Bitcoin Forum

Hey guys!

I have noticed that whenever people in real life find out that I use bitcoin, they ask me to explain it to them. For example, some family friends that are my age came over to my house around 2 weeks ago, when they arrived, I was looking at crypto graphs because I had a little bit of money saved up to invest. Bitcoin was on one of the charts, so when they walked into my room, they asked about it, "You do bitcoin? How does it even work?." So I started explaining it to them, but what they didnt get was that it is decentralized. When I was explaining it they asked "Why doesnt bitcoin's creator give himself a billion bitcoin?" I told them that it is impossible for the creator to do so since he doesnt have control over the network, but after I said that, they told me that I was wrong and that since He made it, he can control it, which is incorrect. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to explain coins to non-crypto people?

You'd just have to get used to it. Even as a decently tech savvy person, it took a while for the concept to click in my head as well. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are just a "bizarre" concept in general that people not getting it immediately is to be expected.

Take note that most people don't even understand how their local currency works, and now you're telling them about the concept of predictable inflation schedules and hard caps and  such.

Of course, it helps to really dumb down your explanation for it to be more easily graspable. Use a lot of analogies and stuff.

You can sit with somebody all day but just tell them to read the whitepaper. They can make their own mind up then, I can’t be bothered to go into too much detail because it annoys me when people are uneducated & unwilling to listen to the positives that bitcoin can bring to their lives.

Its little bit hard to explain them about bitcoin who have are completely new in this world. Basically people think that someone have full control over bitcoin and they are manipulating its price. I have faced similar situation like you and most interesting thing is that which people were not ready to accept bitcoin as a safest payment or investment option now they are starting to believe on it. From my personal opinion I can suggest you to share some online based bitcoin and blockchain network related information with your family persons or relatives rather than explaining everything from your end at the very first time. All they need to realise that bitcoin is decentralised and its community have its control.

Before making investment on anything people want to know about investment fund safety and security. Its pretty much same in your case where your relatives are actually disagree with you in this matter. You can tell them about bitcoin transaction privacy and safety which is gonna make economic revolution in the upcoming days. Yeah few years back it was really tough to spread knowledge about crypto currency but now its much easier than past because worldwide people are introducing with this day by day. Hopefully there will be a time when you don't need to explain what is bitcoin and that day isn't too far.

I could not agree more with you. Some people even have to see every single I do first before they can even entertain and even start to grasp the ideas. I think that this difficulty is due to the different capacity of people to comprehend and their level of interest and enthusiasm towards bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

Question them the following:  What if I told you there's a currency which isn't regulated from any authorities and each user has equal rights upon it? That the tasks of securing the system are managed collectively by any user who wants to participate in a mathematical procedure?

If they have their doubts of Bitcoin being completely independent from any “Administrators”, mention terms such as public-key cryptography, peer-to-peer network and open-source software.

If they insist that you're wrong, tell them to provide some counter-arguments (since they won't have provided, but just canceled you prejudicially). You've done your best on convincing them it's decentralized and it'd be advisable to message those people some useful links which would make their opinion less prejudicial.

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Don't fault them; Bitcoin isn't an easy term to understand.

It's fairly simple, tell them the basics or the things that they need to know, that's already enough because they need to decide for themselves whether they should satisfy their curiosity or not, if they're curious they'll go and search for it on their own.

The few colleague, students and friends I explained Bitcoin to never bothered to ask me whether the founder has any control over it not, I told them how decentralized Bitcoin is and it blockchain cannot be hacked, majority of them are after how to  creating a wallet, transact, hodling their coins and learning how to buy dip and sell high thus they are all after profits making nothing else, however I also informed them about high volatile the price is in an event of massive crash in it price, I think these are basic things for any newbie to take into cognisance before venturing into it.

Try glossing over the 'how' and stick to the 'why'.  If you tried to explain the technical process of how card payments are routed through automated clearing houses, people would probably give you confused looks as well.  No one cares about that, they just want to know it works.

Tell them the benefits they can gain from using it.  That's something they will understand.  Total freedom and control over your funds (providing you don't let custodians hold them for you like a schmuck).  Stable and predictable supply, meaning very little inflation (it's not technically deflationary as some people suggest).  No intermediaries unless you decide to involve some.

Crucially, you can also point out what they won't get.  Some governments are currently talking about the potential for "programmable" central bank digital currencies, which would allow the central banks to dictate where you can and cannot spend your money.  It sounds utterly horrifying.  Such a thing will 100% never happen with Bitcoin.

It sounds utterly horrifying the way you've put it.

A government may or may not dictate the way money circulates. But, the government has to somehow have a role in its currency; it can't leave the people responsible for the state's economy. The government has to intervene in businesses to maintain law & order. It has to protect the citizens from living a free market.

So, unless you want a complete disappearance of the state's intervention to the society, what you were trying to mean is oxymoron. Either way, a society being preserved solely from Bitcoin sounds much more horrifying to me.

Explaining bitcoin sounds easy but it isn't!! I find myself being asked more questions than I can provide answers. I have gone as far as explaining bitcoin to my friends to be money which one gets for a task achieved, like in the video games you get some kind of coins for a task completed which could present the bitcoin,you have it and no one can take it away from you unless you spend it. But the simplest we all know is bitcoin is internet money or digital gold these are usually self explanatory.

Imagine that you create a club for people to join.  When you create the club, you create rules for the club.  One of the rules that you create is that the only way any new rule can be created or any existing rule can be changed is if all of the members of the club agree to the modification of the set of rules.

Now imagine that people start joining your club, because it's a really great club to be a part of.  After a while, you decide you want a new rule.

You are the creator of the club, does that mean that you can "control" it?  No.  Everyone that joined the club joined it with the expectation that the rules won't change without their consent. If you tried to create a new rule without consent, everyone would just ignore your new rule and it wouldn't have any effect.

