There are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in existence, but almost all of them are held for speculation. How do we get people to spend these currencies? And, more importantly, how do we make them a medium of exchange that consumers can use in everyday life?

Instead of building the underlying blockchain infrastructure with the hope that consumers will, one day, spend tokens on physical goods, cryptocurrency projects need to focus on building products that their consumers will use. And if we look at where the spending will occur, the physical world already operates in fiat currency, but the digital world is ripe for disruption.

Any company that releases its own token has the goal of establishing a new economy, but most projects haven’t thought further than this part of the plan. We here at Kin have a three-step plan for activating our economy among mainstream consumers.

Step One: Give Users an Initial Spending Opportunity to Understand Crypto

While early adopters might jump at the opportunity to become one of the first in a new economy, the average user (like me) has one question: What will I spend this on?

Crypto projects need to build products with real use cases, and this can be done by listening to what we, their consumers, actually want — especially in digital environments. Businesses — tech companies, specifically — have access to a wealth of insight from their users. However, the big monopolies only care about and extract consumer data that they can sell to advertisers to make money, instead of learning how the users would like them to improve their experience.

Someone, like myself, might be interested in spending crypto if an app, platform, or service that I regularly use created new features that could only be unlocked with cryptocurrency. In order to understand how these currencies benefit us, average consumers need something basic to spend these tokens on, and the virtual world is where these introductory opportunities await.

Step Two: Create An Easy Way To Earn Crypto For Potential Use

Once I know there’s a digital good that I want to have (and I must pay for it with crypto), my next thought is: How do I get enough tokens to purchase it? I can go to an exchange to trade my hard-earned fiat for crypto, but isn’t there a way that I can earn just a bit without dipping into my own pocket?

Digital environments easily lend themselves to creating simple ways for people to earn crypto that they can then use on the virtual goods they want. I might not complete a lengthy online survey for a five dollar reward in fiat, but I would consider participating in a quick poll if I knew it would instantly give me enough cryptocurrency to unlock a new feature that I’ve always wanted to see in my favorite app. By simplifying access to crypto, more mainstream consumers will be able to begin thinking about using it.

Step Three: Give Users Even Better Ways to Earn and Spend Crypto

Now that I’ve earned my first bit of crypto, I can unlock the new feature that originally sparked my interest. I’ve seen how a new crypto-enabled offering improved my favorite app or platform, and the minimal effort that I put in to earn it proved to be worth my time.

Knowing that there are even more opportunities to spend crypto, many of which (we would hope) are even better than the first, makes me want to continue earning currency so that I can continue spending it. The average consumer will be willing to take a longer quiz or survey from a brand, or even spend their time creating content, in return for more tokens to use on the next big feature or virtual good from the apps and platforms they love.