Bitcoin Forum

I honestly believe if we completely eliminate fiat and use crypto,
with the people (and not some bank) owning 90% or more of the value,
then society will see a LOT of problems done away with. Any problems that stem from fiat.
Therefore it is our DUTY to get bitcoin adopted by the masses!

However, we all know its hard as hell to explain to some people.
I have taken many different approaches in explaining bitcoin,
and most end up with the person looking at me like I'M somehow the stupid one...

The community doesn't often help either, talking about tech specs, mining, blockchains and cryptography...

But one day it donged on me.... I figured it out,
and this conversation has gotten me a LOT of AHA's and interested replies!
It goes something like this:

"Do you know what paypal or western union is? Well bitcoin is just a brand name for a similar payment network. Except unlike those others, bitcoin is not owned by a corporation - it is owned by the people. Also, if you send 1 million dollars through paypal or western union you get charged 10% or $100,000, and likely the funds are frozen forever, if you send it through bitcoin you only get charged 7¢ and the person you send the funds to gets them the same day."

Give or take a few words if you are in an elevator, and you have someone who now GETS it.
Trust me, I am from Alabama and I had some southern slang country folk
working at Porky's Pride who now want to get a bitcoin wallet setup with me!

Ok folks, please try this the next time you talk to someone who is new to bitcoin.
Let me know how it goes! Cheers all!

P.S. If you also have a good way to explain bitcoin to a dummy please post it in this thread!

Indeed thats an easier way to set it to someone.
I kinda use this one too and people get more interested in it .
After they get this, i think its the appropriate time to Spam them about all the other features explaining it further in a more detailed way

Great minds think alike!

It has worked on women too, many times. My GF uses bitcoin now and one of her friends...

I don't really think we will eliminate fiat because governments are going to want to control the currency although I guess they can create their own cryptocurrencies instead of using paper money. Either way, I think there is a place for bitcoin to be used as a payment method just like paypal or credit cards and it can be a way to store money. Both of these things will bypass the banks and some of the government control.

i sent some to someone once. i explained that they had to write down their seed and once it was gone, it's gone. they went and lost it anyway. most people aren't interested in controlling their own money and ain't competent enough either. if they were we would be living in a utopia. leave 'em to it is my motto.

i explained to my friends exactly like you've just mentioned in the op, but the chalenge is they are just too scared or maybe lazy and ignorant to using bitcoin due to the bitcoin is not regulated in my country also they heard from the media that bitcoin is only for criminal purposes,i always advising them that bitcoin is just a currency like others, bitcoin will be used for bad or good purpose it' depends on the holders, untill this day only small of them get in to the bitcoin.

Eliminating fiat is something that may happen in a very long time,but most probably it will just never happen.
The problem is that countries are tied way too hard to their curriencies,and same the society is.That powerful link may not let to eliminate it.

on a positive note, every bitcoin LOST makes everyone elses bitcoins go up in value.
Though its sad to see gold not removed from a sinking ship.

i feel you bro  ;) ;) im also sharing it to my girl they dont believe at me :( i try to explain easier and tell them that bitcoin is real money and this time bitcoin is use around the world and now the value of it is around 600$-700$ and theres a lot of way to use and have it but after more i say still they dont believe at me;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

The easiest way to explain bitcoin to a newbie is through hands on. I will give him same faucet and will teach him how to make wallets transfer satoshi and other things.after he is familiar with the transact that's the time I will explain what is bitcoin. It is easy to understand when you can picture out what is it all about. The best way to encourage a person to learn bitcoins is to let him earn some money through bitcoins

hahaha NOOBs. well my best bet is to read the book green eggs and ham. sam I am had to push green eggs and ham like 12 times before the cat in the hat tried them, after which the cat decided he LOVED green eggs and ham! LOL

Never give up!

I say for starters, give them a few YouTube videos to watch.  Then one can elaborate on some of the key concepts.

try and try until he gets my explanation to him its hard to explain who's nothing really know about it. how i wish she will really understand what im saying someday.

