You might have seen some of my videos where I visit shops that accept bitcoin and I pay with @keychain + @v4vapp . The process is simple: business generates a Lightning QR, I do some magic and they receive their BTC, end of story.
In the backend, I'm using $HBD stored in my HIVE wallet. I use v4vapp to convert it to Bitcoin over Lightning and sign the transaction with my Keychain mobile app.
The reason I do this is because our neighboring nation, El Salvador, implemented bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 under President Nayib Bukele. The news not only made shockwaves all over the world, it made bitcoiners want to go to El Salvador and use their bitcoin to buy pupusas! Non-coiners all of a sudden wanted to have bitcoin and were asking everybody how they could get their hands on some.
There were at least two companies in Guatemala that made it easy for businesses to accept bitcoin, convert it to local currency in the backend, have it sent to the business's bank account the same day and file their taxes for them. These two businesses are called IBEX, with their solution IBEX Pay
And the second one is Osmo
As you can see, their apps and payment terminals are super user-friendly and their advertising is beautiful, eye-catching and professional. They have every legal aspect on point, including taxes, allowing newbies to explore with confidence and they're present at pretty much every bitcoin meetup in the region.
They've done a very good job at orange pilling many businesses in Latin America, from Mexico to Costa Rica, so it's a great opportunity for content creators like me to make videos showing people how easy it is to use bitcoin. It's also an amazing opportunity to use my favorite freedom tools of all: Hive-based dapps! Yessir! I'm referring at the very least to the amazing Keychain+v4v Combo, which allows me to spend a non-custodial, non-KYC stable coin I've earned from upvotes and tips from other users who've found my content valuable in one form or another. I make these videos once every week or so to pay for beer, food and even clothes!
What I spend is only a small percentage of my holdings. Most of what I earn I stake in a process known as Powering Up. My cryptocurrency never leaves my wallet, it's just placed in a savings account. The amount of Hive Power, as it's called, gives me more voting power to use to vote for block producers (known as witnesses), content creators, DAO proposals, and even create HIVE accounts for others.
Yesterday I was in the mood for some delicious ramen, so Pam and I went down to a delicious place called Umai Ramen where I've made videos using Keychain before:
Well, here we were. Happy as kids in a candy store.
This time, however, when I asked for the check and said I'd like to pay in Bitcoin, the waiter apologized and said their bitcoin system was temporarily disabled. Mind you, this is a free, bitcoin Lightning QR generator. It's not "a system" where the business has to pay a subscription or anything. They just didn't want to bother with using a different technology than what they're already used to, which brings me to the main topic of this post:
Resistance to change
Driving adoption of freedom mentality and showing folks how to use freedom tools is a bit like pushing a huge bolder uphill, isn't it?
It can be frustrating trying to show people the light and they just don't seem to want to see. We spend an awful lot of energy making very little progress, and when you stop, things will just go back to the way they used to be.
This was one such case.
I wasn't going to give up my ramen though, it was delicious! But it did get me thinking about how difficult it is getting people to change, even if it's good for them!
Could it be that learning how to use a new payment terminal app is more than a minor inconvenience? Could it mean a major disruption to their routine?
Could it be that the whole concept of blockchain technology is too complicated and they're just embarrassed to ask?
I don't have the answer to that, but I do know this:
Maybe blockchain technology won't be mainstream until people don't even know they're using it; it's just under the hood. Who knows. I'll continue to learn about and use freedom tech as well as build wealth outside of the legacy system. I'm sure there's at least two or three people that might be interested in what I have to say.
Posted Using INLEO
I think the reasons are various. Some just think crypto assets are not real or only used by criminals. For others the Tools are still too complicated compared to web2 Apps. Anyways, in the end we will all use digital assets within the next few years since they are just a logical extension to the digitalisation of literally everything.
The BTC-HIVE bridge built by @brianoflondon is btw something really useful. Havent paid with it yet but used it to convert assets several times.
This example is a bit different. These are businesses whose owners already accepted using bitcoin over Lightning and trained on how to generate a Lightning QR. Did you watch the attached video? I've paid at this shop before. So it's not about them thinking it's for criminals.
In this case, people's resistance to change comes from something else.
Haven‘t meant the Business with that aspect, Alex. That was a general remark. Regarding business adoption or this remark „our Bitcoin system is out of Order“, well agree that its probably a cheap excuse because maybe they feel more familiar with traditionell currencies or they are simply not trained enough to use the Lightning invoicing. Or what do you think?
