Why crypto isn’t catching on with users
A consumer expert explains why crypto struggles with adoption and what the industry can do about it
Back in 1962 an American sociologist named Everett Rogers came up with a framework for how something can achieve mass adoption. His Diffusion of Innovations book outlined five factors: observability, trialability, compatibility, complexity, and relative advantage.
More than 60 years on, and these same principles may well explain why more people haven’t got involved in crypto, according to Alistair Rennie, the Global Head of Innovation and Thought Leadership at Protocol Theory.
New technologies such as mobile payments and ChatGPT scored very highly on these factors, and hence have been widely adopted by the general public.
However, it’s the opposite for crypto, with poor scores across all five factors.
"It's not easy to try it. It's not easy to observe it. It's complicated. It's generally not seen as being compatible, and people do not understand the relative advantage of it," Rennie told The Crypto Radio.
He suggests simple solutions, such as providing demo accounts for users to experiment with crypto without risk, and improving the overall user experience to reduce the "UX landmines" that can lead to accidental losses.
Crypto’s user problem runs deeper than UX
But the challenge goes beyond just user experience. Rennie emphasized the need for better education and a shift in the industry's priorities. "We need to make it tryable. There's ways we can learn how long we've got, but there's ways we can do that," he said.
Rennie's journey into the world of web3 and crypto began with a hunch that the existing financial and technological systems could be improved. After stints in consumer research, financial services, and even a role at tech giant Google, Rennie found himself drawn to the potential of blockchain and decentralization.
"The prospect of working on, potentially, the next iteration of the internet was really exciting," he said. This drive led him to leave Google and join a crypto exchange in New Zealand, eventually landing at Protocol Theory, where he is on a mission to put the user first.
Memecoins are a distraction from web3’s original vision
Defining web3 as "a more equitable internet, where instead of all of the advertising revenue going to just one company, the distribution is more equitable," Rennie lamented that the industry has yet to truly deliver on this promise.
"We've hit a bump in the road, and it's a very lucrative bump in the road," he said, referring to the current focus on speculative memecoins over building a better user experience.
Rennie believes that the industry's short-term thinking and the ability to make quick profits from token speculation (aka memecoins) have distracted from the core web3 vision. "Instead of building this decentralized value for users, we build tokens for investors," he explained.
As Rennie and Protocol Theory work to release a report detailing a framework for improving web3 adoption, the message is clear: the future of the internet lies in the hands of the users, not just the investors and builders. By focusing on the factors that drive mass adoption, the crypto industry can move beyond the "lucrative bump in the road" and deliver on the promise of a more equitable, user-centric web3.