If you want to, you could split off and create a new club with most of the same rules as the original club. If enough people like your new rule, they may become members of both clubs, or they may leave the first club to join the second.

A group of people in the club could all decide together that they like some new rule, but they can't force anyone else in the club to accept that new rule.  If they tried to implement the new rule, they'd end up splitting the club into those that still follow the old set of rules and those that follow the new set.  Still the original set of rules would exist with members of the original club.

Bitcoin is that club.  Satoshi created the club, he made it so that rules about how the club functions must be agreed to by all members of the club.  If he wants to change any rule, (such as giving himself bitcoins out of nowhere) then all members of the club would have to agree.  If only some members agree, then the blockchain would split into the original Bitcoin, and the new "SatoshiWantsWoBeExtraRichCoin". If you don't want to be a part of the system that makes Satoshi extra rich, you can just continue to run software that adheres to the original rules (along with everyone else that thinks like you).

Or, just have them sit down and watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4

It does a great job of explaining it all.

I get what you're saying, but the people that want me to explain bitcoin to them have a hard time navigating windows 10. Technical stuff when it comes to computers just isnt their thing. Most of the time when they dont understand it after that. I will most likely use one of the ways listed to explain it to them, they also dont believe in bitcoin because it "Isnt in the bank." Sometimes they will not like my answer about bitcoin, walk over to my dad, ask him about it, get the same answer, and be confused. So I might just start sending them the whitepaper.

So here it is, my friend, in my opinion, when I will explain how the concept of Bitcoin and the system works, don't explain it clearly. Because the portion of your understanding with the layman who just got to know him will obviously be different. If you really understand the whole concept of how Bitcoin works, what is decentralization, what is Blockchain, then use simple language and activities related to everyday life they encounter.

So, that way there will be no misunderstandings that will make other people not even interested in cryptocurrencies. The point is it depends on you, how you convey is valuable evidence if one day the person likes crypto.

Yes you are right, it is a bit difficult to explain to non-crypto people. In my opinion explaining accompanied by action would be easily accepted especially by showing the advantages of Bitcoin. However, explaining Bitcoin to people who don't like Bitcoin will still be difficult even if we show the ways and advantages of Bitcoin

I wouldn't explain them how it works, but would show them how it works in practice instead. I believe practice is a much easier way to learn than through theory. Do your friends have money to buy any satoshis? So do it side by side with them. In negative case, sign up them at freebitco.in and some similar sites and that will be useful to learn how to deal with bitcoin for real.
Once they get more confident about crypto universe and have some spare money to invest they will do this by themselves and thank you later.

About doubting Satoshi doesn't control the supply of bitcoins I think it's more like a distrust people have due to the reality of the local society where they live than a difficult in understanding bitcoin. So they imagine everyone has second intentions and a goal of taking advantage of others when launching a service, product or in this case, a currency.

It's probably best to keep it to the basics when describing bitcoin - say a wallet is similar to having a bank account and the blockchain is the open ledger of all transactions that will ever exist. You will never be able to explain certain concepts to all people, especially the know-it-all's that you've described who think they have found a flaw by the original creator somehow having control over it. They already had a preconceived notion of how they thought it could be abused and weren't going to change their mind. If people really want to learn beyond the basics it is best that they do the research themselves as lots of different websites will explain it in different ways, some of which they might understand better than a single source.

how curious is the person who ask the question?

if he just want to know how it works, you can just say BTC is just like a currency. you can buy things with it which we now consider a digital currency.  if it doesn't end there, the person is interested to learn but he will with just analogies you can comeup.

We have to realise that the majority of people are computer illiterate, they can
switch it on and use the apps but when something simple  goes wrong they are in trouble.

So Bitcoin can be completely alien to a lot of people, its explanation stretches across
computing, cryptography, finances and trust.

I dont think there is an easy way to explain Bitcoin, if you make it too simple there will
be questions which will bring them deeper and deeper into the workings of it.

If you want to visit my site I have a very basic explanation of it there.

If the person is really interested, he will further search on his own. There are tons of knowledge regarding bitcoin and crypto over the internet. Explaining to someone is really a tedious job because he may not get the full idea of it. Even me, when I was starting, I had so many questions and you can't get it at one sitting. It will be years in the making to understand these things and up until now, with new networks, we are still understanding how they work. So if you encounter a person who has too many questions, you can only answer what you can but the rest, he needs to dig over the internet and learn on his own.

It is always difficult to sell a new concept to someone who doesn't understand how it works. You don't expect a novice believe a currency would emerge that is devoid of having a centralized manipulation.

Satoshi couldn't give himself a million bitcoin because the system was built upon a highly computational mathematical hash function which is devoid of human manipulation. The system is a ledger that is transparent, immutable and permanent and has such can't be manipulated

It's always hard to tell someone about bitcoin when they all believe that fiat is the only currency and that its impossible for bitcoin to create higher adoption. For me, i don't bother giving full details about bitcoin on the people around. If they have the interest, then it will be more provided with the details that can be found online. It will be more easy for them to understand as long as they are open to gaining more ideas about bitcoin, and not creating comparison between fiat and bitcoin, or bitcoin into gold.

You do just lack on giving the information or the very basics of it and you do have some point though but giving them some links on the whitepaper would tell and might give out  some clarifications on those questions in mind.

It is true that when it comes to technical aspects then it turns out that it is really somewhat cant really be easily to understand into those people who aren't really that tech savvy or does have some idea at least.

If you aren't still get bored on doing so then you could always back it up with some videos on YouTube so that they would be having some idea further.

Yes. It's better to give them just a bird's eye view on what is bitcoin and how it works. I know they won't really get it immediately so to make further understanding, they should have their own research to satisfy their minds.  And it's a way more better for them because they can study all the videos and demonstrations about bitcoin, trace its history and how it become more functional by now. In that way, i will never have a hard time teaching them because the online itself is already good enough.

