Every added step of a process can work to increase the risk of a user quitting on whatever they were attempting to accomplish. Take a look at the credit card point systems for an example. These could easily be a type of a cashback system where part of the monthly bill is automatically reduced through cashback rewards. This is rarely the case. Instead, the users have to jump through multiple hoops to cash out on their rewards.

Banks add extra steps to keep their "customers" from getting the best value from the cards. We have to do the opposite to get new players and investments. It would be ideal if there was a service that can act as a direct intermediary between Tokens + NFT on HIVE and fiat currencies.

We Have a Room for Improvements

I took the screenshot to show how $HIVE has fixed the problem of fiat gateways. Then I looked at the newcomer experience who would be discovering a wallet page on blog/social media. Then I realized @peakd can have some small tweaks to improve investor onboarding.

"Buy HIVE" section is replaced with a link that lead to the following page:

I think it would be better if the prompt was to get potential investors to check out the ways they could invest in HIVE. Once there is investment (sunk cost), people are more likely to care and value that thing. There is a great deal of psychology research to back this up.

The Most Important Missing Piece for The 2024 Bull Market

I am going to repeat what I have stated in the above article. I believe this one change can make a significant change to our conversion rate (both in number of accounts and investment inflows).

Marketing can get users hyped about a project. Great technology can allow developers to build amazing DAPPs that are faster than Ethereum and have the fees that almost all the blockchains, DAGs etc. have. These are all early parts of the funnel. If we mess up the final part where the prospect make a purchase, most of the previous efforts go to waste.

Imagine The Following for Most Tokens on Most Front Ends

@peakd has done a great job here and other than some UI/UX design expert refining the onboarding flow, there isn't anything left to done. The problem is that these users will have a lot more to do trying to figure out HIVE-Engine and bridging cryptocurrency to L2. This is in the case when a user is given the option to immediately buy HIVE with fiat or cryptocurrency. Most front ends do not even offer this option.

Spend Fiat on Games

I have been saying for years that games and microblogging will be the gateway to cryptocurrency for many individuals. As an author I know how difficult it is to write good thoughtful content. I don't expect music and videos to be anything easier. Playing a game or writing a comment on the other hand is very easy and usually fun.

What if it was possible to buy the above Booster Packs without having to:

1. Buy HIVE
2. Bridge them to HIVE-Engine
3. Swap/Trade them to STARBITS

Before making the purchase. I don't mind the extra effort. I already maintain a minimum balance of 1,000,000 STARBITS (some of the readers should be able to guess why). I can easily get any Token built on HIVE in a few seconds. This will not be the case for most people who are not into cryptocurrency. I have seen investors who thought Binance = Crypto and didn't know what MetaMask is. Let that sink in!

Traditional Finance is a Mess

I remember @risingstargame having PayPal payments as an option. It is not there anymore. It was possible to directly buy @splinterlands Booster Packs with PayPal and right now that option is only available for CREDITS.

A Potential Solution

What if the DAPP act as the middleman and performed automated trading on behalf of the user. A system one project come up with can be offered for may others. LeoDEX is using systems created by @leofinance to connect many HIVE projects to other blockchains. This is monetizable.

Imagine there was a "Pay With Credit Card" option where the DAPP use existing service such as Transak to the DAPP and then use the HIVE received to perform:

1. Bridge to HIVE-Engine if necessary
2. Swap/Trade them to STARBITS, STARPRO etc.
3. Pay on behalf of user
4. Send Tokens or NFT to user

This is a lot of work and it is only fair to charge a fee for the service. Games have the biggest incentive to create a service as the one I described. They have Tokens on HIVE. They have NFTs to sell. They can easily onboard players. Recent launch of Shorts on @leofinance is one of the many instances of work done by different teams converging to create a gestalt effect.

I'm sure @risingstargame had good reasons to why they only made it possible to buy Packs with STARBITS. Most developers have their hands full as HIVE is stuck in bear market lows. Consider these ideas as high risk plays that may or may not have a big payoff in the bull market. We are yet to see the real hype!