Bitcoin Forum

Some dude at the bus station wants to know what bitcoin is.
you don't have much time and he won't be able to take in to much information.
a simple look it up online won't do, because that's not interesting enough to read a lot of boring stuff online.

What are 2-3 short(!) key features of bitcoin, which i could tell him, so that he has a basic understanding what it is? And of course so he will be interested to learn more about it.

If that's from our country, here's the three (3) things that I would say:

1. The government can't put tax on you if your salary is on Bitcoin. (Tax is a major issue in our country)

2. You can't be scammed by some people out there when they're paying you with bitcoin because it's irreversible. (Unless you're stupid)

3. If you do have a wallet, a bank account, and some coins, just imagine that those 3 things exists online as well. You know how those three works, that's how it works online as well (basically).

Bitcoin is money. I think that is enough to explain what bitcoin is to anyone. If the guy wants to know more complex information about bitcoin then there you can tell him more stuff.

Its money like any other currency, and for now you can do many things with bitcoin, and with time there is more and more places where you can spend or invest you coins. That completely depends from your wish and plans. I would tell also how he can send money to someone abroad without big fees, and that he can even try to trade with bitcoin and some other currencies.
Bitcoin is a new currency, and bitcoin made a good progress in past years, I will say that its still not late for buying bitcoin and trying to get some while its not so much expensive.
I like to gamble so I would tell him few words about that for sure, and how nice is to play games and earn some money while he have fun.

Bitcoin is:
1. Decentralised and the coins cannot be frozen by anyone or counterfeited.
2. Very fast and takes lesser fees compared to other payment methods. Bitcoin transactions can be confirmed in minutes while Paypal transactions for example are easily reversible for up to 180 days.
3. Pseudonymous. With sufficient precautions, it is extremely hard for anyone to trace the coins, ensuring privacy.

Give him your e-mail address (or a throw away mail addy) next time so you have some time when you get home to explain it to him better.

If he already wants to know about bitcoin as he starts asking random people about it, he should be willing to understand the concept anyway.

About the people that say it is tax free: Bullshit, like any other store of wealth you own, you have to pay tax one way or another. The fact that they can't enforce it at the moment doesn't mean you wont have to pay it.

Tell him it's internet money, and he could have bought a Bitcoin for one cent seven years ago, then sold it for more than $1100 less than five years later.

Tell him it went up in value more than 5.5 times in 27 days during November 2013.

Tell him if he had bought $10 worth of Bitcoins at the start of November 2013 he could have sold his stash for $55 at the end of November 2013.

Bitcoin is online peer to peer currency not controlled by any individual or organization,cryptographically secured and anonymous.

first of all, i am not gonna answer some random dude on the street who randomely asks me about bitcoin :) besides youtube can do the job so much better and easier than i can do in either a couple of sentenses or an hour of talking.

but i like two definitions for bitcoin that i think describes bitcoin the best in short: peer to peer money, and a public ledger.

for any one to explain bitcoin it is not very difficult , if you mobile phone you can show him a video  or a blog on the mobile device it self , mainly you can tell dude it is internet money ,  need to a have wallet instead of bank account , it is an secured currency, easy to transact :)

I think them that bitcoin is money you can use bitcoin to transfer all over the world without hassle without any real identity you can make your wallet fast.
Also you can tell them that you use bitcoin as payment online for some stores..

Bitcoin Is a Intrenet Currency.
1. It Has no involvmet of government or bank so transactions are fast and with less fees and also world wide.
2. it has high security and it is convertable to any other type of currencys or we can buy any product or servic with it.
3. 1Bitcoin is 650$ at currenct price but it is keep changing every hour or day

It's kind if like digital or electronic money, but it may be easier to compare it to a combination of paypal, credit cards, western union, and a bank account. It has features of all of these, but is also unique. Basically it's a method of payment, and way to send money, and a way to store money.

Tell him to overcome that and it will good to go.

A person that really want to know more about bitcoin, will seek information by themselves.

I have been asked about what Bitcoin is before by some in real life people and I always failed to properly explain them the point of Bitcoin. Unfortunately its very difficult to explain people concepts such as decentralization and consensus algorithms.

i will only stick to a couple of key features that make bitcoin good in my opinion:
1) decentralization
2) anonymity
3) speed and security
and also depending on my mood i may get into specualtion about the price and how it can rise over the years making bitcoin an excellent investment for long term.

Maybe you could say that bitcoin is the revolution of online currencies that are much safer bitcoin, easy, and very profitable. After that you can give her some blog or site that discusses the bitcoin or you can provide a link to them in this forum.

It's an online/digital currency something like e-banking but with different behaviors, buy, sell and trade like anything else, the transaction speed is slower than paypal or VISA but it is much faster than bank transfers and the transaction fees are less than WesternUnion,banks,paypal etc.

