Like many people that dive into crypto, I've ended up avoiding talking to "normal" people about my investments. You get the typical, "it's a bubble," "it's too risky for me," or "you mean like bitcoin" from the folks that have never even heard of an altcoin. Usually, the best result that you can really hope for is a weird look, and the worst result that you can expect is making the other party think of you as that weird conspiracy theorist guy or girl that lives on the "dark web." Well, here we are, sitting in January of a market cycle that promises solid gains over the course of the next year or two, we're in the middle of a retrace after a few weeks of solid pumps, and I find myself, once again, trying to convince friends and family that our combined efforts could result in us buying a small island in the Pacific Ocean with just a little trust in their friendly neighborhood crypto enthusiast.

So, how do we go about convincing people to throw their tax returns at a bunch of 1's and 0's that have ruined bank accounts in the past.

1. The Brave Browser

image credit: DroidViews

Selling someone on crypto is a lot easier when they see that they can actively benefit from something like BAT and the Brave Browser. Slide it into a conversation while showing somebody something on the internet. Like "oh, have you ever heard of this browser, I use it as my default." This is a piece of technology that was featured on Apple's app store in the "new apps we love" section and created by the same guy that founded Mozilla and invented JavaScript. It's not hard to sell someone on a browser that is fast, sometimes 3-6 times faster than Chrome when it doesn't have to load a metric ass-load of ads on every webpage. Every point that you can make about Brave is easy to understand. From Zoomers to Boomers, everyone is aware of the privacy issues made prevalent by companies like Facebook selling your information to the highest and the lowest bidders. Brave provides a huge solution that everyone should be taking advantage of, with their settings to either turn off ads, making the sale of your data irrelevant, or to turn on ads and receive 70% of the revenue that Brave gets from the advertising company. You could even show them a Brave Verified Creator that you follow on Youtube or Twitch. Maybe even tip them a BAT to show off how important crypto could be to the entertainment industry. A lot of people will skip over Patreon accounts because nobody wants to pay $10 for weird internet privileges with social media personalities, but, give people the option to support their favorites with like 50 cents worth of BAT, that they earned for browsing the internet, and suddenly we have a way of keeping PewDiePie well fed. At the end of the day, the general population is never going to be interested in smart contracts on Ethereum or cutting the cost of international money transfers down to pennies with Ripple. We need to be showing people how to tip their Instagram thots with BAT, instead of trying to convince everyone of the benefits of decentralized currencies. People like their toys, and Brave is one hell of a sophisticated toy.

2. Tezos Staking

image credit: CryptoNinjas

Again, people like to have things handed to them. Sit your friend down, pull up your Tezos baker, and show them your rewards. It's hard to argue against a coin that is up around a 60% gain as we sit here at the end of a bearish year. We are talking about an estimated 5-7% staking reward on an asset that appreciated in a bad market. If you hold on Coinbase, you can show off as you're estimated rewards tick up in real time. I also recommend walking through how the platforms's voting process has proven its resiliency already by solving past problems relatively easily by implementing the solutions that bag holders approve. Partnerships aside, Tezos is an extremely attractive investment, and it's an easy sell to anyones's first venture into the altcoin market.

3. Coinbase Earn

image credit: Coinbase

For a third time, I'm going to recommend selling people on free crypto. Coinbase Earn offers $68 worth of crypto for watching a few educational videos and answering some simple multiple choice questions, the answers to which can be found with a simple search on your Brave browser. This is a great way to start anyone's crypto journey, as it forces people to start with a diverse portfolio and a bit of an understanding of what different kinds of use cases can be exist with blockchain. They will walk away with $68 spread across Orchid, Tezos, Dai, EOS, Stellar Lumens, and BAT, without even exploring the additional $120 still on the table if they ever get around to referring 4 others to explore Coinbase Earn. Lastly, getting someone to set up an account with an exchange is 90% of the battle. Once someone has their foot in the door, I almost guaranteethat they will throw a few hundred dollars into the high cap coins, which is why coinbase is willing to give $10 to anybody using a referral code and trading at least $100 dollars. They know that once you start, it is hard to stop. Now, if I were a trashier shill, then this is where I would link my own referral, but I'll spare you on that.

4. Adoption

image credit: Bitcoinist

Now, I must depart from the theme of showing off easy ways to earn crypto. Your boomer uncle doesn't care about free handouts if he thinks crypto is just slightly fancier internet Monopoly money. A lot of folks need concrete examples of mass adoption coming from large establishments. If you are shilling crypto to friends and family, you definitely need to mention Australia testing their currency on the Ethereum Network. You should definitely make them watch videos of Vitalik Buterin talking with Russian officials. For sure, you need to be bringing up this weeks Davos World Economic Forum, where Ripple got recommended as a solid guideline for what a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) should mimic. And, while you are at it, bring up the mile long list of bank partnerships secured by any number of crypto financial technologies. Hell, you could even bring up the option of spending XRP on Amazon gift cards, or depending on who you are talking to, the ability to spend Tron on Pornhub memberships. Blockchain has made massive traction among institutions that we all deal with on a daily basis.

5. Granddaddy Bitcoin

image credit: me

Finally, you know I have to talk about Bitcoin. 11 years ago, people thought Bitcoin was a scam, a bubble, surely here today and gone tomorrow. Now, we've seen higher highs, higher lows, multiple market cycles, and a certain level of predictability, with the market trending towards seeing tops and bottoms around the new year. It's a much easier sell now than it was in its infancy, so hop in the car, take your buddy to the mall, and walk him up to one of the 5,000 Bitcoin atms that have popped up all over the place.

Its 2020 guys and girls. Crypto is getting serious, and if you aren't trying to get your friends and family involved, then the regret in 10 years could be a weight on your shoulders. Everybody compares crypto to the internet, but how much quicker would the internet have seen adoption if people had had a platform like the internet to use for talking to others about how useful the internet could be. We live in the information age, expect things to happen faster. Get those around you into Crypto now, while 5% of Americans own Bitcoin, not in 2030, when 100% of people will be walking around, buying goods and services with a digital dollar that runs on underlying blockchain technology.