Share him/her with with video's about bitcoin and Also there lot of websites which explains about bitcoins , you can tell it is an digital currency similar like other currency instead of bank account you will have wallet :)

Hahahaha.... but I never explain to them about bitcoin if they don't have any intentions to fall into bitcoin. I think if they have any intentions or interested to know about bitcoin. themselves will take a step to getting more information about this and all of this is natural and is not needed an advice.

I think you can explain:

There is room to which everyone has access. In the room there is outstanding for all surveillance cameras. Every second recording all available online. The room littered with indestructible piggy bank made of transparent plastic. Like all normal piggy banks, they have a hole in a coin. Everyone can see what each of the coins in piggy banks. No one can make this piggy bank out of the room.

Every person has the key to his piggy bank. Let's say I want to buy your pair of socks and you are ready to sell them. First you tell me which of your piggy banks. Then I go into the room wearing a mask, which forgot to remove. People around the world can see me on surveillance cameras, but can not see my face.

Then I open the coin box, I pull out the coins and put them in your piggy bank. I leave the room. Now everyone (who needs it, or do not need to) know that your kitty has coins that have been in my piggy bank. And so with each transaction. Everyone knows the story of any of the coins.

This is a terrible way to explain Bitcoin! You use irrelevant arguments.
Yes, I know what Western Union is, and no, I've never used it. And even if I did use it, I wouldn't use it to send 1 million dollars! I use Paypal, which - unlike Bitcoin - has no charge for the sending party. And in Paypal too, I don't send 1 million dollars. Even if I would have 1 million dollars and wanted to send it, I wouldn't use either one of these companies for it.

For the 7 cents transaction fee: that's barely enough to get your transaction confirmed nowadays. If I go to blockchain.info now, click the last block, and click the first transasaction (https://blockchain.info/tx/3473f2e2a4711da8ef08fa61ed88416efcda4f9ae68e85d81c1be950eb017c38), it uses $0.83 fee for a 223 bytes transaction worth a few dollars. That's what you need to pay to get priority from miners.
But even better: if I would like to transfer 1 million euro (I don't live in the USA), I can do it by bank. Without any additional charge (I only pay a few euros fixed fee per month for my account).

I pay in shops with either cash (businesses estimate processing it costs a few cents per transaction) or debit card (which is even cheaper for the business than using cash). I recently ordered dinner online using Bitcoin, and my Priority fee was higher than this.

I tried to explain it recently, when I say: "it's a digital wallet" I get the question "but it has to come from an account".
Maybe the whole approach is wrong! People don't need to understand it to use it. Just like almost nobody understands the concept of "money" in general. People think banks lend out money from savings accounts, and banks want people to keep thinking that.

I usually start out like this, "You know all money are fake right? It is not based on gold anymore and with Fractional reserve banking, it is created out of thin air. You also know, money is already in digital form, right? ..Then I start to explain the digital form of money that are not going through the banking system and which is not governed by anyone, but the people participating in the network.

I am very successful with that, once they get over the fear of digital money. ^smile^

Exactly, a record can teach a new user almost everything we come across. It would explain the benefits playing few recorded videos. It would describe everything practically.

The simplest and easiest way of explaining bitcoin to a newb? I don't think there is such a thing.

It would all depend on his level of interest and his reaction when you introduced him of bitcoins. I guess the safest approach would be only giving the basic explanation of what bitcoin is, how it is used, and maybe a little bit of why it exists. Then just see his reactions. Ask if he has questions.

I like this as well.

We gotta think critically and leave out the techno jargon for sure!

paypal will want you to do business to business if you send too much. I sent my girlfriend money via paypal all the time. But I also had a business giving me daily income last year frozen by paypal, which has cost me thousands.

And having bitcoin go instantly is not always a priority. most businesses trust you when you have just ONE confirmation on the blockchain. I know I would, especially if I saw the person send me the bitcoin from his phone in a peer to peer local transaction. 1 confirmation is enough especially for prior customers.

