How a startup is driving Bitcoin adoption with selfies in the Philippines

Satoshi Citadel Industries, an umbrella company in the Philippines for various Bitcoin-based ventures, has launched its quirkiest product to date: Bitstars.

Users upload selfies to the Bitstars site, which can then be “liked” by other members of the community. The selfie with the most “likes” at the end of the day receives a Bitcoin prize equivalent to PhP500 or more. Hence, the Bitstars tagline is “may the best selfie win!”

Does this concept sound strange? If this were any other place in the world, it very well might be. But this is the Philippines, which is often hailed as both the “selfie capital of the world” as well as the “social media capital of the world.” To put it simply, Filipinos like taking pictures, and they like sharing them even more.

“The primary mission of Bitstars is to be a fun and engaging way to introduce Bitcoin to an audience of Filipinos that wouldn’t otherwise have heard of cryptocurrency,” explains Luis Buenaventura, the head of product at Satoshi Citadel Industries. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a more apt method for our selfie-centric society.”

Yet even if Filipinos are drawn to the site to share their selfies, Buenaventura understands that they need to be eased into Bitcoin adoption. Most Filipinos may not be familiar with the cryptocurrency, and those that have may be intimidated by the Philippine government’s warning about its use. Accordingly, the Bitstars team takes a delicate approach.

This is evident in how they pitch the site to potential users:

Bitstars is a daily selfie contest website where the photo with the most votes at the end of each day receives a prize.

“We try not to emphasize the part that Bitcoin plays in the overall contest, as that would be a barrier to entry for a lot of people,” Buenaventura reasons. “We’d rather that they tried the site, had some fun, and then be slowly introduced into the Bitcoin world as they start receiving cash prizes or tips.”

See: The state of Bitcoin in Southeast Asia

A culture of tipping

As Buenaventura mentions, users can tip their peers in Bitcoin to show appreciation for one of their photos. This tipping concept was the original model for Bitstars as SCI CEO Nick Galan initially conceived it – the daily contest was only added in later to ensure a steady stream of Bitcoin.

So between the two – prizes and tips – which is distributing more Bitcoin to the Bitstars community? The answer is important because it points to how the community is growing. If prizes comprise most of the Bitcoin spread through the site, it shows that Bitstars still needs to take a top-down approach to drive its adoption. On the other hand, if tips comprise most of the Bitcoin spread through the site, it shows that the community is really taking on a life of its own, as Bitstars users become Bitcoin converts.

As of this writing, the 700 users on the site have uploaded more than 5,000 selfies. These photos have earned 17.7 million satoshis (there are 100,000,000 satoshis in one bitcoin) in daily prizes and almost double that in tips at 32.3 million satoshis. These numbers suggest that while Bitcoin adoption cannot be completely sustained through tipping alone, users are beginning to embrace the cryptocurrency for what it ultimately is: a way to give and receive value – in other words, money.

Would you like a GoPro with that selfie?