has his way. This stumbling block may not last very much longer, as he looks to build a coalition to strengthen Bitcoin’s public image and bring Bitcoin’s talents to the masses.
A Fantastic 4 of Bitcoin
Sonny Singh, the chief commercial officer of BitPay mused to IBTimes of the UK about the potential synergy that could rebuild Bitcoin’s public image. Venture capital is flooding into the Bitcoin industry, doubling last year’s total investment already. Bitcoin is attracting the best and brightest minds in technology, economics and business. Mainstream adoption is still a long ways off, and Singh sees a way to shorten the curve. Singh proposed to:
"Have a Bitcoin Association. Like in America they used to have those commercials for milk: 'Milk does the body good.' That was a very powerful thing. I think a problem Bitcoin faces is that the largest companies - Coinbase, BitPay, Circle, Xapo - they should all kind of work together and talk more among each other.”
Bitcoin’s biggest weakness is its greatest strength, the lack of a centralized leadership. A leader could put a public face on the super-technical protocol. Governments aren’t just militaries and economists, they are people first, most of the time. No one looks after the public image of Bitcoin, defending it from attacks from all sides. Bitcoin is just a system of systems, like the Internet. No one educates the masses on a grand scale or promotes its greatest achievements.
This lack of leadership is also an asset when it comes to the overall security of the system, preventing private interests from destroying such a revolutionary, disruptive system. It’s a double-edged sword.
“(It shouldn’t be about) marketing for their company, but marketing about Bitcoin: 'Why a normal person would use bitcoin, how it can be used,” Singh went on. ”Getting the word out there - working together. You've got all this money people have raised. Let's try to promote the community.”
Visa and Mastercard have been competitors for over 30 years but have managed to work together on initiatives that have helped the entire card industry. Years ago the EMV, or Eurocrat Mastercard and Visa, using Chip Card technology, enhanced consumer fraud protection by being built into the cards themselves. Adoption becomes an afterthought when the two largest payment corporations work together for the greater good of consumers and the industry. Bitcoin should think the same way, according to Singh. He said:
"In the Bitcoin industry it would be great to see Coinbase and Blockchain work together; the wallet vendors and the processors all work together. I mean if Coinbase or Xapo wins, that means everybody is going to win anyway probably. I mean, Visa and MasterCard are competitors right, but they still manage to work on some standards together.”
Unfortunately, nothing has been brokered as of yet. This was more of a thinking-out-loud kind of proposition through the mainstream media by Singh, to get the ball rolling. Good ideas are best shared. This could be the start of something big in Bitcoin’s immediate future. We’ll keep you posted on any developments.