Bitcoin Forum

I don't understand why most of the newbies and those who are not into bitcoin think bitcoin is some kind of a hoax or a hack to get "real money" fast?

People is poor and desperate for some cash, how is that rare?
Most people know about bitcoin because they learnt about it as being 1000 USD when it was all over mainstream news.

IMO, it is because many of them have a wrong impression that bitcoin can be created out of thin air from mining, but they don't understand that they now need to buy some ASICs (instead of just using their CPU and GPU) for mining.

Even when you did CPU and GPU mining it was not out of thin air.
You always needed to pay electricity.

I guess it doesn't help either, regarding public perception how disruptive it is to the establishment.
Let alone the establishment. Common perception, no matter how educated we all might be,
is that the system takes care of money supply, not some autogenous (long word ahead: autopoietic) dynamic creating money, not out of thin air, but out of itself.

Half-jokingly I remind you of Morpheus "Some of them are so dependant on the System Neo..."

In developed countries, some more than others, there appears to be a rather reasonable perception on educated (or motivated) people regarding cryptocurrencies. People on the street might or might not get it. If they don't make a living out of cryptocurrencies, they might contemplate the prospect of living in a world with cryptocurrencies with the same restrain than, say, making a living out of betting on the horses. That leads me to the not so favored countries.

Here in Latin America, at least as far as I can see, less than 1% of the population knows about bitcoin.  And perhaps it would not be far-fetched to say that less than 2 out of 1,000 have a reasonable idea of how it works. Yes, it's that here computers are more a tool to do the job (*some* jobs) rather than a host for ideas, concepts, etc. Yes, more an extension of your hand than an extension of your mind, if you will. Central banks' attitude reflect such almost non-existent understanding of the concept.

S.

The media and how it isnt understood.

I think some just think because it's electronic it is free/easy to get.  You will see a few people a day beg for money.   Once its more accepted hopefully some of the misconceptions will go away.

Every individual has their own way of viewing things. No matter how many information you give them, still they will view things on their own. Some of the less-informed individuals' perception in bitcoin is not really shocking, though. They see it peak at $1000+ back in November, and they also want to have a piece of the 'digital money' which they think is an easy route to riches. However, as time goes by and the less-informed people grew more aware of how the bitcoin ecosystem works, they seem to understand that bitcoin is not what they're looking for.

After all, you cannot erase the fact that people still believe in the 'get rich quick' phrase. :(

Well if you just rely on popular media reports you'll get the most sensational angle, which of course is the drama and capers that bitcoin can be a party of.  Paper money is far worse, but it's all old news.  I think bitcoin will get past this, but to the extent it is what regulators pay attention to the ride can be bumpy.

I just love it when someone says bitcoin is a hoax. When I ask them why, they jsut say they don't know but it is. :D

Because people are hostile and suspicious about things they don't know, especially when it involves money

For one thing, to a lot of people, that's what it looks like. A repeated pump and dump. I'm not saying that's what bitcoin is, but we are talking about perceptions. It looks like a thinly traded penny stock that got hyped and sort of forgotten about.

It takes time to shake out people like that. :)

Part of it is press a lot of time if bitcoin is in news it's not good sadly.   There are more and more sites taking bitcoin.  If some big countries noticed it as currency we would get a bump.  Or huge payment services such as paypal again bump. 

IF you know the truth about bitcoin and you are more experienced then just don't pay attention to some newbies who does know nothing and only wants to get free btc or something.

To be honest, I thought bitcoin was a scam when I first heard of it.
I mean, I just need to download a program to run on my pc to generate it and I can sell it for "real money", seriously?  ;D

+1
And there's so many scams and "make money fast" advertisements everywhere on Internet, people are naturally cautious

I learned about Bitcoin back in the day when it was in Fox news when the price surpassed Gold. Everyone I know associates Bitcoin with speculation, unfortunately.