In the last decade, Bitcoin cemented its place in the world as a store of value, an alternative asset, and an Internet-native payment rail. But Bitcoiners want more! 

The Bitcoin community is advocating and working towards what it refers to as hyperbitcoinization. 

Read on to learn what hyperbitcoinization is and how Bitcoin education will play an integral role on the path to a “bitcoinized” world. 

What is Hyperbitcoinization? 

Hyperbitcoinization is the process for rapid adoption of Bitcoin that will lead it to become the world’s default value system. 

It’s the voluntary transition to using Bitcoin as an everyday currency, largely replacing fiat currencies, and Bitcoin becoming the base layer that a fairer and more transparent financial system will be built on. 

The Director of Research at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, Daniel Krawisz, explained in an article in 2014 that “hyperbitcoinization is a voluntary transition from an inferior currency to a superior one, and its adoption is a series of individual acts of entrepreneurship rather than a single monopolist that games the system.”

While this vision might sound almost impossible to achieve, Bitcoin experts have explained the building blocks that could make this a reality in a not-so-distant future. Some believe the major global fiat currencies will suffer from ballooning inflation, which will make Bitcoin a better option for individuals and companies.

Several Bitcoin advocates also believe that the growing launch and use of CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) by several countries could push individuals to use Bitcoin as it will emerge among the myriads of siloed CBDCs as a better currency because of its fixed money supply. 

What’s more, more nations may choose to follow El Salvador’s path to move to a Bitcoin Standard to escape restrictions imposed by the United States, thereby potentially becoming a global reserve currency. 

Bitcoin Education: The Key to Hyperbitcoinization?

Arguably, the most important driver of hyperbitcoinization is Bitcoin education. 

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” For the individuals who educated themselves about Bitcoin early and took the plunge to buy some, that statement definitely holds true. 

Hyperbitcoinization is rapid adoption. Teaching people about Bitcoin ushers in this radical change quicker. Bitcoin can gain widespread adoption among individuals until a tipping point where the network effect becomes unstoppable. To achieve this, billions of people have to be aware that a currency like Bitcoin even exists. 

Bitcoin might seem popular to you already, but there are still billions of people who have never heard of Bitcoin. For now, only an estimated 100 million individuals own Bitcoin compared to the over 7.9 billion people in the world. That means only around 1.2% of the global population is currently interacting with Bitcoin. 

For hyperbitcoinization to occur, a lot of work still needs to be done, and Bitcoin companies, early adopters, and advocates are the ones that should lead the way. 

Bitcoin is still in the early stages of a product adoption lifecycle, which states that new technologies or products are initially adopted by “innovators” (or early adopters) who often represent less than 20% of the market.

Early adopters are often in charge of educating the rest of the market about the value of a new technology because they understand and believe in its practical applications. They play the critical role of influencing the habits and behaviors of the later adopters.

In the Bitcoin community, there are already countless communities, podcasts, media publications, and influencers devoted to educating the mainstream about Bitcoin. Also, most large digital asset exchanges are investing in building out Bitcoin education platforms to educate new users. 

However, substantially more education and awareness building will still need to take place for hyperbitcoinization to occur. 

Teaching Bitcoin: Who’s Leading the Way? 

There is a huge demand for Bitcoin Education. 

From simple topics like how to open a bitcoin wallet to advanced technical matters, such as how to build financial derivatives on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, more and more people want to learn about Bitcoin and its seemingly endless possibility for value exchanges.  

Bitcoin exchanges, which make up the majority of the largest companies in the Bitcoin industry, have been at the helm of Bitcoin education, actively playing a role in spurring on hyperbitcoinization, even if their attention is more focused on educating their user bases. 

For example, Coinbase provides a learning platform that allows users to learn about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and receive financial rewards – paid in crypto – for completing educational online courses. 

But Coinbase is not the only digital asset exchange providing Bitcoin education. We have been able to witness a clear trend of crypto exchanges building out education platforms to educate nocoiners, newcoiners, and active crypto investors about all areas of the crypto ecosystem. Examples include Binance, Luno, and OKEx, but there are many others.

While crypto exchanges’ efforts to provide free online education is helping millions to gain a better understanding of Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem, more is needed to reach the mass adoption required for hyperbitcoinization to occur. 

How Bitcoin works and what potential positive societal impact it could have should be taught in schools, universities, and other educational institutions. Kids who are just starting out to learn about what money is and how it works should know that there’s an Internet-native version of money that is arguably superior to what the current monetary system offers us. 

Bitcoin shouldn’t just be positioned as an investment asset that can make you rich. More importantly, the positive impact Bitcoin can have on society at large should be a core focus on Bitcoin education to spur on hyperbitcoinization. 

While making money is great, changing the world is better. 

Education is poised to play an essential role on Bitcoin’s path to success, given its huge importance to reaching the wider masses and late adopters.

Access to Bitcoin Investment Vehicles

Easy access to Bitcoin investment vehicles that allow anyone – even non-technical individuals and institutions – to gain exposure to Bitcoin without having to deal with the technical aspect of securely buying and storing Bitcoin will also play a role in boosting Bitcoin adoption. 

For example, the Iconic Funds Physical Bitcoin ETP (XBTI) enables individuals and institutions to add Bitcoin exposure to their portfolios in effectively the same way they would be stocks, providing easy access to Bitcoin as an asset class. What’s more, Bitcoin held by Iconic’s Bitcoin ETP is stored with a regulated custodian and investors have the option to redeem the “physical” Bitcoin they have purchased through the investment vehicle.

By exposing more people to Bitcoin as an asset class, they will – in most cases – want to learn more about Bitcoin and its entire ecosystem to ensure they fully understand what they are investing in. And that is where, once again, Bitcoin education will come into play. 

Hyperbitcoinization can only be achieved if the Bitcoin community continues to actively advocate for and educate people about the benefits of the world’s only open monetary network and how it can change the world for the better. 

About Iconic Funds