Making Bitcoin Funnier, Friendlier, and More Accessible
For bitcoin to become the planet’s preferred currency, educational content must entice the average person. It needs to reach people where they’re at and perform well on social platforms beyond Twitter and Nostr. While there’s a great deal of content out there, a lot of it is somewhat technical, too long for short attention spans, or lacking the creative flair that makes marketing palatable.
There is an opportunity to improve how bitcoin education is presented and shared globally. A lighthearted, benefit-oriented approach can make information more memorable, shareable, and relatable.
🌀 Introducing “Who is Bitcoin?”
With those goals in mind, we created Who is Bitcoin?, a 10-minute, humorous but educational video that stars a giant, furry, anthropomorphic bitcoin.
While bitcoin are usually depicted as bytes on a blockchain, illustrated coins, or faceless cartoon characters, we took a different path. This bitcoin has quirks, idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes, and even defects of characters (in other words, he’s a lot like all of us), making him relatable much in the same way that Muppets are. Our bitcoin is a grumpy New Yorker who is deeply misunderstood as someone who exists only as a way for people to make money. As the video reveals, this is extremely not the case.
What he’s really here to do is make money better.
🌀 Why a Puppet?
The easy answer is that people love puppets. When we took Bitcoin out into the city to film the scenes we needed for Who is Bitcoin?, people couldn’t help but engage with him. They took selfies, asked questions, introduced their kids, and recorded videos. This kind of “surprise and delight” approach to filmmaking wouldn’t have been possible with 3D animation, 2D animation, or even in a studio with the same puppet. No, bitcoin is for the people, and so is Bitcoin. What’s more friendly, funny, and accessible than a giant, furry, bright orange puppet? Not much. This same affability translates well to video, making Bitcoin a natural spokesperson, whether you’re five feet or five thousand miles away.
Better still, having such a recognizable physical asset at our disposal opens the door to many other creative opportunities, such as bitcoin appearing at conferences, on podcasts, and other educational initiatives. He even created a TikTok: @herecomesbitcoin.
🌀 Project Goals
We want Bitcoin (again, puppet, not currency) to be a first step for people who are curious about bitcoin. As importantly, we want this first step to be a positive, benefit-oriented one and not something overly technical, negative, or that touches on politics in any way, shape, or form. While Bitcoin’s target audience is pre-bitcoiners, we hope existing bitcoiners will be the bridge to them and share the video (and future Bitcoin assets) with bitcoin-curious friends and family members.
Additionally, since this is a bitcoin initiative, it is also an “open-source” initiative. Ideally, the bitcoin community will participate in increasing Bitcoin’s status as an ambassador for sound money. “Who is Bitcoin?” is not intended as a Spiral project. We want other members of the community to make their own Bitcoin from either the video itself, gifs, illustrations, audio files, and other assets that we will provide (listed in the section below).
Don’t like puppets? Weird, but okay. Bitcoin the Puppet doesn’t have to be for everyone. “Who is Bitcoin?” is just a first attempt to shift how bitcoin is marketed. At the very least, we hope this project inspires others to think about funnier, friendlier, and more accessible ways to market bitcoin.
🌀 How to Get Involved
There are many ways to make Bitcoin (still talking about the puppet) work for you, your brand, your project, or whatever.
For starters, you can join Bitcoin Design Community’s #herecomesbitcoin Discord channel. We’re looking for designers, social media gurus, video editors, copywriters, puppet enthusiasts, and anyone interested in educating the world about bitcoin using a big silly monster. All are welcome.
Have ideas for what Bitcoin should do next? Build them. Download assets (gifs, drawings, photo comps) at herecomesbitcoin.org. We’d love to see what you create.
Questions or requests? Reach out directly at hello@herecomesbitcoin.org.
Otherwise, follow @herecomesbitcoin on YouTube and TikTok and send Who is Bitcoin? to everyone you know.
