I got some mail today that wasn't bills for once, it was a new Wirex card, fresh off the boat. I kind of find it ironic that I have a card to spend crypto that I don't plan on spending, but I also figure that it isn't a bad idea to have something just in case it is needed in some kind of an emergency. I am not planning on emergencies, but it is best to be prepared. This card replaces the one that I already had, as now they are issuing new cards due to their partnership with Mastercard.
One thing that is often lacking in crypto is design and user experience, but it seems that finally crypto-companies are starting to recognize that UX is important. The Wirex card came in a nice little cardboard slip with a small pull-tab.Pulling it slid the card out and an analogue "pop-up" with "I pay my way. I pay by Wirex." written on it. Tacky perhaps, but it was still unexpected, making the experience a little more special.
I used to train a higher-up manager at a large Finnish paper company and he would tell me about some of the things that they did in order to improve user experience. For example, the mill he worked at made specialty papers and one one of the things they would create is cigarette cartons for the Asian markets. In China, cheap, counterfeit cigarettes are common, as is the need to show off wealth, so the "discerning smoker" would want to prove that the cigarettes they bought were genuine. To accomplish this, the cigarette company did two key things.
Two simple and cheap things to do, so that the guys earning in the cities could signal a little of their fortune, through the cigarettes they bought. But, the paper company took UX a little bit further too, as they had a team work on and a focus group test the feeling of crashing the empty packet. They wanted to make sure it felt good, like they had accomplished something grand - before they cracked the seal on the next pack.
As said, user experience matters.
Exclusivity matters too. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does, because people want to feel special and be recognized for it. Pretty much all product branding leverages this, whether it be, "you're worth it" or meeting the challenge of Just doing it, the underlying message is that having or using a product makes you better than those who don't. It doesn't have to be true or even truly believed, it just has to give the sense that it could be seen as true, that it makes some perceptible difference - especially to those who might be looking from the outside. A Rolex doesn't tell the time any better than a Swatch watch.
Crypto doesn't have good user experience, as it is difficult to set wallets up and manage passwords, when these things have been outsourced to a bank or some other service for so long. But, considering how much value is being pushed around the blockchains, people should actually be looking on in wonder at just how simple it is, considering now, everyone can be a bank. What were all those management and transfer fees for if an average person can do it from their own phone from anywhere in the world, cheaper? What were the multiple day-long delays in payments for when the transfers are going through in seconds - or minutes at worst?
While a group of us who have some position in crypto were talking around the coffee table the other day and a non-holder said, "but you can't spend it anywhere" - I showed him my (old) Wirex card and said, it even has contactless payment.
A lot of what holds people back from crypto is that they think it is far more unwieldy than it actually is. Yes, it is more complicated than having a bank manage it all, but it is getting easier by the day and now that "real companies" are coming into the industry and using their resources and knowledge to improve end user experience. Far too much of the crypto industry has been focused on the technical, without factoring in the human - and for the projects that keep pushing technical advantage over user experience, they are going to struggle to attract users.
On Hive, it is the second-layer communities, products and services that are charged to bring user experience to the table and they should step up, because it is in their best interest to do so, as it is in the best interest of their own experience too. I think that after being stagnant in smooth user experience for so long, we are starting to creep toward making the Hive blockchain simpler and more accessible for people to join and use, but we have a long way to go to make it seamlessly integrate with daily life.
Once charged with some value, the Wirex card is like any other card issued by a bank, except it builds a bridge between the old and the newly emerging digital economy. Once it is easy enough, how long will it be until the average person does what Russell Okung from the NFL did and say to their employer, "pay me in Bitcoin."
One day - I might even use the card.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
