Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Hearn: Western Bitcoin adoption suffers from poor messaging, not lack of utility

Mike Hearn · a16z Podcast | Bitcoin's Growing Pains -- and Possibilities · Jan 2, 2019 · at 14:52

Mike Hearn, core Bitcoin developer, addresses consumer adoption challenges in Western markets where credit card infrastructure is already established.

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“If you're in the West and you have access to, you know, credit card payments and so on, it's not always clear why you would want to use Bitcoin, but that's not because there aren't good reasons, it's because we're not doing a good job of, like, telling people about them.”

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