Well, it depends on the people that you have to explain, because if they are not interested, even how putting the effort into explaining them they will never learn because they don't have an interest. Not like those people who are very interested to learn are very easy to explain in crypto things, --even just a little explanation and a simple thought, never quickly understand. I don't like explaining people too, those who are willing to learn I sometimes give my time to them but the rest I want them to learn on their own.

I doubt that there are still more computer illiterate people by now because as what i have observed, even young generations today are tech savvy already so it will give them more advantage than just simply reading the whole trading textbook. Or if they don't have computers, android smartphones are very much available if they really want to dig information online. I guess with people who are really willing to learn, then they will surely find ways on how to make it possible for them.

Some are really that really hard to understand or someone who do really loves to make out some debate and this is on where you do prove out on how much knowledge you do have in regards with bitcoin.
This isnt something hard if you do really know Bitcoin in full scale and just like what others been saying that explaining to them even with just the basics should really be enough.
Just make it simple and clear so that they would really able to understand easily and would able to get on what you are trying to say.Dont argue but rather let them understand
on how Bitcoin works and for sure it isnt really that hard to grasp something.

I admit that explaining Bitcoin to people who are not interested is difficult and often ends in vain. Because if from the start people are not interested
or have negative thoughts about Bitcoin, whatever explanation we give them it is difficult to accept it. It is easier to explain to people who have been
interested in the crypto world from the start, they are more open to what we will explain. Therefore I will only explain about Bitcoin if someone asks first
about Bitcoin, otherwise I prefer to be silent. Except for friends and family, I will try to persuade them to accept Bitcoin, even if they are not interested
in Bitcoin. But of course in a good way and not forcing them.

First of all, you have to make the logic of Bitcoin clear to the other party. In fact, the other party's thinking is normal. For example, I invented a certain thing, and I must have a way to control him. If you try to make the other person understand, the result is that the other person's cognition is too low, then don't talk about it, time is the best teacher. When everyone is using Bitcoin, he won't have these problems. Don't force yourself to do one thing.

People do not understand bitcoin properly. We need to first tell them it is a currency. When they know it is a form of payment they will never like "You do bitcoin". Its same like saying "You do dollar".
Tell them them You have bitcoin and you do trading. Once they have the basic knowledge clear, they will automatically get interested in this crypto space.

In my experience it is not about bitcoin and whether it is hard or easy to explain Bitcoin, it is all about the fact that it is a new technology that people haven't been using before. Imagine if someone came to you who has never used computers or smart phones before in their lives and saw you were using your smart phone and you needed to explain to them how they work! It would be extremely difficult, specially if you don't know how they "technically" work and they keep asking about it.

At the end of the day bitcoin is just a digital currency that you can use the same way you use any other digital form of currency. They don't need to know any more about the technology itself just as they use a hundred different technologies (from their fridge to the car they drive) that they have no idea how they work.

You obviously need to do a little bit more research, before you can explain Bitcoin to someone else. The easiest way for you to explain the coin cap is the following...

Imagine that you are a software developer and you wrote a piece of code that define that only 1 000 000 tokens will be distributed to miners and that the majority of the people running that code, will determine what happens on that decentralized network. Now, if you have say 10 000 full nodes running the code and you as the developer change the software to say that it now has 2 000 000 tokens.... then for that change to have affect, those 10 000 full nodes have to download the new update and run it, before the change takes affect.

If say only 500 full nodes start to run the new update, then the original code will stay in place... showing that the miners are not satisfied with the new changes. (Important : Miners will never accept an increase in the coin cap, because an increase in the supply of tokens will de valuate the coins they have)  ;)

This is very over simplified.... but it explains the concept without the technical jargon and details.  ;)

what you said was true that btc is decentralized however i think that its possible for the creator to mine and own thier own coins .
when we check the statistics of a project ,
 we can see how much coins the devs own in their graph and how much the other coins are distributed . the more coins the devs own the more chance that they can manipulate the coin . your friend has some points

For me i find it difficult to explain crypto to people because as soon as i start talking about some technical stuff they start get way overwhelmed and they think that it is way complicated than what it really is and they lose intrest and they start looking at me like i am some kind of hacker for knowing this stuff, so i think that the best way to inform people about bitcoin or teach them about it is to stick to the basics and keep mentioning that they are able to get profit from it and they will stick with you.

This is the right thing to do, gauge the curiosity first to see if you're not wasting your breath on them or not, as @electronicash has said, tell them the fundamentals and see if they're going to ask them questions and if so then it's your responsibility to entertain some of the answers as much as you can.

I think people in general will think the same about it. it is very difficult to make them understand if they already think that bitcoin is something negative. many people ask, "why did the bitcoin maker not give himself bitcoin?" Well, I myself have also questioned that since the first time I got to know bitcoin. however, after studying for a long time, I know a little about how this system works.
however, I think your family, or your friends will understand if they learn about it. Well, we can't get someone to understand the ins and outs of bitcoin, or the decentralized system in a short amount of time. My advice, be patient in making them understand.

It is tough to explain Bitcoin to especially people who have only a little interest in new technologies. Because they are a traditional person and they only would like to use fiat currencies and assets like gold, silver etc.. They don't even do a good research about the cryptocurrency market and this causes them to be even misinformed about the market most of the time.

Well, you've explained it in the very first place, and it's really normal for them to not understand everything you said. Their idea is like "why don't the head of the national government print more money so he'll become the richest man at least in his country?"
One word is enough to explain what Bitcoin is "decentralisation". That even Satoshi himself has no control or magically create fragments of Bitcoin out of nowhere without the use of mining rigs.
IF it happens they'll become more interested in Bitcoin, then for sure they'll absolutely understand everything.

People don’t understand Bitcoin, because Bitcoin is not the currency of the government or large companies, and there is no trust endorsement, and the governments of most countries do not recognize the legitimacy of Bitcoin, which may cause many people to have negative thoughts when they don’t understand Bitcoin.

