âGrowth Hackerâ Promotes Bitcoin Cash by Placing Stickers Around City
âGrowth Hackerâ Promotes Bitcoin Cash by Placing Stickers Around City
An anonymous benefactor who called himself “growth hacker” manipulated social media to get on the news in the Californian city of Bakersfield to promote the adoption of Bitcoin Cash.
According to a September blog post from the Bitcoin Man of Bakersfield (BMB) â a self-described âanonymous growth hacker and media manipulatorâ â he selectively placed 100 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) QR code stickers worth $1,100 in total around the streets of the city last week.
âGiving away crypto does help people, but the real motivation is to spread awareness in a way thatâs fun and interesting,â he explained.
To encourage people to continue the treasure hunt, he included mysterious hints at other locations, like âthe gold that you seek is with the priestâ â pointing to the cityâs prominent sculpture of Father Francisco Garces, where BMB had placed the highest value BCH gift for $500.
In a shameless PR move, he photoshopped pictures of the stickers to make it appear as though they had received thousands of likes, shares and comments on Instagram and Facebook. With the astroturfed social media response to Bitcoin Cash âsurgingâ, the “growth hacker” requested those who found the stickers contact local news outlets and promote the campaign, resulting in more coverage and interest. Of the $1,100 distributed, approximately $80 worth of gifts remained unclaimed or trashed by local shopkeepers before BMB removed the stickers.
Bakersfield resident Indiana London, said she had found a sticker and downloaded a wallet for the first time despite thinking the giveaway was a scam.
âI scanned a few stickers in my Bitcoin wallet app at a different location, and got $125 total added to my account,â she said.
BMB told a local ABC TV news outlet that he was motivated to promote adoption of crypto in Bakersfield so people can be protected from âthe scam of fractional reserve bankingâ and educate others on âpaper money being backed by nothingâ and pointed to the Federal Reserve printing dollars endlessly.
The Bitcoin Cash “growth hacker”, who normally lives abroad, said he will stay local in the city of 393,000 people for the moment, with another planned giveaway of over $2,000 to promote BCH sometime in the future. Though secretive about the source of his giveaway funds, BMB is accepting BCH donations via his blog. Blockchain records indicate that his wallet holds 7.62 BCH, or around $1,781 as of press time.
BMB said he was specifically targeting ânew coinersâ and âno coinersâ with the giveaways â people who are new to the crypto community or may not have ever thought about it. Though he acknowledged that some existing crypto fans had collected more than one BCH prize, the man who claimed the top $500 prize purportedly knew very little about it apart from saying he had âheard about Bitcoin years ago.â
Though BCH advocate Roger Ver tweeted a news clip of the campaign and Bitcoin.com also noted the story, BMB has said his efforts arenât related to the platform nor exclusive to Bitcoin Cash. He stated that he was willing to give away Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR) but chose BCH due to low fees and the fact you can print out gift stickers via Bitcoin.com.
âIâm happy to do this with any top 10 coin.â he said. âMy goal is to get as many eyeballs on this as possible.â
âIf youâre into cryptocurrency, stop fighting with each other. Put your energy into sharing [it] with people instead. Donât just tell someone to buy Bitcoin â send them some. Show them.â