“Growth Hacker” Promotes Bitcoin Cash by Placing Stickers Around City
“Growth Hacker” 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) — a self-described “anonymous growth hacker and media manipulator” — he selectively placed 100 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) QR code stickers worth $1,100 in total around the streets of the city last week.
“Giving away crypto does help people, but the real motivation is to spread awareness in a way that’s fun and interesting,” he explained.
To encourage people to continue the treasure hunt, he included mysterious hints at other locations, like “the gold that you seek is with the priest” — pointing to the city’s 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 “surging”, 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.
“I scanned a few stickers in my Bitcoin wallet app at a different location, and got $125 total added to my account,” 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 “the scam of fractional reserve banking” and educate others on “paper money being backed by nothing” 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 “new coiners” and “no coiners” with the giveaways — 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 “heard about Bitcoin years ago.”
Though BCH advocate Roger Ver tweeted a news clip of the campaign and Bitcoin.com also noted the story, BMB has said his efforts aren’t 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.
“I’m happy to do this with any top 10 coin.” he said. “My goal is to get as many eyeballs on this as possible.”
“If you’re into cryptocurrency, stop fighting with each other. Put your energy into sharing [it] with people instead. Don’t just tell someone to buy Bitcoin — send them some. Show them.”
