Why is good communication and outreach so vital to cryptocurrency projects? In this piece I'll explain why the message can be as important as the technology it's talking about, why I think Bitcoin SV is doing great at this, and how it could be better. I'll also look at a couple of other crypto communities and make a few points about how effective they've been.

In my last piece I touched on the problem of lost "momentum" in Bitcoin Cash. That's not disparaging the technological features of BCH or its developers in any way; it's a statement based purely on the buzz a community is able to generate, which impacts its enthusiasm and ultimately, value.

Both BCH and BSV have passionate and enthusiastic communities. But right now all the momentum is with BSV, with personalities and resources more able to gain attention. Let me explain.

Tough Sell

Bitcoin forks (regardless of merit) will always struggle to appeal to the masses without a clear definition of purpose, strong branding, and good communicators to deliver its message. Without those, you could have the most awesome technology in the world and no-one will ever know.

Let's look at how the average person out there sees Bitcoin. And by that, I mean someone who has heard of it but never been involved in any crypto community. They may be curious enough to ask questions, but haven't done any research themselves.

I know several people like this. They know the word "Bitcoin", but if I mention "Bitcoin Cash" or "Bitcoin SV" their eyes glaze over and they look confused. If I give them some BCH or BSV to get them started, they'll inevitably try to send it to a BTC address (no matter what I tell them) and get confused when it doesn't work.

That might sound strange or even stupid to someone who's been in the Bitcoin community for years, but that's what life's like out in normal-people land.

What this means is, anyone trying to "sell" the idea of Bitcoin SV or Bitcoin Cash has a tougher challenge than others. It also means the group with the most powerful and professional message, and means to get it out there, will have the upper hand.

Branding and Promotion

Look around the other parts of the crypto world, and it's obvious some projects stand out better than others. I'd highlight DASH and Decred as two examples. Regardless of their merits or potential as world-changing digital economy projects, both these groups understand the power of coordination and consistency. Wherever you go in the crypto world, you'll see DASH somewhere. Part of its block reward goes* to marketing and sponsorship; the team travels the world and attends major conferences; it has community members skilled at content creation who maintain various websites, podcasts and video shows devoted to the cause.

Decred is similar, albeit on a smaller scale -- but when you see their team at events they'll probably be wearing visible, branded outfits with the distinctive Decred logo. Its graphic design is consistent and attractive. That project also has a formal structure to enable project pitching and funding, called Politeia .

Their advantage here is having their own name and logo. They're not "Bitcoin-something" with the familiar "B" symbol in different colors or angles. But that situation is what it is -- both BCH and BSV need to keep their respective identities to preserve their claims to be the "real" Bitcoin. So resources must go towards making sure it's Bitcoin SV that gets seen most, by the most people.

BSV, at least, has consistent branding. BCH is slightly more haphazard here: sometimes it's orange, sometimes it's green, its fonts are a mixture of different styles. These subtleties matter in the real world, where attention spans are low and you need to have as much impact as possible.

(*Bitmain proposed a similar block reward structure for BCH in May 2018, as far as I know it was never implemented, but please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Top-Notch Media Is Key

Every crypto project needs at least one (professional-looking) media site for readers to get the latest news and accurate information. Preferably more than one, too, because the greater the variety, the more it looks like an ecosystem full of objective views rather than an authorized PR operation. (Not that there's anything wrong with organized PR, but more about that in a bit.)

Those media should also have the freedom to be (mildly) critical of a project and its personalities where it's warranted, because it looks more trustworthy that way.

Over the years I've had a few developers and investors say to me "we're not interested in dealing with media, we're more interested in building things". I confess as a media person I'm pretty biased on this issue, but without communications channels that will easily reach the public, how will people ever know what you're building? People visit news sites and watch YouTube, they won't necessarily go to company blog pages or search for the most reliable evangelists on social media. You have to make the curious reader's job as easy as possible.

CoinGeek has done a great job getting the BSV message out there so far. The team really stands out at the events they attend and always look professional and well-resourced. Co-ordinated clothing with the company logo, a large presence, and impressive looking equipment. These are also subtleties that tell people you're serious, even if the effect is subconscious. Media is more than just the content you produce.

Calvin Ayre has been marketing his brands and media operations for decades, so obviously he understands this well. nChain gets it too. It surprises me when other projects in the cryptoverse don't seem to, either by under-resourcing their teams or not selecting people with the creative talent to appear well-resourced on a shoestring. I guess it doesn't come naturally to everyone.

That's all in addition to grassroots-style enthusiast media -- blogs, social, webcam/livestream shows. But you'll need slicker operations as well if you want to bring in groups with real money and influence, or make outsiders curious enough to check out the community-produced material.

Personally I'd like participants in BSV to stay positive about its benefits and potential rewards, and try to avoid attacking rival projects. I know things can get emotional sometimes, but it's a turn-off to newcomers, who also subconsciously project criticisms back onto those making them.

Personalities and Corporate Backing

CoinGeek 's podcast referred to Ayre, Craig Wright and Jimmy Nguyen as an "unlikely trio" spreading the word on BSV. Nguyen agreed it was probably true, but also reflects a diversity of personalities who all back BSV for different reasons, while managing to stay on message.

What they have in common is an ability to grab attention for BSV on a large scale, and a "serious player" image. Critics will attack their personal styles and motivations, but the important factor is: it's hard to ignore them.

Similarly, their corporate machines also play a part. Calvin Ayre Media and nChain have completely different images, but seeing those different images campaigning for a common cause also makes people look deeper. The same diversity of corporate and personal motivations has brought thousands more into Bitcoin over the past 10 years.

Like I also said in my last piece, crypto projects shouldn't rely too heavily on major backers for funding and support. However just knowing those big players exist can be backing enough. More people will put their more limited resources into development and evangelism if there's someone with a far higher profile up there on stage, or on TV, or holding events and stamping project branding on everything. Conversely, the grassroots will lose motivation if they feel their underlying foundations are weak, or unsure of whether they really support the ecosystem or not.

The support from the personalities and companies in BSV doesn't feel half-baked or temporary. They're all quite clear about what they want, and it doesn't feel like they're about to splinter off in different directions, or walk away altogether.

Anyway, these are all the factors that convinced me Bitcoin SV has "momentum". I know that's no guarantee of long-term success, and that the only constant in cryptocurrency is that everything can change suddenly. BSV as a distinct brand is only four months old, but the support from players of all types and sizes is keeping things speeding along well.