Gen Z (these born between 1997 and 2012) should not speeding to stack sats, and Oliver Porter, Founder & CEO of Jippi, understands the problem higher than most. His technique revolves round adapting Bitcoin training 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% count on 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. Primarily based 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 bought 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 precipitated his eyes to be opened and the orange gentle appeared the most effective path again to freedom.
He left the UK for Austin “the most effective locations for Bitcoiners,” he says, and dove headfirst into the trade, 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 places. Catching them requires answering Bitcoin trivia, and the reward is sats.
No jargon. No hour-long lectures. Simply gameplay with sound cash rules woven proper in.
The mannequin is working. At a current hackathon in Austin, Jippi beat out 14 different groups to win first place and $15,000 in prize cash.
“We’re backdooring Bitcoin training,” 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 advised me, ‘I’d somewhat die than discuss Bitcoin,’” Oliver recollects, highlighting the cultural resistance that’s constructed up amongst youthful demographics.
This resistance is backed by exhausting knowledge. In response to Oliver, a few of 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 option to seize their curiosity in a significant approach, there’s going to be a giant downside round making an attempt 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 huge 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 corporations, each tied to a customized in-game beast.
“It’s actual property inside the sport,” Oliver explains. “Manufacturers turn out to be allies, not intrusions. You get a emblem, firm title, and name to motion, so we are able to push individuals to your web site or app.”
Bitcoin Well—an automated self-custody Bitcoin platform—has claimed Beast #1. Solely 5 unique spots stay for Bitcoin corporations to “beastify their model” by 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 widespread mission – bullish!” mentioned Adam O’Brien, Bitcoin Nicely CEO.
Jippi’s sponsorship mannequin is easy: align incentives, respect customers, and help builders. As an alternative of throwing advert cash at tech giants, Bitcoin corporations can join with new customers naturally whereas they’re having enjoyable and incomes sats within the course of.
For Bitcoin corporations trying to attain a youthful demographic, this represents a novel alternative to showcase their model to as much as 30,000 potential clients 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 training even additional.
“The magic goes to actually occur when Apple releases the glasses kind issue,” he says, describing how augmented actuality may improve real-world connections somewhat than isolate customers.
In the long run, Jippi goals to evolve from a free-to-play mannequin towards a pay-to-play model with larger stakes. Customers would kind “tribes” with pals to compete for substantial bitcoin prizes, creating social connections together with monetary training.
In contrast to VC-backed startups, Jippi is elevating funds pleb type by way of Timestamp, an open funding platform for Bitcoin corporations.
“You don’t must be an accredited investor,” Oliver explains. “You’re immediately supporting the parallel Bitcoin economic system by investing in Bitcoin corporations for fairness.”
Anybody can make investments as little as $100. Perks embody early entry, unique recreation content material, and even creating your individual beast design together with your title/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 facet 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 brief consideration spans, Jippi’s mixture of outside play, sats rewards, and Bitcoin training is perhaps precisely the bridge Gen Z wants.
Involved in sponsoring a Beast or investing in Jippi? Attain out to Jippi immediately by heading to their partnerships page on their web site or go to their Timestamp page to put money into Jippi right this moment.
