# Artega | Are You Paying the Purity Tax? - Camilla Halford | Common S3nse - 2026

- Channel: [CryptoCanal](https://streameth.org/cryptocanal)
- Date: 2026-09-25
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-kOEscyGEI0U
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEscyGEI0U

## Transcript

I want you to remember the first time you had sex. Or, more accurately had sex. Or, more accurately , the first time you thought about having sex. You can't do what? Sorry? No, no, I don't have any slides. There are no slides. This is how it's intended. Look at me. Everything is fine. But, anyway, let's get back to what we were talking about— we were talking about— sex. So, you end up in this strange country. It is full of jargon, identity politics, social status, and very serious consequences if something goes wrong. It's a pretty scary space. Adults, the media, and your peers are probably telling you different things telling you different things , and it all seems very, very complicated and serious. But it seems like everyone who does it enjoys it . Very similar to a crypt. And as for sex: once you're into it, everything seems pretty obvious and completely normal. And you remember that there were "our own" and "strangers" "our own" and "strangers" , groups were formed : those who had already done it, and those who had n't. Today I argue that it is your duty, as well as everyone at this conference, to help crypto change its image. Because if we only communicate with those who are already "in the know," those who are already "in the know," we will support a subculture of ideological purity ideological purity ; We will pay a high price in customers and new users new users , and the money revolution will fail. 9.9% of the world connected to the internet used crypto, according to a market size analysis from Crypto.com. That's still a lot of people. It's still a market. But that leaves us with 90% of the " that leaves us with 90% of the " innocents." And that 10% doesn't mean they're experienced users, or that they liked it, or that they plan to come back. We consider the US to be a crypto hub, but security.org’s 2026 report on cryptocurrency adoption and sentiment showed that only about 6% of “ that only about 6% of “ crypto-innocents” plan to try it. Who cares about them, right? These NPCs who refuse to wake up and see what's happening. And I understand this way of thinking. It's sad to see the power people could have over their own lives, and how it could change the systems that oppress us, but they refuse to use it. But it is these people we need to engage, not offend. And it's a confusing world to enter. When you first tell someone about privacy, the first thing that comes to mind is to lock the bathroom door. These are words like " words like " privacy" and "security" that have the "uncanny valley" effect of language, where words we know suddenly mean something completely different from what we thought. We have a world of atoms and a world of bits, and people have been taught why the world of bits is important and how it works. So when people see these words, why don't they show curiosity? We live in exciting times when we can learn about anything . Of course, we need to be able to critically evaluate what we read, compare sources, etc., but we don't need to visit the Library of Alexandria to learn something. Knowledge is no longer locked in one place. So with unlimited access to knowledge, why are people uninformed? Because the human capacity to care is limited to care is limited . And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just how we are . If you want to find the studies, they're called " called " limited supply of care" and " care" and " limited supply of attention." How does a person choose what to spend their care on, and why should they spend it on money, if they haven't been explained why, or even made aware that there is a problem? Because it hurts to feel powerless, and there are too many reasons for it. Some people are truly powerless, perhaps because of the country you live in or because you have a full-time job and home life. Or maybe and home life. Or maybe you just think you're powerless. What can someone like me change? Why start studying something that will only make you depressed? Do I want to learn what DAO is, or would I be better off spending my time helping my kids with their homework? Do I want to fall for scammers, or is it better to rest after a 12-hour shift so I have the strength to visit my mom on the weekend? And anyway, when I find a forum to learn a little more, I get called "normies." They tell me that nothing will work out for me. Why would I hang out with people who call me names like we're back in school? Why should I do something that is difficult? Caring is when someone you know explains things to me in a way that I understand and can relate to. From the conversations at this conference, I heard four arguments why we shouldn't try. Let's wait. Technology is developing too quickly. We don't want to spend money on a product that will have to be redesigned when the technology matures and our company finds its niche. They will never understand this. Some people are not smart enough or don't trust themselves enough to take responsibility for crypto. Focus on engineers. Don't fight the mainstream, it's too big. Use your resources to instill ethics in students at universities. This is someone else's problem. Leave education to the conglomerates. They have budgets. Small companies can simply sell after them. So, my first rebuttal. You feel like you have to choose between investing in technology or UX. Invest in UX too early and you will lose out to the competition and waste resources. You're thinking too much about this thinking too much about this . Yes, an optimized, quality product is important for investment, but just change your homepage. Add a few discreet buttons for newbies that direct them to explanatory blog posts. Jeremy from the Bitcoin Cash Podcast has a great “ has a great “ start here” page for the confused beginner confused beginner . And you know what? Even if your target market doesn't read this, guess who will? AI. If we all have one page on why we need a money revolution, AI will add that to the conversation. Besides, GEO conversation. Besides, GEO is still the new SEO. If we all do this, it will become a significant and significant part of the discussion. Trezor does this extremely well. Take a look at their homepage and you'll see buttons and hyperlinks that delve into the basics but don't interfere with the user experience. It's a small change, but it means that a clueless person who was advised by a friend to try your product gets the tools to educate themselves; and it doesn't reinforce the feeling that she's an outsider, that she's not allowed to participate because she's not "cool" enough. We want people to make ethical choices from the start. It is much easier to form an opinion when it does not yet exist than to fight what is already believed, which is exactly what will happen if we do not participate in shaping the narrative. One of our challenges is that good marketing good marketing is the