Do no harm
You give money to people pretty much every day, right? Sometimes the money leaves your account automatically (utility bills, mortgage payments, etc.) and other times you consciously pull out your wallet (your $12 daily Starbucks order).
If most of your transactions are with trusted/well known companies, you don't have much to worry about. You trust that Starbucks will deliver your oat milk mocha frappe with extra whip, and you won't be scammed out of your money (at least no more than you agreed to by pulling into the drive thru).
We usually take this sense of safety for granted, but why is it that we can spend money without fear of loss?
I can think of two main reasons:
- You might trust the reputation of (or your own experience with) the company you're paying
- You trust the protection provided by your bank, credit card, or other agency
But what if most of the goods and services you wanted could only be gotten from unknown, recently established, anonymously run companies...
Oh, and you can only pay cash.
You'd have to be much more careful, right?
That's what crypto is like today.
There's tons of opportunity to create consumer protection, mitigate risks, and resolve disputes. If you're building a game, DeFi protocol, or any other dApp, your users usually have to trust that you won't scam them. Instead, (whenever possible) design your smart contracts so it's obvious there's no way for it to be a scam.
Offer digital assets for free, don't require staking tokens, etc.
Make it free and easy to build a relationship with your users. Establish a good reputation and make money later from your loyal fans.
-Luke
P.S. Games are especially impacted by this. No one wants to risk losing money just to play a game when there are so many safe and inexpensive opportunities for entertainment.