Your bank must be awesome to only charge a few dollars, but still thats a lot more than 83¢

i think the most easiest way of getting information about bitcoin is to visit a website or you tube. because there a newbie can easily get all kind of information about bitcoin. he can download and can watch it from time to time.

well if you want to learn about it yourself then yes, but if you want to explain it someone then i think i would just tell that it allows you to make some good money over time and thats it

You are spot on.

I am thinking of writing an article titled:

"The 7 sins of Selling."

YOUR selling point is the sin of Greed. Make the person want money.

The others include:

Pride - be the first to adopt a new currency that will change the world
Wrath - fuck over the banks and corporations
Envy - finally afford that new car you want and make your neighbors jealous (similar to greed)
Gluttony - save 10% at starbucks and any resturaunt that accepts bitcoin or visa (shift visa now has 0% fees for using a bitcoin debit card)
Lust - show lots of hot women wearing bitcoin shirts, or have hot sales agents
Sloth - the perfect vacation is 20% cheaper when bought with bitcoin

See where I am going with that?
Each person has a weakness. Yours is possibly greed (as is mine)

yeah I think the most simple to teach new users is with video. with video you're not only giving a lesson
to just one user but for all newbie

i think it is too difficult to understand newbie while they have no idea about bitocin . actually bitcoin is a world world itself and no one can so easily inderstant it. for understanding it they need a hard work and attention. the tuitor should also be so much trained.

I told to the people who did not knew about bitcoin,  that bitcoin was gold on Internet and we could get it by mining, buying and there are way to get bitcoin as free on faucets. It is my experience and one man who interest in bitcoin. LOL

You did hit the bulls eye there. Thag is one good hell of a way to explain it. Many people are sending money through their love ones also from different places and businesses will like this because of the low fee. You did good my friend. I will try it next time.

The mining and other stuff takes it too deep that is why they dont come back after we explain that.

Thanks I appreciate that my friend!

Indeed, not everyone cares how airplanes fly nor do they even understand aerodynamics even upon a 17th explanation, lol.

You rock for seeing eye to eye with me! :D

I agree, I don't think the masses care about aerodynamics or candies or trading or halving or mining.
All they want is to see something they want, and buy it. If that can be easy then they will be good to go.

That's what I am doing right now to my kids. I'm teaching them in a way like a game and they enjoy it. At this moment without my aid they would claim at faucets then they will forward their earnings to my wallet. In exchange I will buy them ice cream. It's both fun at the same time educational.

Thinking about it. Western Union will be the who will on the brink of dying now.  The thought of it explaining to many people with your idea will open their minds that there is more cheaper way to send money.

I would to a layman begin with defining it as the currency of the internet.
It's a digital currency that is not controlled by any centralized authority but infact is influenced by the people.
People provide the servers to allow transactions to take place, the transactions too are made by the people.

I will just explain to him that bitcoin is one  of the best kind of money that can only found online because it's safe,fast and low fees
unlike our physical currency and i will also tell to him that it's a bit easier to earn money than in real life. And after that short explanation and he wants to continue creating his own path on bitcoin world then i will start explaining the things that he need like wallet,patience,determination etc.

Nothing difficult, just understand his interest towards learning about bitcoin. If he's truly interested just ask him to go through our entire forum thread. He can understand more than what's needed.

This is by far the best explanation I have ever seen.
Now, can we actually have those other threads that ask how to explain bitcoins to other people closed.

I agree if they are in front of a computer. But in public, esp. in buildings with no wifi, you need to have a video on your phone OR have a good elevator pitch.

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_W-7hd4T2I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_W-7hd4T2I)

BEST bitcoin video I have seen yet!

yeah you do not need a huge cost to send money overseas. you can tell them that bitcoin is better than western union :D

I think just tell them what is their price in fiat right now and how they are generated. And then let them discover advice them to join this forum some wallet and let them earn some small satoshi for first time with faucet.Slowly they will learn all about it in some time surely.

