Bitcoin Association President Bruce Fenton has been turning heads this week by reaching out to consumers to demonstrate Bitcoin’s practical uses.
On Friday, he appealed via a Facebook post for ten newcomers to Bitcoin to create a wallet to which he would send US$1 worth of BTC in order for them to see “how Bitcoin works first hand.” The experiment proved so popular that Fenton repeated it yesterday, with Litecoin founder Charlie Lee copying the idea on his Facebook page.
Recipients unanimously voiced their approval in response. “Bruce I’ve been watching this crypto thing for a long time now and it’s long overdue that I jumped on board. Very much appreciate your offer and knowledge,” user Brent Dirks wrote upon receiving the token payment.
But it was the blockchain’s efficiency that proved to be the star of the show, Fenton said in a blog post earlier today. The Facebook experiment necessitated a total of 80 payments, to be sent around the world “from Alaska to Zanzibar,” which was achieved within 15 minutes.
One-dollar converts
This was the news that will most likely have produced 80 new Bitcoin converts. “Mechanically, this could just as easily have been US$100,000,” Fenton tells the community.
And indeed, to read this experiment is a salient reminder of Bitcoin’s progress; whatever the press, its fundamental infrastructure works seamlessly and openly.
“The paperwork to open 80 accounts globally then setup wire instructions would take many hours, spread over weeks and even once done the money transfer would take days more and have a fee 1000% higher than this,” Fenton adds, with the total transaction fee for his 80 payments coming in at just under US$1.
“There is no bank or other existing system which could possibly hope to match this.”
If this all seems too much like a modest publicity stunt, it may be prudent to withhold judgment, for Bitcoin is certainly in need of maximal socially-based publicity. A survey by the Bitcoin Investment Trust earlier this month concluded that while 30% of respondents were confused by the Bitcoin concept, which is nevertheless an impressive statistic, 83% subsequently reversed their opinion upon being given more information.
“We… found that as confusion about Bitcoin dissipated, enthusiasm grew,” the Trust stated in support of the findings.
Social outreach on behalf of Bitcoin is gathering increasing popularity and becoming in vogue, and eyes may well be on Fenton for hints of a further payout in the name of the blockchain. Every man has his price, but it would seem that at present, for Fenton’s and Lee’s participants, this price is one dollar.