Mostly people don't know how bitcoin really works and they're quite skeptical on it as well because of some issues in the internet when it comes scamming and yes bitcoin become popular because of that reasons as well wherein instead of good benefits, the first thing that introduce bitcoin in the public is how not safe it is.. So it's not surprising that they're wondering and throwing more questions especially if they saw a proof of income from it..

Explaining Bitcoin to especially old people is really hard to me. Because they only know the fiat currencies and gold mostly. They are accustomed to this monetary system too much that they don't even want to give a new technology a chance. Even when they hear about that the prices of cryptocurrencies are very volatile or changeable, they are afraid of the possibility that they can lose a lot of money.

Explaining Bitcoin to non-crypto people is not an easy task. A few days back some of my relatives ask me about Bitcoin. Somehow they know I am related to it. But when I try to explain about Bitcoin and how it works. Then I encounter many more questions. First of all, they are interested in how to make money from Bitcoin which isn't easy for newbies. When I fully explained almost it's take 2 hours. Then they aren't much interested to invest due to volatility. They thought here is how they could multiply money. But I explain the reality of how Bitcoin works and what was the goal. So whenever you explain about Bitcoin then should share the full story in short. The wrong explanation would lead to loss of funds and they will blame you later.

Just explain it in detail especially the part that they don't really understand and tell them that's not how it works the way they think it is. I understand your point but Bitcoin and the technology behind it is not something you could explain and be easily understood by other people in a matter of an hour. Of course, it will take a while before people understand your point just give them time and effort to make complex things look simple and understandable.

Pray to the God, and start explaining.  ;D
I know how it feels when they laugh on us while we are explaining. So best way I have stopped doing so and continue to earn, invest, trade my coins all the time. I always keep the crypto space for myself for this very reason. I have tried them to convince to invest, start mining with me, open up crypto based store and what not but they never agreed upon it. They lost the chance or what we call it as train to invest. So be it.

tell them slowly, and teach them, and guide them, don't rebuke but have to educate, don't hit but we have to embrace, and show them your earnings once, and tell them about bitcoin investment, I'm sure take them slow will definitely jump into bitcoin, as long as we don't get tired of teaching them, I'm sure they will definitely follow us..

actually it's not difficult to explain but they don't understand the world of technology, so we have to have extraordinary patience, just like me before, I was also very difficult to accept bitcoin, in fact I didn't believe in bitcoin at all, but luck was on my side me, because my good friend never gets tired of teaching me and guiding me, to invest bitcoin, now I can feel the extraordinary benefits..

This can work, theoretically. But it will completely depend on who you are trying to educate. If it's a distant friend or a stranger that you couldn't bother using effort for, then sure. But for close friends or family members? I'd say only 5% of them will be willing to read a science paper lol.

Part of the reason most bitcoin people face difficulties when trying to explain the knowledge to others in a comprehensible manner stems from the fact that those who try to explain things haven't yet fully grasped bitcoin themselves. In short, you are not ready to educate others if you can't explain complex things in simple terms. Bitcoin is more than a complex concept, it is a complex combination of complex concepts. It shouldn't be a surprise that no one understands what you are saying about bitcoin, it may well be you began your explanation from an incorrect starting point, not caring much what your "student" already knows or doesn't know. For instance, if he has no idea how money and the banking system works, you have no chance to persuade him he needs bitcoin. In this case, it is better to start from the very basics and step by step build your explanation to make sure your student is actually able to keep up with it.

Yes, we can explain what they need to know but do not force them to follow what we did. By explaining to them, hopefully, they will be curious and will search by themselves and if they have a question, they will ask us. We can help them to explain furthermore, especially if we know that thing. Telling about the investment side of bitcoin will be a good idea because people search for how they can get more income sources.

We can explain but for sure they will just ignore and think about we are crazy for thinking that we can earn with it then worse we will be tag by them as we are putting them in danger since we invite them on a scam. That's why the only thing proof we need to have so that we can convince them is to make them realize how lucky we are earning a profit it on since in reality people will not believe you if they cannot see proof of income regarding on what you are explaining to them and once you got their attention then we can help them up became a little bit knowledgeable about bitcoin but we cannot expect that they can follow what we do since for sure it takes more longer time for them to adopt on what we teach to them.

Difficult to educate the public on Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency, it’s the most bizarre aspect all I do is to let those around pick interest than making moves to educate themselves before I step in to help them with more clarity.

That’s pretty legit story and i am sure many of us already faced it.
If you are making people understand about it, then make sure you keep the explanation as basic as you can.
You can make them understand that Bitcoin is like an asset which is stored online.
When more is the demand of the coin, more will be the price.
Regarding the decentralised part, just say them that it cannot be access by any second person or any government except the owner himself .

well it sure is difficult to explain crypto to someone with absolute zero knowledge about it, but if you provide many examples and concrete facts then they will understand what you want to convey to them. but for me the main reason that it is difficult to explain crypto is because people are mostly afraid of it they still think that cryptocurrency is a big scam so they tend to have a narrow sighted view on the topic.

I don’t think there is much that you have to explain here when it comes to Bitcoin. You can just tell them that Bitcoin is decentralized, and when they ask you what the word decentralization is all about Then you can tell them that it is something that has no central authority or control. To make them understand what it is all about you can breakdown the difference between centralization and decentralization.

I think that we have to make it clear to them. then the next thing you can tell them about is how it is being used, for example Bitcoin is a peer to peer method of transaction and doesn't require any middleman for the transaction to be carried out. So I don’t see anything much in this.

Talking about decentralization is very difficult to explain in theory. We have to jump straight into the field to understand it. If your friend asks like that, maybe teaching him to directly trade with little capital is the best way. Because the meaning of decentralization is very broad, from the development, cryptocurrency, and the price of the asset itself.

