The Saturday Read
Ideas for the Bitcoin economy.
33 articles by John McCabe on what bitcoin can do for a business, and for the people who spend it. Start anywhere.
John McCabeCo-founder of Saturday Bitcoin and former Global Director, Loyalty Solutions at Mastercard, where he spent more than ten years building merchant loyalty and rewards programs.
This week’s Read · No. 01
Bitcoin-Friendly Is a Competitive Advantage: Seven Ideas for Merchants
Seven ideas for merchants. It starts with a posture toward a customer, not a belief about an asset.
4 min read
Paired with, for Bitcoiners: Someone Has to Gather One Side FirstThe Postcard
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Foundations
7 articles
No. 01Bitcoin-Friendly Is a Competitive AdvantageSeven ideas for merchants. It starts with a posture toward a customer, not a belief about an asset.
No. 02The Bitcoin-Friendly Merchant PlaybookSeven moves that turn accepting bitcoin into an advantage. No price view required.
No. 03Bitcoin-Friendly Is a Posture Toward a Customer, Not a Belief About an AssetYou don’t need a view on bitcoin. You need to be findable by the people who have one.
No. 04Accepting Bitcoin Isn’t EnoughYou accept bitcoin, then sit waiting for customers who don’t know you exist. Here’s the missing half.
No. 05First Visible WinsWhy being the first Bitcoin-friendly merchant in your category matters more than usual.
No. 06You Can Match a Price. You Can’t Match an Identity.You can match a price. You can’t match an identity.
No. 07A Fraction of the SegmentA fraction of this segment did that. Imagine the whole of it.The competitive edge
6 articles
No. 08The Bitcoin Shopping JigsawFor a Bitcoiner, every empty category is an open search, and every filled one is a piece of a growing whole.
No. 09The Customers Amazon Can’t SeeYou can’t out-Amazon Amazon. But you can be the merchant Bitcoiners find when they go looking somewhere Amazon isn’t.
No. 10The Quiet AdvantageIn concentrated markets, every advantage you announce gets copied.
No. 11The Cost of WaitingWait-and-see feels safe because of three biases, not because it is. Acting costs minutes. Waiting cedes the head start.
No. 12The Bitcoin Economy Is Growing. How Are You Positioned?When the Census Bureau first measured e-commerce, in late 1999, it was 0.6% of U.S. retail.
No. 13AI Agents and the Human Front DoorAI shopping agents are becoming the new front door.Customer value and economics
5 articles
No. 14Same Person, Better CustomerMost retention tools rent loyalty.
No. 15Why Incremental Customers Are Worth More Than Their RevenueMost merchants value a new customer at their average margin.
No. 16Your Cheapest RailCard fees are usually quoted as a share of revenue, a couple of cents on the dollar.
No. 17Final SettlementA 2.3% card fee is a nuisance at $50 and roughly $460 at $20,000.
No. 18Bitcoin on Your Balance Sheet, Without Buying AnyMost merchants have never thought about the fact that every dollar they earn moves through one set of rails.For marketing and finance leaders
3 articles
No. 19Where Bitcoin Fits in Your Marketing MixEvery channel you run is a program you have to defend: budget, management, attribution, audit and renewal, often every quarter.
No. 20The CFO’s LensEvery CFO applies a confidence haircut.
No. 21Welcome, Don’t DiscountMost merchants hear “offer” and think “discount.” For Bitcoiners, a welcome offer is something else: a signal.Category playbooks
7 articles
No. 22Commoditized MarketsIn commoditized categories, everyone has the same toolkit: the same ad platforms, the same loyalty software, the same discount calendar.
No. 23Luxury and Premium BrandsLuxury has an acquisition problem most merchants don’t: the most efficient tool in retail, the discount, is the one thing it can’t use.
No. 24High-Margin Digital and Subscription BusinessesConsumer AI is the purest case of a problem every digital subscription business is facing: when every product is good, loyalty has to come from somewhere else.
No. 25Direct BookingOTAs take up to a quarter of the booking and all of the relationship.
No. 26The International BitcoinerMany U.S. merchants quietly block whole regions from ordering.
No. 27Your Competitor Isn’t a Brand. It’s a Habit.If your business asks customers to change a habit (order groceries online, work out at home, see a doctor on video), your real competitor isn’t another brand.
No. 28The Demand SpectrumMost marketing fights over a fixed pie: customers already shopping, redistributed by price.For Bitcoiners
5 articles
No. 29Used, Not Just HeldHolding is essential, but you can hold bitcoin and still be a spectator. Spending puts you in the game.
No. 30Vote With Your WalletMerchants count votes every day. A committed minority that concentrates its spending can make a whole category adapt.
No. 31Someone Has to Gather One Side FirstBitcoin commerce is a coordination problem. Someone has to gather one side first, and the demand side is ready.
No. 32Spending Bitcoin, HonestlyYour 2% cash back isn’t free money.
No. 33Show, Don’t LectureNobody was ever orange-pilled by a lecture on monetary history.