Bitcoin Forum

How could I explain what Bitcoin is to someone that don't know about Bitcoin at all nor about computers in general ? The only way I have now is to say it's like PayPal but I don't like it that much :-\. Anyone has an idea ?

it is a real but virtual currency(just like WiFi we can't see it touch WiFi but it is there) not governed by any government and is used to make transactions on the internet.

Start with the important and basic stuff :

• Instant Transactions with zero/low fees
• Decentralized system
• It's annonymus
• Your account can't be limited , frozen
• You have full control over your money

Then make him watch this video which almost every bitcoiner saw it before : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2en3nHxA4

just saying, bitcoin is the simplest, easiest means of paying for things online, it's really simple than paypal.
maybe you could take a look to this thread
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1261106.msg13055413#msg13055413
there are so many great explanation about bitcoin
goodluck

If you say it is like PayPal, they don't under and why it's that good. Also, if they don't like PayPal they won't go to Bitcoin since I told them it was the same.




A good point I think. Thank you I'll use it.




Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for. I think this way I'll be able to convert some people to Bitcoin ;) !




I usually start by saying that's the simplest way, but I usually get : "It is so simple, why can't I buy with my PayPal, why not so many stores accept it ?" as a reply, so I'll use the arguments from the last post.

oops i forgot something, "you dont need to upload your identity like paypal did" this is very good for those who want annonimity (pseudo actually) for their  transaction.
that's the point what i told to my friends who used paypal

Just say this "it's a digital currency that you can use anytime & anywhere", that is usually what I say to someone whenever they ask about Bitcoin.

tell him first it's real money then he will listen to the rest like it's digital currency easy to earn can be used in different things and it will be more known as a payment systeme in the next years

Bitcoin has nothing in common with Paypal. Who told this to you have no idea what bitcoin is. As for your question in which way you can explain what is bitcoin to someone who not only don't know it at all but even computer my answer it would be. Cannot explain. First he/she must know the computer. So your work will be more hard because first must explain to him/her what is the computer, must learn to it what is computer, then must learn what is internet. then try to use all the above. After the normal use of all above you can tell that bitcoin is a software which play the role of money in internet. As a money with it can be bought everything from them who sell something and accept it. After that, show it a bitcoin wallet (maybe even help to create one), show how to use various option within it (send the bitcoin firstly), show where can be bought bitcoin or how can earn some of those and at last show to him/her that exist an infinity of knowledge in internet about totally everything regarding bitcoin. It will be enough to do a simple search using the word bitcoin and will have only the difficulty to choice. Everyone of us has learned in this way about bitcoin. Maybe you can name Wikipedia as a good source to not confuse much him/her and that is enough you can do. The other remain to him/her.

maybe you can use my way in explaining bitcoin to people who did not know about bitcoin, I told them, "bitcoin it as your telephone token (top up), can be bought and sold, but also as the dollar, the price is going up and down"; D

If they have a smartphone and know how to use it it's easier. Just tell them that it's an alternate currency that only exists inside the phone (or the computer) and that you can't physically feel, but still it's there, it has value and it can buy stuff.
Tell them it's stored on a digital wallet inside the phone and that they have to protect it with a strong password.
Also, don't forget to insist on how innovative it is, how it can change the future and increase in value over time ;-)

Show them the youtube video explaining it. Its explained in its simplest terms so it can't be beat.

talk about the advantages, mainly, and you can say to them that those money are always your, like the one that you have under your pillow, but with the advantage that the value does appreciate in the future, not depreciate

First is good to educate how fiat debt based fractional currency works - thats the toughtest part.

After this, Bitcoin really works the way your friend actually mistakelly thought fiat currency works - what a paradox your friend intuitively can understand how Bitcoin works (all satoshis can be used anytime, like real units of something), while so little understands how fiat really works (everytime bank make loan new money is created out of nothing and destroyed when repaying - inflation comes from the interest btw, and all units (dollars) cannot be used anytime because fiat works in fraction reserve - if you attempt to request withrawing all deposits from a bank (or even half of all deposits) - aka bank run, banks have to close and refuse doing wires as well - there dont exists all units (dollars) under fractional reserve)...

So the decision is using something real like gold and Bitcoins or fraction based fiat shit (literally).