Op, when people are genuinely interested in how it's possible, I think it's best to direct them towards YouTube videos that explain how blockchain works or to sci-pop articles on this matter. You don't need to be able to explain the details, and probably won't be able to do it as good as people who invested tons of time specifically into this task. That being said, from my experience, people who ask questions like this don't actually want to know how it works and what it's all about. They already 'know' that Bitcoin is a scam, that it's totally controllable by someone and that it's a Ponzi scheme and many other things, and if they have such strong opinions about it, it's useless to try and convince them in the opposite.

Right, it's hard. Everyone has a different background knowledge, while bitcoin can be explained in several aspects. You explain bitcoin technically to economists, so they just say "yes" or "so that's it" but their minds wander and just disappear when the topic is changed.
Knowledge of bitcoin will be digested more quickly if that person wants to seriously start by adjusting understanding according to what field they will be in.

I think the biggest factor in explaining bitcoin is because of the large number of negative news about bitcoin, moreover, many countries banned bitcoin for fear of being used for illegal transactions such as drug transactions, illegal weapons to be used for money laundering, of course people think that bitcoin is very dangerous and has no prospects because of the many bitcoin banned country.

If anyone raises that non-issue, you should point out it's complete horseshit because cash is used far more frequently for all of those nefarious things.  Cash isn't banned, so clearly that's not the real reason why some countries have taken a dim view on Bitcoin. 

Well, explaining cryptocurrencies without explaining on how the blockchain functions can be quite challenging especially to people who has no interest in them.

While it may take some time, you can refer to them videos on YouTube (e.g. TedTalk videos on BTC) that explain the fundamentals and basics of cryptocurrencies in general. At first, they would be confused as to how it operates on the blockchain but once they get to understand the principles, they would understand it easier. Another thing, do not force them to know such knowledge as it will only attract disinterestedness from your peers!

Your friend may be tireless and has shown as a devoted teacher to their students but as you say, perfect luck has been applied to you, and it could also be said that the cells in your brain are attuned to information and don't react negatively to bitcoin while the same amount of data and explanation, no matter how much they chewed on it, they didn't give up on the old idea nor what they had heard about bitcoin as a large community of scammers. There is no such thing as extraordinary that can completely cut off such antipathy towards bitcoin from quite a few people

As a person who had the same feeling while trying to explain some things about Bitcoin, I can understand you very well. It is really hard to explain it to people who have no relation to the technology or people who are fully close to new things. They are doing just fine with the traditional money for now. But when the time comes and digital currencies start taking the place of the traditional ones, I wonder what they will do then.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are just an "exotic" concept that people don't immediately understand. are not. I have faced the same emotional future as you and most interestingly those who are not willing to accept bitcoin as a payment option or safe investment. The point here is that we need to define these concepts of bitcoin as a long-term investment and aim for the benefits of bitcoin like any other type of investment.

Explaining BTC to people who have no interest in it is quite a difficult thing. BTC is a different thing not a difficult. Those who have interest in it can understand it quite easily. I don't have much interest in BTC but the moment I came to know that I can receive my digital work payments in it instantly and without any cut, I quickly grasp the underlying technology details.
We need to tell people the benefits of BTC and how it can bring change in financial matters, rest they will understand by themselves.

This reminds me of when I first joined this forum I asked a lot of silly questions and it was logical for newbies not to understand the system. However, the best way to explain Bitcoin to non-crypto people is to tell them the purpose of its creation, the advantage it hard and gave them the Bitcoin official website to write it.
It will ease your difficulty when next you see them.

You must say to them that you explain it with your own view, for the further information you can google yourself. In this way, those people won't blame you if you explain it wrong or your answer doesn't make them satisfied. It is always difficult to ensure people who don't have basic knowledge about crypto, or never heard crypto at all. Moreover, if they are fiat lovers or real crypto haters, they will never be satisfied whatever the answers. So, it is okay if you already explained it to them as well as you can. Now, it depends on them to try understanding crypto or not.

Stick with the basics or the most simplest way of explaining about it because people would just normally able to understand it directly and if there are some further questions then this is the time

you would divert them into some main source about bitcoin which would really give out even more further information about bitcoin or crypto as a whole.

It isnt really that hard though if you are just simply knowledgeable about it.It do only matters on how you do make some explaination.

When I'm asked these things, I just say that bitcoin is a form of money over the internet, with only a limited number of units produced. No one can control bitcoin since it is governed by a set of rules which makes it mathematically hard for one entity to tamper or change any transaction in the market.

Or you can just answer their questions without even initiating the explaining to them. Then just use words that are easier for them to understand and grasp the gist behind it.

You probably weren't able to explain it to him properly, or he wasn't listening and trying to understand. He probably read too much random articles that were anti crypto currencies. Or he probably just reads posts shared in facebook and twitter. Hence all he knows about bitcoin is that it is a scam and is manipulated by the rich/creator. If he gives a little effort and tries to understand what bitcoin is and how it works, then I doubt he would have asked you those stupid questions.

It is not easy to explain and educate bitcoin only to people who are not really interested to learn it. I myself, had been taught this by a relative in online only for a couple of months. It was so hard to be taught online as you don't know where to go, what is he talking about, what should I do. But due to eagerness to learn this, i took time to analyze things out and research many times. I even watched different videos and compares it and keeps in mind the most common things discussed in those videos. I also joined different group chats in local board so i can merely understand what do i need to know. If i didn't get what theyre talking about, I asked them in group chats. If they don't bother to answer since there were few arrogant members, I research  it on my own. I think its a matter of time when they 're ready and willing to learn it and that makes it hard for them to learn.

For someone who has never used Bitcoin, it is difficult for me to tell him why it rose and why it fell, because when we told him the principle, he didn’t understand it. Some people would think it was a scam and steal their wealth. They didn’t Don't believe in Bitcoin!

I won't explain to anyone who asks casually. Unless it's those who have searched the information themselves and don't know anything, I'll discuss it with him. If a person who knows nothing about bitcoin, the explanation is in vain.

