Power Users of Bitcoin – mrkozak

This is the final article in a series where we interview actual users of Bitcoin SV (BSV) applications to understand which applications they use, their pain points, and what is needed moving forward to scale and reach mass adoption. This series intends to learn the thoughts of those with “boots on the ground” instead of just entrepreneurs and developers.

I interviewed power user mrkozak, who I have observed uses various BSV applications and has very interesting ideas on what can be done with the technology.

What is your favorite application built on Bitcoin, and why?

Mrkozak: DuroDogs, Haste Arcade, PayPistol, CryptoFights. I don’t have a favorite, but those are the ones that I liked when I first heard about BSV. I think they’re on to something. I think having characters on-chain or in my wallet is what was most interesting for me.

I tend to not like investing my time into a game and then have all my progress erased if a company closes up shop. I assume that I can keep my DuroDogs and CryptoFights characters forever and, hopefully, years or decades later, show them off with the work I put into them. That idea is bullish to me personally.

PayPistol, spamming messages at people, is fun, and I think will become a big tool in the future. Haste Arcade is just great, it might need to evolve a bit, or it just needs to get into arcade machines ASAP. People either like throwing quarters into arcades occasionally, or they don’t, but I think they’re on to something.

What application(s) do you use on a daily basis and why?

Mrkozak: I was about to say that I don’t use any BSV app daily, but I guess I use Twetch by sending tweets to the chain on Twitter. Earning sats (satoshis) doesn’t really work out for me on there, but maybe it can pull people in from Twitter that are interested in blockchain. I also spam my HandCash handle on every post on Twitter that I see asking for it.

How long have you been a digital currency user?

Mrkozak: I first played around with crypto maybe three years ago, was skeptical, and ended up playing with doge as a meme, but sadly didn’t invest. About a year later (near all-time highs), I started messing with crypto more. I was lured into the cheap fee ones because I just didn’t see how anyone other than early adopters could use and spend $btc and $eth.

I jumped in on Twitter and followed Algorand, Stellar Lumens, and Celo people, it was fun, but for some reason, it didn’t stick. Later, I went in on BSV the same way on Twitter, followed a bunch of people, tried out PayPistol, and was hooked. BSV offered more utility than just NFT and token stuff that others seemed to offer.

What other digital currencies do you use, if applicable?

Mrkozak: I have slowly sold off most of my tiny bags of everything other than $BSV. I am having fun staying poor.

What do you think the Bitcoin SV space needs the most?

Mrkozak: Stoic positivity. I think stoicism internally about typical crypto stuff that exists even on BSV, positivity externally towards tech and future. We are in a space that deals with money—budget, be smart.

Are you still bullish on the BSV price?

Mrkozak: Yes. I’m not a trader at all, I’ve lost relatively a lot of money in this space. After missing out on dogecoin, even though I loved it as a meme, I told myself that if I actually like something, it doesn’t hurt to own some, just in case. I think BSV has more potential than dogecoin, and I like it, so I hold a little bit.

What overall impact (positive, negative, neutral) do you feel that Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre have on the space?

Mrkozak: I don’t know much history about them except what I see online and the few videos I saw about Craig. Craig is louder, so I hear him more. I low-key wonder if crypto needs a disturbance like what Craig is doing, or else it might continue scamming people, and Bitcoin might end up being perceived as a sad joke to most people.

People in charge of organizations probably do need to be careful with public appearances, especially on social media. I see Calvin in neutral light online, the hate he gets isn’t from his socials, he is a businessman doing what he thinks is right. I think my answer is: POSITIVE. They disrupt crypto, so they get hate.

Do you believe BSV needs better marketing?

Mrkozak: Probably yes, maybe Christen is doing it, but let’s not put all the pressure on one person.

If so, why?

Mrkozak: People need to see that way more can be done on chain, not just selling jpegs and chain loyalty for the chain they have the most bags on. Bitcoin is a tech revolution, not a pump and dump.

What are your pain points and frustrations when it comes to using applications that integrate Bitcoin SV?

Mrkozak: We are early adopters. We are funding people’s experiments. An app appears, we assume they’re legit or will keep developing, they close up shop on us and move on. It’s understandable, but maybe we need actual companies, not anons making apps.

Perhaps we need BSV WordPress plugins or simpler apps. An app that I would use a lot is note.sv, an encrypted note and password manager, but I just can’t get around to trusting it because I don’t know how it works.

What is the biggest risk, in your opinion, to Bitcoin achieving mass adoption?

Mrkozak: People might not actually want the tech. This is why it probably needs more low-key tech that works in background.

What is a hot take you have on the space?

Mrkozak: I think everyone here wants the best for each other, even the NFT scammers. That doesn’t mean you should buy every jpeg out there.

You seem to be interested in an RPG (role playing game) built with Bitcoin, could you express your thoughts on that?

Mrkozak: I think the underlying idea is that an RPG is like an emulation of real life. I am not super serious about it and not much of a gamer at all. I just think having simple cheap or free items for existing NFT characters we have would be fun and simulate what exchange would be like in real life.

Spam the chain, but since some protocols lock up sats in NFTs, people might need to actually have a plan when they mint. Imagine the community everyone has around an NFT drop like Gopniks, but extensive and affordable enough to involve everyone in the space. Someone needs to airdrop me a rock NFT with the description, “your moose tripped on a rock, he decided to pick it up.” It’s fun, I think.

Thank you, mrkozak, for taking the time to answer my questions. I hope the readers understood more about the space from a daily users’ perspective.

This article was lightly edited for clarity and grammatical purposes.

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