Most important is that you use easy language. Then most people are likely to understand what you are talking about. Just explain them the basic things when they don't know much about tech. If they have some experience you can possibly go even further by going a bit more in depth.

When explaining bitcoin to a new user, having using this method most likely won't work, just because the mind of a average human being doesn't think about that. It's a quite hard topic for anyone not interested in this subject to talk about. I've tried using this method, but I see, that their mind wonders off mid conversation, most likely because it's too much for them to process. I love to use simple terms, like it's a currency like euro or dollar, only thing is that it's scarce, with a limited supply. Also saying that it's already 420 times stronger than a dollar to make a point.

However most people don't like to talk about money. It's a really difficult topic for them to pick up for some reason so using the most simple terms where possible helps a lot.

Just say you can send it around the world like email.But instead of information you are sending magic internet money that can not be copied and doesn't need the participation of a bank. This way most people got a clue what Bitcoin is.

I've never thought about the email. I think this is a good idea. Is the "magic internet money" a bit too big :D ? I think that the average people, if you say them that it is not backed by any trusted financial organisation, will have fear for Bitcoin. Even if it quite oppressive, a bank guaranties that your money is "safe" and won't lose all his value of the Chinese government decide to block it in, not even in his country, but in China, a far country that has nothing to do with them for many.

weusecoins.com has very informative & simple explanation videos about bitcoin. You may refer to these videos. (There're  translations & subtitles for most languages).

I think theres no easy way when introducing bitcoin to someone. But telling them you can earn it using you mobile phone and you can buy some stuff in the internet or convert it into fiat would make him/her having an interest on it.

Lol, it's nothing like Paypal. I don't understand many here still spreading information like this. Bitcoin is very complex to explain and to use for the common person. That's why there are so few women using it and I'm not saying that in a bad way, WAF is crucial for many products and services. Consider authorization keys, wallets, addresses as long as lines of code, brain passwords, decimals, dear god...and for what?

I'm thinking this not from our point of view, we understand the potential of it, but it's far for being something that will be massively adopted, just like the internet was in the 90s. That doesn't mean it doesn't have value or it's not a huge innovative idea.

Just tell them it's stocks. Very simple.

Bitcoin is nothing like stocks. It's really really far away.

1. fees are 4.2cents(or more), with a 10 minute (atleast) confirmation.. the recipient is not allowed to spend funds before that as its not settled..
talking about unconfirmed transactions is much like saying it takes 0.1 seconds to hand someone a duff cheque that wont clear.. or takes 10 minutes-1 hour to clear.. and if you want to do a free transaction expect to wait over an hour in many cases..
so atleast be honest to people

2. agreed

3. its about as anonymous as cash. eg if the person receiving it knows your name/face then its less anonymous, so dont publish secret addresses publicly on forums if you want complete anonymity

4. your 'private holdings' cant be limited/frozen, much like having csh under your mattress.. as saying account, people naively beleive that coinbase/mtgox or other account services cant freeze you out

5. as long as you keep control and not hand it to third party services to manage for you.

its best to not paint a pretty picture of the dream, but give people thee fine details of the reality..

best analogy i have found is that bitcoin is like a cheque.

it contains the details of originating funds, destination and amount

without you handing over the cheque (transaction) with your own unique signature, funds cannot move.

people can try copying your chequebook, but without your unique signature.. its useless.. and thats where the part of the beauty of bitcoin comes in..

the signature is not standard. its unique to each cheque as its formed using the details of that individual cheque.
the cheque does not reveal how that unique signature was created as that is a private passphase(key) only you know...but has a method to atleast confirm its a valid signature from the owner of the original funds using a secondary public passphrase(key)

there are thousands of independent workers co-operating to validate and settle that cheque to ensure the recipient can spend the funds 10minutes+

some people can accept it on face value, as they can instantly check the balance and instantly check the signature of your original funds using the public key... or wait for confirmation to ensure its fully settled (incase they presume you handed another cheque for the same amount to someone else at the same time). which if you want to ensure its confirmed/settled within 10 minutes then you should pay atleast 4cents to get first class treatment

the private key is where the funds have ultimate control.. so keep it safe. the public key is the identifier where people can pay you, prove you have funds available and see the signature is valid.

think of it a bit like paypal.. the username is the public key, that people can pay you... and the password is the private key that allows you access to the funds to pay other people.. without the password, your lost.. there is no central party that can give you a password reminder..

there are services that can manage funds for you, if you move about and dont keep copies of your private key handy... this is done by simply paying them, they use their private keys because the funds are then in their hands, but under your requests.. but it is not recommended to use these for large amounts at the moment as legislation to protect your consumer rights is not fully established with these services. bitcoin works best if you keep your funds in your own control..