Compared to past now it is very easy to make people understand bitcoin and things related to it. In my country now we can see more number of advertisements promoting cryptocurrency. By the time local TV channels have started to broadcast series of episodes explaining bitcoin.

Apart from this some exchange ads promote it with giving some information with the risk associated with cryptocurrency investment. Probably this looks like a better way to get some basics and further going through internet one can easily understand about bitcoin.

It's hard to explain Bitcoin to people who are close-minded and couldn't understand the real function and importance of cryptocurrency. Once I see that a person isn't interested in Bitcoin, I don't exert effort just educate them about it. A person who is eager to know about Bitcoin would do his own research instead of asking continuous and senseless questions.

Therefore, as much as possible those of us who already have a little knowledge of how Bitcoin works should be able to explain to them with simpler concepts but do not omit the original procedure. For example, as I said earlier, it is related to daily activities in real life. You can use gold, valuables at home and things that we can actually illustrate as examples of how Bitcoin works (either in terms of transaction tools or investment assets).

Because after all, explaining in full will only give birth to even more difficult questions. I don't think this is too difficult to convey. I have discussed several times with people both intellectuals and ordinary people who really want to know more about Bitcoin. Of course, the main thing we need to think about is the discussion material that has been adapted to the intellectual level of the audience.

I am sure that he is someone who is critical so he thinks of it all.
Maybe it's rather difficult to explain to people like this.
different when I explain to other people who are not so critical or don't think of difficult things, as long as they see the results, they will believe it easily  ;D :D

And actually, you may also share the reason why Satoshi created Bitcoin at first, it must be different from banks and also other centralized systems, he wanted a decentralized system in order to create something that cannot be controlled by everyone.
Although your friend said so, you must ensure that so far, the is no control from Satoshi and even we don't know who or what Satoshi is.

Hard to explain if the person himself doesn't do his own homework. If  he is willing to learn more, he will also do his own study of the subject matter. With this digital age, everything you want to know is just one click via internet search. So to augment the explanation coming from your friend, you can always read more about it from the internet. You can always find a way how to learn more on a specific topic by doing your own digging.

When I meet a friend I greet him with "bitcoin," and then I say "hello" ... if he is interested, he knows about it.

There is so much information about bitcoin that it is only a matter of going to the Internet, it is not that difficult either.

In my opinion, best way to explain to people especially those who aren't take savvy is to not be pushy. Telling people that Bitcoin is a long term investment from the get-go might drive them away faster even though that's actually the truth and how it works. I tend to give people a couple of YouTube videos on either of the following topics:

• What is Bitcoin
• What is Blockchain
• Getting started with bitcoin

When they are done, I put it up for discussion to see what they've learnt and then try to break down more difficult concepts they didn't get right including answering their questions before telling them about how they can participate either by becoming a trader or investor. In explicit terms.

Sometimes,some peeps don't even want to get crypto related like most of my friends down here,no matter how much words you explain to them with,they'll still argue unreasonably and try to prove you wrong .
Secondly, if the person isn't a computer literate,the can never be an autumn of understanding..not at all!
In such cases,you just have to let them be
-Trojane💎

Yes, I've felt that way too. like they trying to our counter statement and sometimes just because someone understands crypto or blockchain doesn't mean they understand all the technicalities under this technology. I have never educated someone who didn't want to know. but if anyone wants to know and want to understand about it.I will be happy to explain what I understand. more just sharing and not debate.

Im a kind of person whos really that have that short patience when it comes to things whenever i do make out some debates on someone then i do get easily pissed which means it is not my genre to give explanations or trying out to hook people with having that hard explanation or making them understand on a very forcible way.

If you are a type of person who do really mind off about spreading awareness about bitcoin then this wont really be an issue for you but if not or you are like me then you would really get irritated.

But if you do know the basics the saying about simple would really enough.

Bitcoin is a new thing, and it is difficult for many people to understand things that are not of interest. They don't understand how cryptocurrency works or the technology behind it. You can let them learn related encryption knowledge online, or show them the working principle of Bitcoin in practice, which is easier to understand than explaining basic theoretical knowledge to them.

I have the same problem. No one from my family and no of my friends understand bitcoin and crypto in the whole. That is why I had to find some more friends that are also crypto enthusiasts to discuss resent crypto news with them. If someone asks me about crypto, I always try to explain, how it works and usually people understand, but start argue and say that it is a Ponzi scheme.

I think it's a good idea to start off by explaining who the creator of Bitcoin is and the fact that even the creator has no control over it, it's actually a good idea but I think they're missing out the point because they tried to slam you with arguments about Bitcoin being decentralized, if they won't believe you on that part, you could have at least convinced them about investing in Bitcoin and try it out for themselves.

The problem sometimes goes with how we actually explain BTC, but sometimes it also goes out to the one who's listening, sometimes, it's hard to teach someone who isn't willing to listen in the first place, your efforts will just be wasted, better off talking about something instead of wasting your time.

It will be problematic to tell someone who's yet to understand the purpose of Bitcoin, how it works, and the technology behind it to learn things related to encryption.
The best thing is to do some basic research gather it together, explain it in detail and give it to the person to read it later for better understanding.

I think the best way to explain bitcoin to ordinary forks is finding a way to do it alongside the fiat currencies. Stating its similarities as well as its differences. Though, its always going to be difficult as, understanding bitcoin requires one to be constantly stayed on the subject and some practical interaction with the various operational activities that exists within  the system. Its important you first ask them to empty there accumulated garbage on the system if they are really willing to learn because, one who feels knows a lot might be saturated already with knowledge enough not to accept fresh ideas.

techy people can understand fast but not in an instant. A constant teaching way of teaching is very challenging but it was a need in order for them to fully understand the concept of crypto, coz if we teach them now at once, they surely forget it by tomorrow. Of course, searches for is an additional way to learn fast but this gonna be difficult for the majority, especially for the oldies, and I know that they are not quite familiar with this, unlike young people.

learning about crypto couldn't be done fast, but it takes days or even months as expected.