In this particular case, I think they probably have to spend 5 minutes explaining the process to a new waiter, and from an employee's perspective, why waste an extra 5 minutes?
As a general statement, I just think people tend to want to stay in their comfort zone. That could mean not working out, not learning something new and well... not being open to exploring alternative methods of sending and receiving value.
Comfort zones, yeah. 😏
Hello Alex
People are reluctant to leave their comfort zone because they are afraid, but as soon as it is explained to them and shown how easy transactions are, they begin to see things differently.
I understand how to use the v4vapp, but what I don't understand is how to create (or if I should) an account on the ligthing network, because otherwise I assure you that I would be using my hive keychain more frequently, and even more so now with the benefits that Distriator offers, that cashback makes everything more attractive.
Bukele is my idol, he is a model of a Latin American president to follow, I previously greatly admired Mujica, but Nayib with his changes and implementations overshadows him. Great that you adopt btc and I hope you do it with hive =D
!PIZZA
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You don't need to create a Lightning wallet to use v4vapp. The creator, Brian Of London, runs a Lightning node for us. You can think of this as an intermediate solution until something more scalable is made. All you need is for a shop to give you a Lightning invoice. You can pay it with your v4vapp. Of course, you can also have a Lightning wallet, there are a bunch of apps like Muun and Wallet of Satoshi that work perfectly fine.
Fabulous, thank you very much for clarifying this. I will do a test somewhere that accepts payments in BTC.
Do you have any information about Mexico regarding how accepted/used Bitcoin and Hive are?
It’s true—I’ve been on Hive for two years, but I still feel like a beginner. I think many people do feel intimidated. Perhaps there is something out there, but I still haven’t found a systematic tutorial that can be used by beginners and help us reach an expert level. That would be ideal.
Thank you very much for your content.
!DIY
!POB
!PGM
Thank you for your comment my friend. I'm in the process of making some detailed tutorials for newcomers to use as a guide when they're getting to know the HIVE ecosystem. Here are two that I think you might find useful:
Let me know if there's something specific you need help with and I can gladly make a tutorial about it.
Oh wow! That would be super! I'm looking forward to see them.
Also thanks for the two link tutorials and the work you do! 👍
!DIY
!POB
!HBIT
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@acgalarza just sent you a DIY token as a little appreciation for your comment dear @alex-rourke! Feel free to multiply it by sending someone else !DIY in a comment :) You can do that x times a day depending on your balance so:!DIYSTATSI think people sometimes see change as a stressful thing. They probably forget that scaling from whatever system they were used to would not only better their business but attract other customers as well.
I think you're right. Not everybody will choose self-custody. Not everybody will choose parallel economies. Not everybody will choose freedom. Change is... uncomfortable sometimes, but many times it helps you grow.
Es muy cierto eso que la gente no se interesa mucho en cambiar su rutina , por lo menos a mí me pasó con un amigo que tiene experiencia en binance, y le dije y le expliqué los pasos para entrar a Hive y generará criptos haciendo contenido de lo que más en tuviese afinidad, pero cuando comenzaron los obstáculos para abrir la cuenta, luego lo de las 5 claves el maquetado con códigos HTML,
Y otras cuántas cosas que ya para uno son normales, el no a tenido mayor interés , pues ya está adaptado a una rutina que maneja, las dificultades, hacen un filtro en este mundo digital, hay personas que tienen mucho más tecnología, es decir teléfono potente señal de wifi en su casa, computadora, cosas que yo aún no he logrado tener hasta ahora, y tampoco aprovechan estás alternativas para ganar algo extra, pues están acostumbrados a una rutina
Podařilo se vám video zhlédnout?
Tento podnik přijímal bitcoiny již dříve. Najednou se rozhodli, že je přestanou přijímat. Používali jste aplikaci Lightning, jako je například Wallet of Satoshi? Její používání je nesmírně snadné.
Nechápu, proč lidé raději sklánějí hlavu před vládou, místo aby používali nástroje svobody.
You can query your personal balance by
@acgalarza just sent you a DIY token as a little appreciation for your post dear @alex-rourke! Feel free to multiply it by sending someone else !DIY in a comment :) You can do that x times a day depending on your balance so:!DIYSTATS$PIZZA slices delivered:
(1/5) @manclar tipped @alex-rourke