Footage posted by a Swiss crypto startup earlier today shows a tram emblazoned with the word “Bitcoin” and the firm’s branding travelling through the Zurich streets. The company behind the marketing campaign offers a range of crypto financial services including custody, trading, and lending.
Such large scale public marketing efforts have been conducted previously by companies. Although paid promotion by the companies behind them, the proliferation of these types of campaigns will likely do a lot towards normalising BTC in popular culture, eventually.
Bitcoin Tram Pushes Crypto in the Streets
Bitcoin has hit the streets of Zurich, Switzerland today in impressive fashion. As seen in the video below, at least one of the city’s trams have become a billboard for one of the many cryptocurrency startups of the nation. The massive Bitcoin Suisse motif spreads across all five carriages of the inner city transport option.
Ahem…failed…? pic.twitter.com/K6oLYYCz5h
— Bitcoin Suisse (@BitcoinSuisseAG) October 18, 2019
Bitcoin Suisse, the company behind the marketing campaign, is a nationally regulated financial intermediary and crypto services provider. It is based in Zug, Switzerland, an area that has attracted many Bitcoin startups thanks to its favourable regulations.
Although clearly a marketing effort to attract new users to the crypto services platform (a Reddit post with the video says that the tram was spotted in the financial district of Zurich), thrusting Bitcoin into the public’s face in such a way is definitely a positive for the industry on the whole. After all, many people still think of BTC as a tool for money laundering or drug dealing thanks to early negative coverage.
Granted, spotting a prominent crypto company’s branding on a tram isn’t going to make someone immediately forget their ill-conceived judgements about the digital asset space but repeated exposure in a myriad of ways will eventually normalise the still-difficult-to-accept digital asset. Mentions of Bitcoin in popular culture, seeing “Bitcoin accepted here” at retailers (both online and in the real world), and even street art inspired by the cryptocurrency will all help erode the misconceptions people have about the breakthrough technology.
Previously, NewsBTC has reported on this slow road to the normalisation of the number one crypto by market capitalisation in reference to many topics. Examples include the Bitcoin monument in erected in Slovenia and the Grayscale “Drop Gold” campaign.
There is even something to be said for controversial Bitcoin payment processors in this regard. Although household names like AT&T aren’t ready to accept Bitcoin properly, customers can still pay for products using crypto via a payment processor. This is powerful in terms of BTC normalisation since users, whether interested in crypto or not, will still see the Bitcoin logo when they arrive at the checkout for whatever it might be that they’re purchasing.
Related Reading: Hong Kong Free Press Fires BitPay Over Bitcoin Payment Delays
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