I've already introduced cryptocurrencies to a wide range of people, and my method is pretty straightforward. I'm only trying to get across the fact that this is a digital currency that might be profitable at times and not at others. Of course, explaining the technical part which is blockchain is pretty hard to understand so it will always depend to that person if he'll be interested and wanted to know more.  If they're only inquisitive and not interested, that's fine; just don't allow them join the crypto market if they're still undecided, because in that case, they'll have to rely on you. Give them some time to learn how advantageous it is to invest in crypto and persuade them that it is preferable to keep their money in the bank.

I can understand, yes in fact many people are actually not willing to learn more about crypto. And sometimes, they are only asking us about BTC because to know the risks and also the weakness of it only. So, they can say against whatever we are doing in Bitcoin or crypto.
Moreover, if someone doesn't like crypto much at first, whatever we explain, he will ignore to accept.s
It may be different for someone who is more open-minded, where sometimes, they can debate and also against our explanation, but in fact, they are willing to learn and then they can understand.

+1

never easy to elaborate a computer science + economic breakthrough stuff like bitcoin to someone even they are really interested in bitcoin.
so that would always stay the same to become the hardest job in the world until they realized and experienced a good impact. time is the only thing can make it smooth easier.
but we should always put a work on it to educate people around so they can feel the bitcoin benefit sooner than most people around the globe.

based on my experience, it is difficult to explain bitcoin to ordinary people who don't know crypto at all. so it's easier to explain to people who already know or at least know what bitcoin is. but you can help explain it with patience, for example when you are together you can explain little by little about bitcoin because usually people will understand easily if we keep telling it. so make him feel interested in the crypto world so he will automatically find out myself about crypto.

Digital scarcity wasn't a thing until 2009, so it's understandable that most people don't get it.

Also, most people don't really know how money works, and also are used to having central banks controlling it.

Bitcoin is truly revolutionary, so it will take some time for most people to get it.

The more I read about Bitcoin, the more I've learned about how money works, and the more I know how money works, the more I see Bitcoin is the future of money.

The hardest part is the change in perception. When I mention decentralization, they think it's unbelievable and even nonsense.More friends are interested in Bitcoin not because of its technology, but because they hear that they can make money.

Bitcoin is not hard to grasp for a kind of people that has showed interest to know further what bitcoin really is and how does it work. I've experience to introduce bitcoin to two kinds of person, one is interested on bitcoin because he is curious to know on how to use it as a currency and as investment as well. Thus he exert an effort to gain knowledge by himself and just asking me if he has further questions.

While the other one has a negative feeling towards it because of his past expetiences an a victim of scams online. The reason why he is hesitant to engage himself despite of my explanations and given videos for him to understand. If someone is not interested, no matter what you say it wont give an impact to convince him.

Many people find it very difficult to understand the language bitcoin then and this happened when i know bitcoin, i know vividly how people i convince about bitcoin and majority is making well for bitcoin investment currently, it's very obvious that we still have quantity of numbers that doesn't know what bitcoin is, and in the same vein some people is not interested to know bitcoin and also learn cryptocurrency, it's very obvious that it's not necessary for everyone know about bitcoin, anyone who wants to listen should listen and anyone who wants disregard the information of cryptocurrency should go on.

You are right. Someone who really wants to know and understand the Crypto world, will make some research and won't be asking bunches of questions. Although, is difficult explaining Bitcoin to someone who knows nothing about it, they always end up asking unnecessary questions. Not everyone believe in Bitcoin, some people still see it at scam, I only explain and discuss Cryptocurrency with someone who is interested in it.

Literarily, like bees to flowers and honey badgers to honey that's how humans get attracted to making money too. I think most people first got attracted to Bitcoin for the monetary aspect of it (I don't think it's wrong though) and then became fascinated by its technology. Teaching Bitcoin to a novice without whetting their appetite with the investment part of it where they can make money will be like winking in the dark. Even among my educated friends I still perceive that reluctance in them going the Bitcoin route after several attempts at teaching them. What most of them do is ask how it's fairing, especially whenever Bitcoin soars in price.

It is really difficult to explain Bitcoin, but it is even more difficult to accept Bitcoin. Personally, accepting Bitcoin consumes a very large amount of my experience. During this time, I searched the Internet for knowledge about Bitcoin, and the results were indeed mixed. The main reason for this problem is that it is too difficult to obtain knowledge related to Bitcoin. If it weren't for someone I particularly trust told me what Bitcoin is, I might not understand it at all.

I can attest to that. Bitcoin is definitely a broad one and if you just keep reading its articles, it might be very hard to understand. Demonstrations and videos will definitely help if you have the willingness to learn. Its just that the learning will be easier if someone will be able to guide you.

There are really instances that some friends of mine will ask about bitcoin and how its becoming so profitable these days. I just tell them to that bitcoin has definitely high potentials to function as a currency and at the same time a good investment. And advise them to just google the rest so that they will have a full idea on what is bitcoin really is.

currently bitcoin has touched all generations with this good development, but not everyone understands and understands about bitcoin itself. so as lovers of bitcoin and other cryptos we can help them understand and learn bitcoin. we can introduce investing in bitcoin is a profitable investment where all control is in our hands. we have to decide when to sell or buy bitcoins. besides that crypto technology is also safer and more sophisticated where it will function in this day and age where technology is increasingly sophisticated.

Hey! I understand how you feel. The thing with people who don’t know much about cryptocoins is that they won’t even try to understand the basic concept. First, I think you should tell them the basics. After that, you can even ask them to read about it online. It’s actually the best way for them to understand the concept and they can even search for some questions that pop up in their mind. That way, you won’t be blasting your mind trying to make them understand.

meaning people around you don't know how to read? or to access internet to study and learn on their own?

Yeah they may ask but of course best to let them understand their own because at least they can't blame you if ever they fail.

