The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell is a book that discusses the tipping point or the boiling over point for individuals and businesses. Gladwell describes this on page 12 of the introduction to his book as “The Tipping Point is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” This tipping point helps ideas go mainstream, enables viruses to spread exponentially, and products/services to become popular.
The Rules and Characteristics
The three rules that Gladwell covers are the following:
1- The Stickiness Factor – presentation of an idea to make the message transmittable,
2- The Rule of Few – success of a social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with certain characteristics,
3- The Power of Context – an environment in which an idea is spread can help people adopt and spread the very idea or message.
These three rules are paired with a rare set of social gifts; without which the tipping point could not happen.
1- Connectors – People with a vast inner social circle, but are not able to reach outside their social network,
2- Salesmen- Ability to speak with a contagious and empathetic approach can lead to social impact such as change of behavior, and
3- Mavens- knowledgeable about a vast array of topics and are always making links and managing new information.
How Does it Apply to Bitcoin?
Satoshi Nakamoto was a connector. Satoshi had a small social network, which in turn created a weak tie because Satoshi could not directly reach nor influence those outside of the network. To reach outside the social network, Satoshi needed “mavens” and “salesmen”. The salesman, which is of immense importance in Gladwell’s book, is able to speak with a contagious and empathetic approach that can lead to social impact such as change of behavior. Enter twitter, reddit, and any private instant messaging app that people have used to better understand and discuss Bitcoin. Mavens are individuals with immense amounts of information at their disposal. Enter those with massive twitter follows, podcast platforms, and newsletters that the bitcoin followers read.
In the World Today
In March 2021, Citi group released a report titled “BITCOIN: At the Tipping Point.” Page 75 indicates several factors driving the growth of Bitcoin. The stickiness factor is driving the diversity of growth within the crypto world to compete with Bitcoin thus enhancing and pushing the price up. The “demand for dollar liquidity” has risen which changes the way people see the crypto world and Bitcoin itself.
The Effect
The effect Bitcoin has had with central banks, within cryptography, and now with stock broker houses cannot be ignored. Since its inception 13 years ago the price of 1 bitcoin has risen from $0.08 to $64,885 on November 11, 2021. As of this writing, Bitcoin price is down to $47,239 on December 10, 2021. Bitcoin has effectively reached its boiling point and there are those, such as Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, who “expects Bitcoin to soar in $500,000 in five years” (Nagarajan, 2021, pg.1). She attributes this rise in price to the fact that “El Salvador recently made Bitcoin a legal currency, while Panama and Ukraine are said to be doing the same” (Nagarajan, 2021, pg.1). The outlook, created by the tipping point is incredible and has been an incredible ride so far; corrections and all. Are you stackin’ sats?