Crypto Has Millions of Users Who Don't Know What to Do With It

Less than 10% of crypto users are power users who understand and actively use DeFi applications. Yet events like TOKEN2049 attract 20,000+ attendees. That gap is costing retail crypto growth, especially as BlackRock moves deeper into RWAs.

Onboarding Is Where Crypto Loses People

I was talking to an Uber driver recently about crypto, since he was looking at Coinbase on his dashboard. He isn’t a new crypto user. He's been buying for three years: owns multiple coins, understands the basics, but when I asked what wallet he uses beyond Coinbase, he looked confused, "I don't know what else I would do with crypto."

We shouldn’t expect to see educational crypto content on every social media platform, but products have to remember that onboarding must feel safe and simple.

When I finally used MetaMask for the first time, it wasn't because of a whitepaper or tutorial video. It was because of a baby shower.

A colleague wanted to send ETH as a gift to new parents. She created a one-page guide because there is nothing scarier than losing money. 

1. Keep It Simple

People are going to Google if they have any hangups, so make it easy for them to find you with content on your website, or hire a content creator to go through the steps. 

There needs to be visuals, and if you use any jargon (there’s loads in crypto), explain it.

You should have social listening turned on for your product, your social lead should be tracking when there’s a common problem, and share with your product team. 

2. Give an Everyday Reason

Every baby shower needs a gift. Every coffee run needs payment. Every viral social post deserves recognition.  

Angle crypto marketing towards existing behaviors, not new ones. Then, make sure that the copy is human-ready. 

Example: Send crypto to friends on your mobile phone in seconds. 

Better: If you can text, you can crypto.

Downloading your crypto app is the starting line. Yes, you can brag about downloads to investors, but how will you maintain those numbers to the next quarter? 

Monthly newsletters, meetups, Reddit AMAs. People need consistent reminders about what they can actually do with their cryptocurrency.

With social being as busy as it is, you have to test out other channels. 

Crypto Marketing Gets Social Media Wrong

We need to get off X/Twitter.

I spoke at Fordham University to 40 students taking a social media for business class. When I asked how many had Twitter accounts, one person raised their hand. Everyone else was on Instagram and TikTok.

The numbers don't lie:

Platform	Monthly Active Users	Daily Usage
Instagram	2 billion	33 minutes
LinkedIn	310 million	17 minutes
TikTok	1.6 billion	58 minutes
X/Twitter	600 million	34 minutes

When I was in-house at Valora, our two-minute tutorials on TikTok brought in 13% more views than all our YouTube videos combined. One tutorial helped an app, NomSpace, see 50% more users in 24 hours.

Nowadays, you need to show how a product works within a 15 sec video, or have an infographic explaining everything. We did this for Ethereum’s hardfork campaign way back in the day, and it did wonders for our engagement. 

When I was in-house at Valora, one of our most popular videos was "Famous Movie Lines in the Age of Crypto." We took recognizable quotes and gave them crypto twists. It was fun, shareable, and introduced DApp concepts without buzzwords.

The rule: If it's not fun enough to reshare, it won't educate anyone new.

I’ll never forget the four crypto Super Bowl ads in 2022. I bet you are stretching your head, because you don’t remember them, and that is precisely the point. They weren’t great. 

No shame on the team, but crypto marketing has a history of talking at people, not to them.

Community Management

Consumers don’t want to have to go to Discord to learn. Developers do, but the average consumer won’t. They’ll just go to a LLM or Reddit for help.

If you decide that Discord or a Telegram chat is what you need, you have to hire or incentivize someone to manage it, and people to use it. 

Managing can look like DMing new members, yes, but you can build a chatbot to do that for you. But a person should always be looking at the questions in the help channels. A lot of channels have rules or a code of ethics that you have to agree to, but many don’t read the terms and conditions. 

If you can't afford a community manager, hire an intern from a university blockchain club. These students are eager to learn and already have networks.

Retail Opportunity

Consumer crypto marketing teams must make their product/app accessible and useful in everyday life, or provide a specific use case that demonstrates value.

Sometimes the real key is not saying “crypto” at all. Focus on the use case; no one needs to know how the sausage is made. Bonus if you can partner with a known company outside of tech.

Around 17–27% of American adults owned or had engaged with cryptocurrency (per Pew Research), signaling steady mainstream traction; people just need to overcome some barriers.

Stop making content for the 10% of power users. Start making it for the 90% of crypto consumers who are ready to do more but don't know how.

The infrastructure and interest are there. Stop the choose-your-own-adventure map where everything is DYOR. And post-FTX, trust has to be deliberately earned back.

If you're looking for crypto consumer marketing that drives engagement through education and keeps your audience coming back, let's talk.