First thing I will tell him that bitcoin is an online virtual currency with a corresponding fiat currency value.

Second is bitcoins transaction is done is secrecy since the user is annonymous.

Third is bitcoin has gained a significant increase. Those who saved their money in the form of bitcoins have gained more than who does fiat currency time deposit in banks

Will start to explain about the existence of such digital currencies, which most of the people were unaware. From that if I found him interested in knowing more will continue to explain the advancement of bitcoin over other digital currencies.

Well my 3 Bitcoin highlights would be these:

1. Your Bitcoin funds online will be absolutely private as long as you keep them there and don't cash out so the government will have no idea what you have been doing.

2. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible so this could be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the situation.

3. The Bitcoin market is highly volatile and resembles a stock market so Bitcoin in its current state doesn't act as a digital currency and more like an asset.

Bitcoin same as other currencies . for now you can do many things with bitcoin . regardless of time and place . you can
spend or invest your bitcoin . and I suppose it depends on your plans and desires in bitcoin .
many people are already using bitcoin one of them by sending money to overseas seseorand without great expense.
( Keep in mind ) that is the new currency bitcoin , and bitcoin is making good progress in the past . still not too late for you to buy bitcoin
as a long-term investment . ;D

Simple Bitcoins are digital currency set to change our monetary system in the near future. It is a currency that makes our transactions fast, easy and private. Currently bitcoins are more of a investment than currency due to it's high value !!!

first of all does he understand what is digital currency because this is basic knowledge of bitcoin and if he understand i think with short words he will be understand about bitcoin because if he does not know anything about digital currency i think there will be difficult explain to him what is bitcoin only in short sentence also i considers bitcoin could not explain with only short explanation and if any person asking what is bitcoin in 2 or 3 words i guess this person basically not interested to bitcoin

There already was talk about this (there even was a contest for in-short version of what bitcoin is). Anyways i would say something like
that bitcoin is a decentralized ledger where unit of payment is bitcoin, and sole owner of your coin is you. New coins are generated on average every 10 minutes,
and are rewarded to people that process transactions, but are halved on average every 4 years, making bitcoin not only a secure and safe method of payment, but also
a great investment or store of value asset.

I think the three function I can tell him re these.

Bitcoin is fast and handy.  He can easily transact with it with little to no time transaction.  He can bring bitcoin with him anywhere and can use his  smartphone as a wallet.

It is safe and secure.  It has a high level of security that is hard to crack, and it is up to him on how to set up  private  key or seed key.

It can give him profit.  It is a currency and at the same  time an investment because off its volatility.

Just short answer the key features of bitcoin, you can manage your money without another parties intervention in it, try that and you will get another bonus features for this.

We don't making a long explanation for them just telling about simple word can make them suspicious about it.

Interesting question, I would pick these 3 key facts:

1. Bitcoin is fast, decentralized internet based currency which means it can't be controlled or banned by government.
2. Transactions are very cheap, in most cases you will pay less than 1 cent for sensing BTC to any place in the world.
3. Bitcoin is great speculative tool, if you buy 1 bitcoin now it could be worth 50% more in a 2-6 months.

Ask him to search not what is bitcoin, but search how bitcoin works. Some of the key features;
1. there will be no midman when you send money from your wallet to another.
2. You are the only one person who have access to your bitcoin and no any bank/government can touch your bitcoin/money.
3. Nobody can track you with only knowing your bitcoin address (complete anonymity).

Don't want to rain on your parade but
1 bitcoin isn't really that "fast" compared to other ways of internet payments (PP.skrill,AP..just to name a few), even tho it has great advantage over them as well
2 transactions are much more expensive then what they used to be, just try making a 0 fee transaction these days.. it used to work..
3 great thing to speculate on - definitely , but it could just as easy go down 50% in same time range.

I think you just need to prepare a "name card" for promoting bitcoin- which includes the features of bitcoin and the person can read over again. Include some small amount like 1mBTC and tell the person that it worth $0.50! You might want to check the address again in future to see how long it takes for the 1mBTC to be claimed.

I would be very happy if somebody ask me about bitcoin because then more refferal commission will come for me and nore rich pupils in my country better for country but is it poor that only 1% online payments in my country are with bitcoin ,too small % pff.

i will say him 4 points of bitcoin
1)explain the digital money & how to convert from btc to fiat or likewise
2)trade swings 24/7
3)what was the price last year and where it is now , so buy some bitcoin and forget about them for X years,
4)watch Bitcoin the movie!  8)

If you are really interested in teach others about bitcoin, perhaps you should be more committed to learn firstly about this ecosystem with seriousness, and fortunately there are lots and lots of available information on the Internet. This personal research could be also useful for you to increase the quality of your posts here because you can't depend all the time on the support of others to understand this altcoin ecosystem.

