The average person feels the Cantillon effect working against them, having to run faster on the hamster wheel just to hopefully keep up. They recognize how meaningless a 0.01% savings account is. They can’t buy a house, but they can finance a Chipotle order.
And still, saving in bitcoin is not the default.
“Magic internet money? What kind of psychopath do you take me for?!”
Despite the immense library of literature, endless hours of public discussion, institutional and nation-state adoption, Twitter ratios, and viral memes — few understand — bitcoin is the apex predator of savings.
What’s not to get?
“I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.” — Morpheus
This line from The Matrix captures a persistent challenge with bitcoin adoption.
How often have you given your best TL;DR on bitcoin, recommended a book, or sent a podcast — showing someone the entrance to the rabbit hole, only to be dismissed or outright ignored?
Don’t confuse this with a lack of intelligence. More likely, it’s a lack of agency.
Generally speaking, high-agency individuals are easy to onboard. They tend to be open-minded and curious, more inclined to take action and study bitcoin.
This is not the norm.
The average person is stuck conflating bitcoin with crypto scams and still susceptible to long-disproven FUD. Whether it’s noise, nihilism, or just being overwhelmed — something is preventing the sliver of agency required for one to at least poke their head down the rabbit hole.
And again, this is not an intelligence problem.
For example, many smart people in legacy finance refuse to seriously study bitcoin. They suffer from a sunk cost fallacy, unwilling to revisit their priors and admit they’ve invested time and energy climbing the wrong mountain.
These are the types that will “get bitcoin at the price they deserve.” But they don’t represent the everyday person Fold is positioned to help onboard.
In a cruel bit of irony, most people hesitate to use bitcoin as savings — likely because they don’t have any savings to begin with.
The average American doesn’t have a “melting ice cube” problem. They don’t even have an ice cube. Many live paycheck to paycheck, with a recent Bankrate survey finding that 59% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency expense.
Can you blame someone with little to no financial security for being uninterested in ‘magic internet money’?
No savings, no agency. No agency, no path to bitcoin savings.
It’s obviously not that simple, but this Catch-22 does well to define a massive cohort of people who need bitcoin the most. And it’s full of dormant high-agency individuals who will continue to deeper levels of bitcoin adoption.
Fold is closing the gap — meeting people where they are financially, with rewards as a Trojan horse for deeper Bitcoin adoption.
“A lot of people don’t have any money to put into savings, so they’re not even at the point of ‘I want to adopt bitcoin.’ But rewards specifically can reach an entire new segment of potential bitcoiners that can start their journey.” — Will Reeves
The Fold Debit Card has been a successful flagship product for 5+ years. Merchant rewards through gift cards have become a favorite way to stack sats. And we’re seeing in real-time how this behavior leads to bitcoin buying and saving.
“It started a journey for them… now they’re depositing their paycheck, building long-term savings plans… Over 60% of our customers have over 25% of their net worth in bitcoin today. When they started with us, that 25% might have been 5%.” — Will Reeves
All this success has come with one arm tied behind our back. A bitcoin rewards debit card has limitations, a big one being that most people prefer to spend on credit.
So, the Fold Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card will be a massive unlock.
Use the apex predator of payments and earn cash-back rewards in the hardest asset in human history — all on one platform purpose-built for bitcoin savings.
There are credit card maximalists chasing fiat rewards with multiple cards, where points expire and can be devalued on a whim. Or earning cashback dollars that lose purchasing power if held, often used for balance payments, incentivizing spending over savings.
All that time and energy spent juggling multiple cards can be gained back with the Fold Credit Card, where you can’t be debased and your rewards can increase in purchasing power.
“We have users who have earned more in bitcoin than what they had in savings” — Will Reeves
For the average person with responsible spending habits, Fold is offering a credit card experience like no other. Spend easy, stack hard. Passively build savings while avoiding the noise of legacy rewards systems.
“[Fiat] rewards have become this black box… they purposely are making it more confusing. The harder it is to understand, the more likely you’re getting a raw deal. It’s fundamental to the [fiat] rewards industry. That black box concept is actually supporting the entire thing.” — Will Reeves
The Fold Credit Card is an upgrade to one’s personal finance toolkit. And it makes the bitcoin adoption process frictionless.
The Fold Credit Card removes the need to track points or micromanage category spending. And bitcoin rewards are unique in that it’s better to just let them accumulate. And for the risk-averse, this offers exposure to bitcoin without buying any.
The beauty is in the simplicity, appealing to the bitcoin-curious person who wants something that works without needing to change their existing habits.
But there will be those who experience a ‘gradually, then suddenly’ rise in agency. Because once you see bitcoin, you can’t unsee the Cantillon effect — and taking actions to protect and grow your wealth has a snowball effect.
A whole new market of everyday spenders will come for the bitcoin rewards and then start using merchant offers to stack even more. And we’ve seen firsthand how this can lead to deeper bitcoin adoption.
Some of these new users will take the orange pill and graduate to self-custody, Lightning wallets, NOSTR, running a node, starting a bitcoin business, attending conferences, and visiting bitcoin circular economies.
For the high-agency bitcoiners building tomorrow’s future — the Fold Standard will bring more users and participants into the ecosystem.
Earn bitcoin. Buy bitcoin. Save in bitcoin, regardless of where you are in your bitcoin journey. The Fold Standard is creating the blueprint for optimized personal finance powered by bitcoin.
If you’re not bullish on what this means for adoption, you should be.
Disclaimer: This article is sponsored content and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Bitcoin Magazine. The information provided is for promotional purposes and should not be considered financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research before making any investment decisions related to Bitcoin or other financial products mentioned herein.
