I fully agree with you: The mass will only start using a currency when this is stable.
The currency shall at least be stable in the individuals own (little) economy (income vs expenses).
When not pegging a virtual currency to the individuals main currency (which is still a fiat currency today), a circular economy is required around the virtual currency used by an individual, ie the major part of income and expenses shall be in in the same currency whereby the prices of goods and services are not fluctuating compared to the income of the individual.
It is too ideal to think such circular economies can be created in a matter of months, or even years, therefore a different approach is required.
The approach in my view is to create virtual currencies that are pegged to the local fiat currency, like SBD is, or USDT. Such currencies are out in the market for already many decades, namely the loyalty point systems offered by many brands and companies, from credit card companies, hotels, grocery shops, department stores, to airliners and more. Such systems do not have any influence of traders, that the SBD still has. Maybe we shall indeed create those currencies, since without the 'old' financial methods to earn money by (short term) fluctuations of virtual value, short term virtual value fluctuations are not forced and triggers anymore.
The ability to create market pegged assets for any currency is a feature of Bitshares, the progenitor of Steem. You can trade BitUSD, BitGold, BitSilver, BitCNY, BitEUR, and more. The major thing that is needed next is the market liquidity to flock there.
Thank you for pointing this out. You are correct, but it is not only about creating the stable currency, and we have them indeed, all the Bitxxx, SBD, USDT etc (although I believe most of them are not 100% pegged, but kind of). It is about giving such currency a place in the individuals eco system, sellers of products and services need to adopt them, and buyers from services (employers for instance, companies buying services from freelancers and contractors and so on) need to start offering to pay in such currencies. I refer to my step 1 plan in the other comment I made. On top of that, it requires a tremendous marketing effort. Think of Paypal, that service did not grow by just being there. I don't see any of the crypto currencies being marketed as you would have to do to make a new service or good known by the mass. BUT, IMHO, none of the crypto's are ready for the mass, since point 2 in my step plan is not addressed at all. A wallet with some address like this 2gjhf2h35vjhm1q7tgqowfk is very far from user friendly. Anyhow, SBD, bitxxx is a step in the good direction (although one can argue for the success and simplicity and the growth of of Steem and Steemit, SBD maybe should be trashed, but that is another topic).
Good thing graphene chains use account names instead of hashes!
I totally agree we need a massive grassroots movement / marketing push to really make a dent.
Super indeed, something that is really required.
Interesting idea. Thanks for the feedback.
To get the mass moved away from what they know; Small steps are required. Crypto Currencies as they are now implemented, are just too big a step to take in 1 go! Even in decades when crypto currencies are not changing, I do not believe the mass will ever use them. Therefore, the only way to move from bank dominated currencies into decentralised virtual currencies is by taking the required small steps. Step 1 = get the mass used to a currency that is 1) 100% stable to their major fiat currency 2) super simple user experience 3) well integrated with current payment systems including in-store POS with the new element to the user that the currency is decentralised, not controlled by the current financial institutions (maybe don't tell the mass that it is decentralised, they don't need to know, at least it may not be the marketing slogan).
Hehe, good points. Sell it as "freedom currency" if "decentralized" is too confusing ;)
Possible indeed :) SBD = Freedom Money
Or maybe even skip the freedom part. Sell SBD as a global (non-geo-located) currency to the user/consumer. Start with alliances with global services like Uber, AirBNB and others, maybe including an in-build point system for loyalty, then it can be sold as a loyalty point system, a global currency, or a hybrid, loyalty + currency.