Cashbacks in Bitcoin: A New Disruption

The concept of Cashbacks has exploded in India along with the rise of the e-commerce sector which according to experts is set to reach $200 Billion by 2026. A lot of people even have a preference for cashbacks over more traditional discount offers.

It is a win-win scenario for all the parties involved, the merchants see an increase in sales when they offer cashbacks, the user gets a cashback to his wallet which can be reused to purchase other things going forward and the promoters take a small cut from the whole transaction (which is otherwise spent on marketing).

Satsback is better than Cashback

Now the interesting question is how does Bitcoin fit in the equation? The term satsback has gained a lot of popularity these days, satsback simply means cashback given in the form of satoshis (Note – Satoshis is to Bitcoin what paisa is to the rupee, 10 Crore Satoshis = 1 Bitcoin)

So why to choose Satsback over regular old cashback?

The reason is simple – Bitcoin is a deflationary asset with a limited supply.

Bitcoin has been the best performing asset in the past decade going all the way from $0.01 to $20,000 at its peak. A consistent pattern in Bitcoin is that it appreciates in value with the increase in demand over a long period of time (>3 years).

Now compare this to any other form of cashback (INR, credit card points, airline miles, etc) and it is evident that they all loose their value over time.

The way people view cashbacks is something that they can spend right away for more consumption, but with satsback this flipped 180 Degree. Bitcoin is an asset you would want to hold for long term (similar to gold) so it acts as a savings technology.

So instead of spending the earned cashback you save it for future use (Popularly known in the Bitcoin community as Stacking Sats)

Spend INR, Stack Bitcoin.

If the same pattern continues to appreciate in value then the cashback that you would earn would also increase significantly as opposed to losing value.

Too Good To Be True

Whenever people hear about Bitcoin for the first time, they either believe it or reject it because it seems like it is too good to be true. This is a common pattern among disruptive innovations.

A similar pattern is observed when it comes to Bitcoin Cashbacks as well – You get free Bitcoin every time you shop, Too good to be true?

If Bitcoin is here to stay then so is the idea of “satsback”.

Now let us look at how a Bitcoin cashback appeals different types of people:

• You are a believer in Bitcoin – then you would want to stack more Bitcoin, usually, people do it by buying it on exchanges but receiving cashback in Bitcoin every time they shop online is a no brainer.

• You are new to Bitcoin – One of the common patterns that I have observed is that when people hear about Bitcoin for the first time they are skeptical about it. Which means they are not going to invest their hard earned money right away which is where Bitcoin cashbacks can be a great fit.

This can be a great way for newbies who have just learned about Bitcoin to get their hands on their first satoshis. There is no risk involved since there is no investment of money involved, they earn Bitcoin for free when they shop online.

• You are a student – Usually students do not have a lot of money that they can deploy for investments, however a lot of them spend a lot of money on shopping. This makes them ideal for Bitcoin cashbacks.

One of the great perks of owning any amount of Bitcoin is that you inadvertently dive into the rabbit hole of money. Bitcoin also acts as an educational tool for people to better understand how money works and why Bitcoin matters.

There is often talks about the “mass adoption” of Cryptocurrencies and when that would happen, I don’t think we can get mass adoption by having Bitcoin as just an investment vehicle. Instead, we need to have Crypto products that integrate into everyday lives of people and provide value over other alternatives.

Cashbacks in Bitcoin might just be the way that leads to mass adoption by giving millions of people their first Bitcoin for their everyday shopping.