I think this reply will give you full details about what is bitcoin and what are their functions, if you can understand by this way , then you can make others also understand what is bitcoin by this way if you start to explain them. the way above reply has given .

really it is very good answer you gave to explain what is bitcoin and how to explain others about the details of bitcoin.

Yep, the problem is that whenever you point to such analogy "it's like paypal but with it's own currency" they will ask "why do I need another currency? I have the dollar (or the Euro or whatever you've got in your country). Unless you live in a country with a really screwed up national currency, chances are they aren't bright enough to see the point.

Most of the people i tell about are hooked after i tell them it don't require the need for Banksters......  ;D

I just explain it as a digital form of currency. I wouldn't go into too much detail about the blockchain and all that just keep it simple. No different from real money really we use credit debit cards all the time is that money real?

You could tell them to do personal research on the matter.

It depends on the audience in my opinion... I always try to determine their level of knowledge on general financial topics, before I pitch Bitcoin to them. If they know how the

banking system work, it might be easier to pitch it to them... but if they have no clue about that... you might have to start there and explain it first. The advantages of Bitcoin

becomes clear, if you understand the centralized fiat system first. Good luck... it's difficult with all the fud being spread about it.  >:(

I don't think they will. They will ask you to tell them what it is, but if you persist by not giving them any info, I think they'll lose any potential interest and they may even forgot to do some research. They may also find non-attractive info on Bitcoin and thus don't be interested by it.

Don't bother if they aren't online every now and then.

if they are online from time to time, give them some youtube links and this forum.

Tell them its what online people use these days to buy stuff on shopping sites and that bitcoin is the future money so they better get into it else they'd be left behind lol.
Tell them bitcoin is going to be more valuable later said by the men of the future.

So if they want to get their life easier while also investing, let them sign up for an online wallet for now, maybe blockchain and send them few coins to start with.

Show your Ferrari  ;D

I would just ask them stuff like where do they think the money they use right now comes from and how it gets its value, who decides that etc.  Once you get past that step then you can tell them about new designs of money creation.

these stuff won't work for someone who isn't a close friend

try this. from easy to more complicated  ;)

1. Internet Money

2. A nework for payments

3. A network for sending assets of any kind

4. ...

Firstly you should explain to them how online transactions work, how e-banking from your local bank works.
After he understands how digital money works you should easily tell him what bitcoin is, what kind of digital (virtual/ cryptocurrency) is bitcoin, and then explain how it works, something about the network then about wallets and so on.

It is called a wallet for a reason.  The only difference between the wallet in their pocket or purse is that this wallet is stored on a computer or on a virtual server where they can access it online whenever they want.  All it does is store money.  It is that simple.

I don't know what you're gonna tell them but it'd be best to kind of understand what Bitcoin thoroughly is before trying to explain.

Good luck with this one.  I have a hard time explaining even to myself why bitcoin is advantageous over cash.  Often times it totally isn't.  I don't buy my groceries with it or pay my rent or utilities with it.  I don't have family 3000 miles away that I need to send money to quickly.

I've tried to explain bitcoin to my mother, who is not exactly elderly, and she doesn't get it.  She's a news junkie and has only heard about Silk Road and those fucker FBI agents who stole the seized bitcoin, so she thinks it's solely a tool for black marketeers.  Other people I've discussed it with have no concept of how it works and think it's just funny money.

I have no suggestions for you.  I've been looking for these answers myself on this forum and others, and I still haven't figured it out.

Magic internet pirate money

yeah i can understand comparing bitcoin with paypal is like injustic well the answer of your asked question you have to focus on some basic facts like peoples are always adicted to real money so first show them that bitcoin is a real currency by buying something with it and expaining yhem that what else can this stuff can do once they see you bought anything with this then they will surelly belive on some of your words the second step is show then real facts no matter how much bad or good the points are jist tell truth to them and let them decide they want to be on our side or just want to be on the faint side thats their own decision so no need to force them once they are wiyh you you can help them educating them