1. An asset of earth like Gold.
2. Digital currency that has made the banks and money transfer systems (such as WU/Moneygram) afraid.
3. Search bitcoin on Google.

You should have opened with, "How would you like to be your own bank?" :)

I think if we use bitcoin, we did not become a bank because bitcoin just like other currencies. Better read this article.

Bank is a financial institution licensed to receive deposits and make loans. Banks may also provide financial services, such as wealth management, currency exchange and safe deposit boxes. There are two types of banks: commercial/retail banks and investment banks. In most countries, banks are regulated by the national government or central bank. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bank.asp
 (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bank.asp)

*Bitcoin is Anonymous, meaning you didn't know whos sending/accepting bitcoin, you didn't know his/her address.
*Bitcoin is a Lightweight, you can withdraw at any time, you can also send anytime.
*Bitcoin is Growing, people are now accepting Bitcoin in their lives as well as their businesses.
*Bitcoin is intangible, you can't be robbed at certain places and also you don't need some cards to withdraw. Just your own account.

I would say the following:
Bitcoin is very cheap to send form person to person, otherwise known as low transaction fees.
Bitcoin can be a store of wealth a bit like gold and silver but easier to carry around.
Bitcoin is not created by some government or printing press and it has a limited supply.
I think for now that might peak their interest.

maybe you have to say adalan Bitcoin is a virtual currency . By bitcoin you can buy everything .. and maybe he will be interested and find out for yourself deeper into what it bitcoin hahahahaha ;D ;D

I just tell him what a wonderful kind of earning money.

I show him the whole concept around BTC,give him a presentation about it's idea and the whole reason behind it.Also I open a BTC wallet and send some BTC to it and show him how to send and receive BTC,the BTC address and the mining concept also.Then I show him a mining rig and how to secure his wallet so that his BTC is safe.After that I explain to him what a hashcode is.

You are anonymous. This is probably the best feature before how easy it is to send and receive money. Being anonymous matters a lot no matter you're a criminal or an innocent. Everybody hates the governments and this is one way to stay away from them. Another great feature is how easy and fast you can earn money with Bitcoin, and this forum is the best example for this feature.

1. I will point it to bitcoin.org as a start and tell him to read everything about bitcoin in that website, this will give him a few basics.

2. I will talk about wallets, I will talk real fast, will tell him that the best wallets are hardware ones, he can spend a few bucks to buy one. This will inevitably tell him a few other basics of how bitcoin works ,  the user manual of the wallet will tell him how to set it up, what is a seed etc. He will have a basic explanation here of the seed and it's function.

3. Read a lot on google about bitcoin, watch youtube videos and in the end I will redirect him here in bitcointalk.org and tell him to ask a few questions he may have in the beginning cause people are really helpful and passionate about bitcoin in here.

1. Bitcoin is digital currency with a predetermined fixed maximum amount of bitcoin that will ever be in existence.

2. Bitcoin is decentralized, meaning that no government or central authority directly controls the price/value of bitcoin or the means by which bitcoins come into existence.

3. With a Bitcoin wallet, you become your own bank and can transact business directly with others around the world who have bitcoin wallets and with minuscule transaction fees.

Bitcoin is a centralized currency that is heavily mined by Chinese mining farms and also price manipulated by Chinese exchanges.

The American creators made most of their money and moved on after 2013 price spike.

They let China hold their bag because they knew that the sheer volume of the Chinese population would keep Bitcoin afloat.

The Altcoin market is like trading penny stocks.

The Altcoin market is controlled by all the American creators that took Bitcoin profit in 2013.

They run most of the successful altcoin trading exchanges.

They also help to inflate the Bitcoin market price by allowing worthless altcoins to pump and dump on their exchanges without prejudice.

Mining Bitcoin = unprofitable for the little guy

Day trading BItcoin = unprofitable for the little guy

Also, if you live in the US prepare to pay the IRS as they recently just ordered Coinbase to hand over user account records for tax purposes.

Hope this helps.

its nice question- my younger brother asked me about bitcoin, that what is bitcoin
then i told him that bitcoin is not a country currency but its an currency which is only digital and only available on internet.

and if a guy wants more knowledge about bitcoin then i will straite say him/her that check on google.

Like a WORLD currency?

I heard that fails.

"It's a decentralized digital currency where people are "mining it, creating it. It's also used for variety of needs."

or maybe

"google it".

Federal Reserve System defined:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/federalreservesystem.asp?lgl=no-infinite

You see how the definition left out all the scandal?