Marketplaces: The Key To Adoption

Everyone is wondering what will be the killer DApp. What is it that will catch the attention of the masses and push them to embrace cryptocurrency?

While I believe there will be something out there to trigger that, I feel that it is wrong question to be asking. Instead, the focus should be upon how do we create more avenues of use for the cryptocurrency that is already out there?

It is no secret that decentralized finance is starting to make some headway. The last few months witnessed the opening of many opportunities for people to earn passive income on the crypto they are hodling. Instead of having it sit somewhere awaiting another bull run, people can actually get a return in the meantime.

The challenge with this is most people are not investors. In the United States, according to reports, 84% of the stock is held by 10% of the people. This does not open up a very large market.

Of course, this could change as people receive rewards in the form of cryptocurrency. Without another outlet, it might be best to put that money to work in some form.

However, it is another outlet that could provide an answer.

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Marketplaces are something that are overlooked at the moment across the cryptocurrency sphere. For some reason, the idea of open up stores that sell goods and services has not quite taken hold. That is starting to change with a few solutions popping up. However, this is something that a site like Steemit.com should have done a couple years back when there were 250K accounts operating on the site.

Alas, that is water under the bridge as they say.

There are a couple projects that did announce they are moving into this realm. @actifit already opened one up with a few options for people. Fortunately, I know that an expansion is on the way. One tribe, SteemLeo, also announced that they will be implementing a marketplace for digital products in the next couple months.

This certainly is a start.

In my mind, every tribe should be looking at opening one up. People regularly ask, "what makes a tribe different?". Often, this answer is not clear. However, if a tribe did have a marketplace with products that were different from what the others had, that would be incentive for people to engage in that token.

The key is going to be offering what people truly need. Digital products are obviously the easiest since it is nothing more than pay and download. Amazon was started on this concept with their ebooks. Nevertheless, for cryptocurrency to be truly effective, there need to be things that people actually need.

Household budgets are taking a hit. This is only going to get worse as the impact of the bankers financial "engineering" is felt. Cryptocurrency can offer a solution to getting people some more money. However, as it stands now, one needs to go through a process of 4 or 5 steps to convert that money into something that can be spent i.e. fiat.

Obviously, when we get into physical products, shipping becomes an issue. Nevertheless, this is something that can be overcome. People who are on a site like Etsy are shipping items out all the time. Once again, this is not Amazon but it is a start.

Imagine if one could get involved in the Homesteading group (if there is one) and buy canned goods that people put together. If I need new sneakers, I can spend my AFIT tokens on them. Twinkies are said to have the shelf life of 3 nuclear wars but, today, I cannot buy them with cryptocurrency.

For the moment, the crypto audience is very small. We see this reflected in the DApp numbers. While many are being built, people are not using them. This is across the board. Those blockchains that have a solid foundation, like Steem, are going to have to keep catering to that group for a while. Those on the outside are not quite ready yet. As things worsen, like they are in Venezuela and Iran, we do see crypto adoption increase so we can conclude it is on the way. However, that still might be a couple years down the road.

We see the success of a marketplace where they exist. Look at @steemmonsters and how well it did with the selling of cards. There is a market that is being served. People are showing up with their STEEM and buying what they want. Now I realize that people cannot eat or keep themselves warm with these digital assets but it does show what happens when there is an avenue created for cryptocurrency.

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One of the reasons why the Libra project was feared so much is not only the enormous user base that Facebook has. The fact that it has one of the largest online marketplaces means that, with the implementation of the token, a lot of retail transactions would take place outside of the banking system (fiat). This is not something the establishment wants.

Wouldn't it be helpful if the tribes has a plug-in that instantly put a marketplace on the site? Imagine if every tribe had one, filled with whatever products they wanted to offer. This would instantly make all tokens associated with those tribes more valuable. In fact, it might make all currencies on the platform more valuable, or at least sought after, since it is an easy conversion. Heck, there is nothing that says Steem-Engine couldn't have its own marketplace, pricing everything in Steemp.

Most who are involved in cryptocurrency now are speculating in some manner. We are all awaiting the time when the bull takes over and the prices of tokens take off. However, it is equally important to focus upon the utility aspect of the tokens. The masses are not speculators hence really have little interest in accumulating tokens for the long term.

They are shoppers however. And if we provide an outlet of goods and services that can be acquired using the tokens paid out as reward on the different platforms, that would hold appeal to a lot more people.

I am certain all of this will come in time. Nevertheless, early adopters tend to be thought of differently if they can leverage the advantage. It is time for tribes and DApps to start thinking about this. With cryptocurrency being issued on a daily basis, providing a path that will be heavily used is essential.

My belief is that marketplaces will provide that path.

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