Its better to explain what is a digital currency. From that you can explain how bitcoin is with high potential compared to other digital currencies. This will make newbies to know more about bitcoin through different sources depending upon their own interests.

haha obviously.
Maybe if i get a gf someday in the future i could teach her the ways of the btc! For now i just have to focus on finding that"gf" :p

interesting. i think a newbie has noting to do so much. because he may bot be even accepted in a signature campain. so if we suggest him to visit bitcointalk.org and do self study there. hope with in a month he will learn much more about bitcoin there with our a tuitor.

Well, that is a decent way to explain Bitcoin, touching how they will get a huge discount without compromsing their fund to be frozen is way to go :D .  If someone have this big amount, and you introduce this Bitcoin to him, with this feature, they would be very interested and learn more about it.  If they see that it's worht a try they will do it,

If the newbie is very interested in bitcoin i think we can explain easily about bitcoin and we can say to always visit this forum because here more users are enlighten about the benefits brings of bitcoin to us.

LOL - my current girlfriend if russian columbian. I found her by typing a LONG bitchy rant on facebook about how American girls are superficial, brainwashed by holywood and media, and only date football players. LOL and she had me date her friend first, who turned into a psycho bitch then betrayed us both so we got together and now the psycho on thinks her friend stole me from her. (long story short)

If i would try to explain btc to some newbie,i would not try it.
I would just show him some investment sites,this forum,my bankroll on some site's etc,he would probably get excited about it,
and get educated himself better.

yes - include THIS video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_W-7hd4T2I

so what that he will go on this forum? i doubt it will somehow help him understand bitcoins more, i think i would explain it by giving him/her bitcoins and show how to spend it

When I started out with Bitcoin, it was a whole other scene.. people could still mine Bitcoin with strong GPU's and everyone was trying to push these cards to their limits. So in short, it was only a few

technical people, who dared to enter this scene. Now everyone can go out and buy Bitcoin, without any expensive mining rigs needed. So it is much easier now to approach people.. without them having

to know how to tweak or overclock a GPU.  ;D .... I like to tell them, It's banking without a bank and it's payment on the internet without PayPal or credit cards  ;D

newbie need more hard work and patient because he has yet so many time to be active in bitcointalk.org. so i can suggest him to study the website bitcointalk. org. he will learn more about bitcoin from this website.

agreed, experience is the best trainer

As long as there is someone even a single person from your friends is a big step towards increasing bitcoin users population. Imagine how many bitcoin users are there and have  one friend they have invited to engage in bitcoin it is still a big number. The friend you have invited will soon invite many users to join the bitcoin family. When the time is ripe bitcoin family will reach the farthest part of the globe.

I saw that showing is best explanation, don't say nothing in beginning. Just show how much money you have, what did you buy with bitcoins, and when people see they will understand. Its money like any other currency, and that is the point.
You can buy and sell things for btc, you can invest btc in many different services, you can gamble it, or give it away.
Believe me I talked to much, but only when I started to show money from bitcoins people started to pay more attention.

How I explain bitcoin to friends/newbs:

Bitcoins are digital diamonds.

• Capped Total Amount
• People can choose to mine it
• Gets rarer every year
• With Rarity comes Value
• Trade people digital diamonds for stuff
• Diamonds are heavy, so you have to wait a while for it to transfer

It's not a simple and yesterday I trying this and very difficult for me but maybe I need to learn more information about this. a lot of my friend try this and wolla!!! they can get some dollar from them but in alt form.

Bitcoin is something you buy from me, then wait a couple of years, and then you're rich!
Simple.

The simplest way is to tell them "It's like paypal but it's not dollar, it's another currency. Also minus the transaction fee."

More simplier is the transaction fee is not based thru how big the amount is your going to deposit. Even that's the only thing you will say they might get interested already with it.