ability to create a desired impression of your company in people's minds. The problem with crypto is that we have to do this for the entire industry. The next objection is that people are not smart enough or do not trust themselves or do not trust themselves . So, first of all, IQ is a construct. This is a separate topic for conversation, but no one is too stupid to learn something if they are dedicated and passionate about it. If they want to, they will achieve their goal. Why make their lives difficult by not providing them with the tools? We also need to bring back into the general culture what we have lost. That we are able to be responsible for ourselves. We used to be like that . But there is a benefit in making us believe that we cannot be responsible. But this is a belief that we can gradually influence to change. Because beliefs accumulate and grow over time until they become an internal attitude. Next objection: don't fight the system, just focus on instilling ethics in the engineers who are working to build products today. Certainly. Do this if you have the opportunity. However, many developers simply enjoy solving complex problems and do not consider whether these tasks are ethical. That's why we have the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab and military development. And many qualified professionals simply follow the money because their ethics are focused on providing for their family, not on changing the world. We need to convince all segments of society, not just put all our eggs in one basket and hope for the best. And lastly: shift it onto someone else's shoulders. Leave education to people with budgets, and the small players will catch up. The problem is that people perceive crypto as just crypto. They only see one thing in this. And those big companies don't sell what we do. They want to collect data. If we entrust them with education about crypto, they will control the narrative in the public mind about what crypto is and who it is for. These big players see technology not as a means to improve humanity, but as a tool for infrastructure development. The ability to perform operations faster, more accurately, and with fewer personnel. They talked about competing for young crypto investors so they don't shy away from traditional finance traditional finance when they get rich. There is no ideology, no revolution in money. What about the government and digital coins? The mildest version of their motives for introducing controlled coins controlled coins is to make sure you pay your taxes. They need you to be traceable. They want privacy to become the enemy. If we allow the mainstream narrative to convince everyone that digital privacy is only needed by those who are doing something illegal, the battle will be harder to win . That's why we need to start now. Then our alternative narrative that privacy is the norm will find itself on an equal footing in the public consciousness. We all must take responsibility to talk about a radically new future for money. If we allow data collectors to control crypto, we will have to fight even harder to convince people to switch from an unethical system to a more ideological one. If they feel confident, feel like they can change the future with something as simple as spending money, then what seemed very difficult will start to become very appealing. But only if the supporters of the idea are as hospitable as possible. That's why we have smiling volunteers at reception, greeters at social events, and bands have entertainers to turn individuals into a crowd with a shared identity and experience. We need to stop treating crypto newbies as losers or newcomers. Let's talk again about the true innocents. The United States still leads the world in terms of the highest rates of unplanned pregnancies, births, and abortions. In 2010, a study was conducted that compared this to the country with the lowest score—the score—the Netherlands. American girls attributed the loss of their virginity to peer pressure . They were unprepared. They wanted to please the boy, and their parents either felt uncomfortable or kept quiet uncomfortable or kept quiet . They were strangers. Dutch girls were driven by love and control over their own bodies, and their parents or teachers supported them and provided them with access to literature from an early age. They were their own. A 2026 study in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance found and Experimental Finance found that higher crypto literacy reduced the likelihood of financial loss by 19 financial loss by 19 %. Your. And the influence of crypto- %. Your. And the influence of crypto- social networks increased the risk of becoming a victim of scammers. Strangers. Awareness and joy versus ignorance and peer pressure. So how do we do this? Simon Sinek has a very famous TED talk called "Start with Why." Martin Luther King didn't come out and say, "I have a plan say, "I have a plan ." Start with why you're doing it, then how, and only then then how, and only then what exactly. Another model what exactly. Another model is “problem, escalation, solution, escalation, solution, ” and we at Ortega use it. Define the problem in a way that people can understand. Let them feel its pain, and then resolve it. Our aesthetics are also a problem. We may be in love with our heritage, but the crypt has a bad reputation. People think it's gambling or a scam, so we need to position crypto as something for the general public, not a subculture. We need to get rid of black backgrounds, neon colors, monospace and terminal fonts terminal fonts , tables with lots of statistics, pixel statistics, pixel art, and decipherable text . It's like being those teenagers in leather jackets smoking behind the barn. You're really cool, but no one wants to talk to you. Think of cell phones or laptops. There may be competition over what device you have, but not over what you have. We want to make using a private and secure crypto wallet the obvious choice for everyone, not just geeks. Another way is to present privacy as part of what they already do, rather than as a new space to explore. I use the Brave browser because it's private. I managed to convince friends to use it just because it automatically skips YouTube ads. This is a good start. Let's not judge. I want to end with a parable. Two salespeople from Nestlé went to Japan in 1970 to see if there was a market for coffee there. It was a country where people drank exclusively tea. One turns around and says, “There’s no market there. " They don't drink coffee." Another one comes back and says, "Great news, there's a huge market out there that doesn't drink coffee yet." Unfortunately, they introduced coffee- flavored candy to children , and ten years later the market was ready. The main conclusion is to be there early. Go into niches where they already exist. Position yourself with a product they already use and speak a language they are familiar with. Take the initiative in storytelling before someone else has a chance to establish themselves. Appealing to ordinary people may seem like venality, but I call it a successful revolution. Thank you. Gay.