The Bitcoin community has been rapidly growing since its creation.
What was believed to be just a group of geeks and anarchists has transformed into an extremely diverse and passionate community.
I’ve come to realize that much of the bitcoin community is represented by avatars and usernames on the Internet. There is a shortage of physical human representation. For any grassroots movement to acquire legitimacy, people need to see real people.
EasyBitz, a payment network powered by crypto-currency, has begun an initiative to film the real faces of the bitcoin community.
They need your face.
They are compiling videos of a diverse group of bitcoiners speaking about their involvement with it, and making one great documentary out of it.
They have already shot a trailer, which is here:
Ray Youssef, CEO of EasyBitz, tells how this idea came to life:
“We saw a documentary called the Rise and Rise of Bitcoin and thought it was absolutely masterful,” says Ray. “It taught us a lot that we didn’t know about bitcoin’s history and colorful characters, most of them archetypal techies and early adopters. Then we realized that many of the bitcoiners we knew were very different from the people in the film, the community is rapidly evolving. We knew we had to help tell this chapter of the story. We want bitcoiners to know just how diverse, cool and accomplished this movement is and how much it has grown. We’re in New York City and dealing with retail merchants has introduced us to such an eclectic slice of the world. Artists, musicians, Wall Street types, chefs, models and even the elderly. Some were already into bitcoin and others we introduced to bitcoin. Each of them has a story worth of its own film and together they make for a rich emerging culture.”
Ray goes on to add:
“Much as how we don’t have a bird’s eye of view of our own movement, we don’t see how others outside of the movement see us. If we did we’d realize that most people see us three ways.
- Hackers and anarchists: The media has done a real job convincing the world that bitcoin is inseparable from Silk Road and that the community itself is a shadowy den of bitcoin craving hackers and Illuminati-fearing conspiracists. If they saw the face of bitcoin in its wholeness they would smile and want to give bitcoin a hug.
- Corporate cultists: Ignorance of bitcoin’s nature as a decentralized protocol is the primary reason why most people roll their eyes or smirk when you tell them you are into bitcoin. They think bitcoin is a single corporation staffed by weird zealots hungary for market share. They don’t realize that bitcoin is like email, a protocol than anyone can use or build a service on top of. If they did they’d already be thinking of an idea in the Bitcoin space.
- Zombies: Talking with merchants for over nine months has taught us that 90 of them think that bitcoin died with Mt. Gox in Japan. They think bitcoin is dead and whatever remains are vestiges of a failed experiment. If they understood just how alive and vibrant the bitcoin community was on every level they wouldn’t hesitate to become one of us.”
When this project is finished, a candid look in to the eyes of the many humans rallying behind the hope brought by the creation of the blockchain will be given to viewers, and will change the way they look at this new Internet phenomenon.
The EasyBitz team has focused on the work of connecting people, and has encouraged all others involved in Bitcoin to do the same. They’ve started Bitcoin Happy Hour meetups in New York City.
Ray believes that this documentary will also change the community’s conception of itself, and spur more innovation.
“Even more important than how the world sees us is how we see ourselves. A morale boost never hurts when you are trying to change the world and a morale boost is exactly what we will get once we see how amazingly awesome and cool this community has grown to be.”
To submit your video, jump to this link: http://blog.easybitz.com/2014/10/19/bitcoin-needs-your-face-video/
Also, check out the EasyBitz NYC Happy Hour meetup: http://www.meetup.com/New-York-Happy-Hour-Bitcoin-Blitz/