Gen Z (these born between 1997 and 2012) should not dashing to stack sats, and Oliver Porter, Founder & CEO of Jippi, understands the problem higher than most. His technique revolves round adapting Bitcoin schooling to suit seamlessly into the digital lives of younger adults.
“We have to meet them the place they’re,” Oliver explains. “90% of Gen Z performs video games. 70% anticipate to earn rewards.”
So, what’s going to successfully introduce them to Bitcoin? In Oliver’s thoughts, the reply is easy: video games that don’t really feel preachy however nonetheless plant the orange pill.
That’s precisely what Jippi is. Based mostly in Austin, Texas, the group has created a cell augmented actuality (AR) recreation that rewards gamers in bitcoin and sneakily teaches them why sound cash issues.
“It’s Pokémon GO… however for sats,” Oliver places it succinctly.
Oliver’s Bitcoin journey, like many within the area, started lengthy earlier than he was prepared. A former colleague had tried planting the seed years earlier, handing him a duplicate of The Bitcoin Commonplace. However the second handed.
It wasn’t till the chaos of 2020 when lockdowns hit, printing presses roared, and civil liberties shrank that the message lastly landed for him.
“The federal government received so good at doing reverse Robin Hood,” Oliver explains. “They steal from the working inhabitants and reward the wealthy.”
By 2020, although, the absurdity of the covid hysteria had brought about his eyes to be opened and the orange mild appeared the very best path again to freedom.
He left the UK for Austin “probably the greatest locations for Bitcoiners,” he says, and dove headfirst into the business, working at Swan for a yr earlier than founding Jippi on PlebLab’s accelerator program.
Jippi’s flagship game lets gamers roam their cities looking digital creatures, Bitcoin Beasts, tied to real-world areas. Catching them requires answering Bitcoin trivia, and the reward is sats.
No jargon. No hour-long lectures. Simply gameplay with sound cash ideas woven proper in.
The mannequin is working. At a latest hackathon in Austin, Jippi beat out 14 different groups to win first place and $15,000 in prize cash.
“We’re backdooring Bitcoin schooling,” Oliver admits. “And whereas we’re at it, encouraging individuals to get outdoors and contact grass.”
Not everybody’s been thrilled. When Jippi group members visited one of many extra liberal-leaning locations in Texas, UT Austin, to check curiosity in Bitcoin, they discovered some critically dedicated no-coiners on the campus.
“One younger girl instructed me, ‘I might quite die than discuss Bitcoin,’” Oliver recollects, highlighting the cultural resistance that’s constructed up amongst youthful demographics.
This resistance is backed by arduous information. In response to Oliver, among the Bitcoin podcasters they met with within the area to do market analysis reported that lower than 1% of their listeners are from Gen Z and that quantity is dropping.
“Except we discover a technique to seize their curiosity in a significant method, there’s going to be an enormous drawback round attempting to sway Gen Z away from the siren name of s***cash and crypto casinos and in the direction of Bitcoin,” Oliver warns.
Jippi’s subsequent massive transfer is Las Vegas, the place they’ll launch the Beast Catch expertise on the Venetian throughout a significant Bitcoin occasion. To mark the event, they’re opening up six restricted sponsorship spots for Bitcoin firms, each tied to a customized in-game beast.
“It’s actual property inside the sport,” Oliver explains. “Manufacturers turn into allies, not intrusions. You get a emblem, firm identify, and name to motion, so we will push individuals to your website or app.”
Bitcoin Well—an automated self-custody Bitcoin platform—has claimed Beast #1. Solely 5 unique spots stay for Bitcoin firms to “beastify their model” via Jippi’s immersive AR recreation.
“I really like the Jippi mission. I believe gamified studying is how we’ll onboard the following era and it’s thrilling to see what the Jippi group is doing! I really like working with bitcoiners in the direction of our frequent mission – bullish!” mentioned Adam O’Brien, Bitcoin Properly CEO.
Jippi’s sponsorship mannequin is easy: align incentives, respect customers, and help builders. As a substitute of throwing advert cash at tech giants, Bitcoin firms can join with new customers naturally whereas they’re having enjoyable and incomes sats within the course of.
For Bitcoin firms trying to attain a youthful demographic, this represents a singular alternative to showcase their model to as much as 30,000 potential prospects on the Vegas occasion.
Whereas Jippi’s present focus is easy, get the sport into extra cities, Oliver sees a future the place AR glasses and AI assist personalize Bitcoin schooling even additional.
“The magic goes to actually occur when Apple releases the glasses kind issue,” he says, describing how augmented actuality might improve real-world connections quite than isolate customers.
In the long run, Jippi goals to evolve from a free-to-play mannequin towards a pay-to-play model with greater stakes. Customers would kind “tribes” with pals to compete for substantial bitcoin prizes, creating social connections together with monetary schooling.
In contrast to VC-backed startups, Jippi is elevating funds pleb fashion by way of Timestamp, an open funding platform for Bitcoin firms.
“You don’t must be an accredited investor,” Oliver explains. “You’re instantly supporting the parallel Bitcoin financial system by investing in Bitcoin firms for fairness.”
Anybody can make investments as little as $100. Perks embody early entry, unique recreation content material, and even creating your personal beast design along with your identify/pseudonym and distinctive recreation lore. Every funding comes with direct possession of an early-stage Bitcoin firm like Jippi.
For Oliver, that is greater than only a enterprise. It’s about future-proofing Bitcoin adoption and making certain Satoshi’s imaginative and prescient lives on, particularly as many individuals are lured by altcoins, NFTs, and social media dopamine.
“We’re on the appropriate aspect of historical past,” he says firmly. “I need my grandkids to know that early on within the Bitcoin revolution, video games like Jippi helped make it stick.”
In a world more and more absorbed by screens and quick consideration spans, Jippi’s mixture of outside play, sats rewards, and Bitcoin schooling is likely to be precisely the bridge Gen Z wants.
Focused on sponsoring a Beast or investing in Jippi? Attain out to Jippi instantly by heading to their partnerships page on their web site or go to their Timestamp page to put money into Jippi right now.
