We, at OffChain Luxembourg, believe strongly in an upcoming crypto-led evolution (not "revolution"). An evolution of our societies and economies.
But the beginnings are always difficult. Old habits die hard and existing infrastructure works quite well ... most of the time.
For crypto to make inroads, people who know nothing about it today will have to agree to give it a try. One of the occasions when that could happen is for everyday payments. But why would a normie, today, accept to bother with paying with crypto in Europe?
This is the question I set out to answer hereafter.
It's about learning. One learns as long as one lives
Crypto is the “new game in town”. While it’s been around for 15 years, a European legal framework for it, called MiCA, is just about to enter into application!
“So what?” you ask. Fair enough! Take it from us: it might not be a big deal, but it’s new, it’s interesting, it’s fun, it’s hip and trendy!
Not to mention that it’s a perfect opportunity to learn something new that will make a great topic of conversation with your friends!
Indie’s (@indies.cafe) in Luxembourg will provide the beer for your crypto, in partnership with OffChain Luxembourg a.s.b.l. (@offchain-lux )
It's about having a fall-back solution
Remember the “Crowdstrike” bug earlier this year? All payment systems were down because of a rushed, buggy IT upgrade! Wouldn’t everybody have wished that an alternative be available?
Earlier still, a Worldline outage had impacted payments in Luxembourg and Belgium.
It might sound unlikely today, but crypto is here to stay. Soon, it might happen that you have some crypto in your wallet that you care less about than you care about your hard earned euros! Then you’ll be happy to have ways of spending that crypto!
It's about the local economic fabric
Have you noticed how many window shops appear empty and deserted in the city? The centre seems to be emptying of shops!
Small shop owners face many headwinds, notably from high rents. But the fees charged by VISA and Mastercard eat further into their profitability and sometimes tip the scales.
Cash might be cheaper, but handling cash is not free either.
If you care for your friendly neighbourhood shop, go for crypto! Fast and easy like the credit cards, cheaper to handle than cash!
It's also an enticing economic proposition
Although wafer-thin cashbacks of 1% or 2% exist in the Credit Card world, they are not widespread in Europe.
Depending on the crypto, discounts and cashbacks can be available, and sometimes they are quite tempting!
OffChain Luxembourg works with Distriator and SpendHBD which allow users to claim rewards for spending Bitcoin Lightning and HBD!
The rewards can go up to 15%! Your beer and burger may cost, say, 30€, but if you pay in crypto, you can get up to 4,5€ in cashback.
It's about a lighter sort of money
Although not the case today, there will soon come a day when you’ll earn crypto easier than you earn euros.
When that day comes, the stuff you buy will just feel cheaper when paid in crypto than in euro.
OffChain Luxembourg works on building just such a crypto, the Offchain Luxembourg Token or “OCLT”.
OCLT will be easy to earn and easy to spend, so that all your beers will feel cheaper and more refreshing!
Give Bitcoin and HBD a try today!
For everyday payment to become a reality and mainstream the very first thing we want is fee less transaction like HIVE coin....u can not do so with ETH or BTC because retail needs are in micro and for a micro payment the fee might in BTC might be more than the retail cost.
Not only that, but you also need a stablecoin. Even if you pay with HIVE and you have 0 fees, by the time you reach Binance or HTX to sell it, it might have already lost 10%! I remember some idiots here on Hive, and on steem before that, who were at some point trying to advocate for the removal of HBD because it was "too complicated". Ideally, HIVE should have a stablecoin for all major currencies, especially the euro (a Hive Backed Euro). The interest rate on HBD savings is also a big incentive to use the HIVE network rather than banking network
Could not agree anymore.
This is a good problem to start having answers to...
Thank you, I will build on these for my own answers to this important question; Why Use Crypto...
Incidentally, did Crowstrike Affect Cryptopayments?
I can't say but I tend to believe that it did not.
😁
I was trying to put myself in the shoes of a sceptical "no coiner" who is lazy AF and is used to waving his iPhone next to the vendor's PoS terminal.
What can I tell such a person? I can't tell him it's easier, because it's not.
I can't tell him it's for the discounts because to get them, he'd have to put in some work, and he's too lazy for that.
He's also typically too dense to think about the next "Crowdstrike", he'd simply shrug when confronted with that.
He's too egotistical to care about the local economic fabric, the small shops who barely survive.
To such a typical user, the only thing that possibly works is ... envy! "My friend paid with crypto? I HAVE to pay with crypto too!"
you're so right - the only cachet!
How is Offchain Luxembourg going?
Going great, thank you for asking, we are very busy working toward our (self-imposed) deadline - we want to notify the whitepaper to the "national competent authority" by Nov 22nd so that we can officially kick-off the offer on Dec. 30th, when MiCA enters into application.
Therefore I didn't have enough time to post detailed updates. Do you follow us on LinkedIn ? Look up OffChain Luxembourg page, if you ever wander there, we have a 3-strong marketing and communication team of volunteers who is posting over there on twice a day. I thought I would have them post on Hive in addition but that's asking too much of them at this point
The involvement sounds great. Good to hear it is going well. LinkedIn keeps offering me jobs if I login, I wouldn't mind but they are all "Seriously?" kinds of jobs.
How bro
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