Bitcoin Forum

Virtual currency makes Bitcoin sound inferior. People think digital currency are their bank accounts. Decentralized currency will confuse many people. Cryptocurrency has a "shady" connection to Joe Public. How about the term 'network currency' which brings in the point that it is maintained by the network?

What's wrong with Cryptocurrency? After all, it's cryptology which backs it.

Great suggestion.
Makes much more sense.
It has a down to earth feeling.

The Network Currency ;)
"Booyakasha"

I like "network currency"


Joe Average doesn't associate "crypto" with cryptography.

He associates it with "shady", "secretive", "underground", "cryptic" etc.

I think that's why the term was removed from bitcoin.org

Cryptocurrency describes Bitcoin pretty accurately but it's a negative term to the average person. Like peer to peer / P2P also makes people associate it with torrenting / piracy, which regardless of how you feel about it, shouldn't be bitcoin's first impression.

just call it gold

+1 rational proposal

+1

Bitcoin share a few characteristics with gold but it's not a good idea to call it gold..

you call it bitcoin first

In a couple of years, Bitcoin will be described as Bitcoin. Like podcast or gold.

You don't describe gold to people as physical money, right? They just know what the gold is. The same will be with Bitcoin. Every other digital currency will be compared to it: "LTC was like Bitcoin, but with different rules" or "WoW money was not like Bitcoin, it was a controlled point system before it was replaced by Bitcoin for in-game transactions"

"Network currency" is good.

However, I'm thinking the most favorable angle to take is to call it an "emergent Internet commodity" or "network commodity." That might keep regulators more bamboozled for longer.

"Network Currency" is quite good.

All of the above work, if you cant wrap your head around the fact that their the same thing you probably shouldnt be using Bitcoin.

I foresee use and acceptance by people who can't wrap their head around how to balance a checkbook.  Whether that's a good thing is a matter for debate, but trying to keep the muggles out by using arcane terminology isn't good for anyone.

The person who taught me more than I ever wanted to know about sales told me that the radio station that everyone listens to is "WII-FM": "What's In It For Me".  If you want to be heard, broadcast on that frequency.

And looking at the matter semantically, cryptography is used in Bitcoin's implementation, but the implementation details don't really concern anyone but us nerds.  What makes Bitcoin special is its ability to traverse the Internet in realtime, peer-to-peer, without restriction.  So "network currency" is a much more apt description than "cryptocurrency".  And probably gives people a much better idea of why it'd be useful to them.

TLDR:
+1 for "network currency".

In a few years, there will still be people who haven't heard of bitcoin.

I like the sentiments of OP ... though 'network currency' can sound like 'networking marketing .... pyramid, etc.

"Internet Currency" could be more appropriate, useful and correct , since it operates on layer 4 and above, not on the network hardware anyway (yet?)

I think 'peer-to-peer currency' is more specific and descriptive.

Internet currency is a good term too! (through internet = internetwork)

Bingo! I was wondering if this point was going to brought up, for if it hadn't I was going to pen something similar.

Amway, et al., were considered MLMs, until it was remarketed as Network Marketing. Insurance companies are base on the same principle.

There's probably a large demographic that has a negative cognition toward the term network, although I do see the beauty in its usage.

One main problem I see with the term "Internet Currency" is the number of syllables it has. Perhaps, if it were shorten to something like "Netcy" it may have a chance.

I don't like netcy - what about online currency?

social currency

+1

Bitcoin is THE internet currency!!!

Would you rather have script or crypt? Who here has an account at Urban Dictionary?

"Internet money" for average people.

"Decentralized internet money" for people who you think are smart enough to grasp how groundbreaking decentralized money is.

What about Digital Currency? It sounds similar to "network currency".

Network Currency is good...It can bring easy for everyone.

Yes Bitcoin is virtual currency. It has no physical evidence. All Bitcoin related thing are done digitally. Because of this many people still doesn't believe on it. If virus corrupt the data or hardware crash then their is no other way to get back those data and you will loose all your Bitcoin. Crypto currency are the digital electronic cash. In future These currency are will be taking the place of real currency. Crypto currency are also use as a medium to exchange real currency. Among other crypto's Bitcoin has strong network. And it is peer to peer decentralised in nature.  :)

Bitcoin is not a virtual currency.  According to European central bank definition, Virtual currency is a type of currency which is controlled by its developers. 
Do you still think bitcoin is a virtual currency?

Sounds interesting! Why not have network currency? I think it is a good idea and in the nearest future this may happen as everything is developing so fast. Like it was with Bitcoin. It has appeared suddenly and now there is no such a person who hasn't heard about it.

I think it's just the same thing. If you or people find it shady then I don't think just the name would do much good to them. The concept of virtual money or online money would still remain just as shady as it is now.

The name shouldn't matter at all, what really matters is the tech behind it, the people using it, and the amount of money involved in it. People don't care if virtual currency sounds inferior, because that is what Bitcoin is. Other currencies, such as FIAT currencies, are paper currencies. Does that make those currencies sound inferior? Is that going to make people stop using them? No. It doesn't matter what happens, people are going to use what they want to use.

To make is more meaningful to the masses digital currency would be a better choice. Crypto currency makes sense to us but not to the average john or jane doe. Then when you add altcoins into the mix it becomes really confusing

That's because virtual currency is in need of internet network, and without internet network bitcoin currency will stop and can not be used in transaction.

Network currency is nothing but is an another form of "digital currency". So all of the cryptocurrencies are namely called Virtual or Digital currency