If you commute into a city or a big town you’re probably used to being offered tasters of new products such as soft-drinks, shampoo or energy bars. It is a low-cost and effective alternative to online or TV marketing for a completely new product – putting it directly in the hands of a large number of consumers for free, hoping they like it and will buy it in the future.
When Bitcoin launched – back in 2009 – it faced an extreme challenge in increasing adoption. It wasn’t just new, it was completely different to existing forms of money, had no company or individual behind it you could review, and no marketing budget.
There were no cryptocurrency exchanges – the most popular way adoption grows today – so the only way to buy bitcoin was by sending funds to a miner willing to sell some of the coins they had earned as rewards.
This was fine if you were comfortable with the risk of sending money to a stranger, but it was clear that in order to grow, Bitcoin needed an easier incentive system to build up its user base.
It shouldn’t therefore be a surprise that attempts to spread the word involved putting bitcoin directly in potential users’ hands (virtually speaking) just like the energy bar at a train station; this is how the bitcoin faucet was born.
Leave a Reply