A lot of people these days are becoming interested to cryptocurrencies but the problem is, most of them does not truly knew or understand it. Way back then, my friend who taught me about bitcoin only gave us sources and then let us worked on our own to learn about crypto. I guess it is really effective way to help others since internet contains lot of information that we need to understand this thing. On the other hand, we can be their guide in small things.

If you want to see someone belief in Bitcoin, of course we don't talk about sweet things, such as saying that the risk is also very necessary. So that the listener can have time to think and make his decision according to the risk he has agreed to. Investing in Bitcoin also has risks and we shouldn't hide them. bitter and sweet, beginners must know to be able to challenge them more and be ready for their decisions if they have a month to allocate their funds in Bitcoin.

We can not be surprise why many had come to crypto investment as this very hot on the internet. People who are always online surely know about crypto, some did the searches but some did not. It comes to the interest of the people not saying they don't know any about Bitcoin but it was just of having a limited idea as they are new to this. But I expect they'll soon fully understand this thing, not even without teaching as they are more likely they keep on searching and having the internet is a helping tool for them to gather more ideas.

Its too hard to tell to other people the world of bitcoin if they are not interested the only thing you can caught them is the word you can earn with the bitcoin of course no ones to skip a thing they could possibly earn its useless to tell them all about the bitcoin if they cannot make money on it. The only people will deep inside the bitcoin are the only one who wants to willing to learn the basic things not skipping only to the thing "i just want to earn here". Of course this kind of mindset must need to give an early warning that the market of the cryptocurrency or the bitcoin itself is volatile.

It is really hard to explain Bitcoin to people who are not related to the technology. These people are so accustomed to the traditional money that they don't want to give a new kind of money a chance. They have difficulty in understanding the main logic behind cryptocurrencies and their working. Even if they understand this, they are not very eager to invest into cryptocurrencies as they are very volatile.

Do not bother thinking about such things, because not everyone will easily believe in something they have not learned, so tell them that the crypto world is one of the volatile digital currencies that has no control by anyone and cannot manipulate prices by certain parties, so to explore about the crypto world they must open a whitepaper to make it easier to understand it, Because of this thing we have also felt before and when we know how it works then there will grow interest to participate in the crypto world.

I think that's the main problem when people to try to explain Bitcoin to others.  Most of them are giving people the wrong impression.  Nowhere in the design philosophy does it say Bitcoin was made to help people earn, yet that seems to be the only thing people talk about.  Too many eejits making out like it's a get-rich-quick scheme, when it's actually a social phenomenon based on financial freedom (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5215927.0).  More emphasis should be placed on the real use cases, not the rampant speculation and gambling.

Usually i will only tell them, bitcoin is more like fiat. You can earn it with any ways like trading, offer some skill, gambling and anything else. Not only good ways to earn bitcoin, but bad ways and maybe risk if made investment in bitcoin and then tell them to google it by themseld. I will only show people what i only know because not want to give false information, and usually people around me not interested about technology, only how to make money with it.

It's a bit difficult to explain about bitcoin, who are completely new to this world. Basically, people think that someone has full control of bitcoin and they are manipulating its price. From my personal opinion I can suggest you to share some information regarding bitcoin and blockchain network online with your family member or loved one rather than explaining everything from scratch yours from the very first time. There is a lot of knowledge about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies on the internet. All it takes is for them to realize that bitcoin is decentralized and its community in control. I think this difficulty is due to people's different understanding and their level of interest and enthusiasm towards bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

When you're inventing something, or contribute to the science progress, you're responsible for the impact it may have. You can't really unsee the fact that Bitcoin yells for profit. A revolutionary form of deflationary money distributed in a completely hierarchical way makes a splash that it'll be approached by speculators.

It may wasn't made to help people earn and its philosophy might be ethical, but the way it'd be used couldn't really be imagined as followed faithfully by the philosophy.

Yeah, but in the same way kitchen cutlery isn't designed for stabbing people, just because some people might choose to use it that way, doesn't mean we should be encouraging it.   ;)

If people are encouraged (more than discouraged) somehow to stab others, they will, aren't they? Well, kitchen cutlery doesn't incentivize me to stab, except unusual cases. Although, Bitcoin does incentivize me to buy it, sell it, upset the market since I can end up with more money than I had before.

You should also note something significant:  If a serial killer starts murdering people with kitchen cutlery, its users aren't affected by this incident. On the other hand, if an individual appears with a lot of money, willing to manipulate the market, they affect the ones who use it ethically*.

I can utterly relate to this, personally, it took me so much research to come to the limelight in understanding all about Bitcoin....

You'd agree with me that crypto is another world entirely and just as we live each day trying to make more out of our lives cause we only get to understand it better as the day goes by, that's how people should with Bitcoin.

Just try explaining the basis and let them continue the research them selves.
At the end of the day, Bitcoin cannot be understood by all.

Everyone in real life is with the idea of centralization which they always assume applies to cryptocurrencies and blockchain. You can start by explaining the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, let them know that unlike the traditional financial institutions they make use of everyday, cryptocurrencies operate in a digital environment and is managed by a network of people, making it impossible for a single individual to own. That will make it easy for you, and for them to understand a little about bitcoin before going ahead to explain other beneficial features of bitcoin.

That sounded very challenging to all who have tried to do that, only a few of them would have to listen while the majority will just to ignore that is the reality. I did it and yes, they will ask you for assurance which is really hard to explain and convince them for that thing.

But instead of insisting that it was not a scam thing, we just let them discover their own as I believe that someday they will come back to us and ask in regards to this. Some things might not happen too fast that especially when you are talking financially and when there is nothing to show with them physically.

I explain it to people about bitcoin in much the same way that OP did. Another of the most outstanding characteristics is the volatility and some ideas of why the variation of bitcoin prices occurs.
As bitcoin becomes more popular, people are becoming interested in learning how it works and how to start investing.
We must commit to taking a little bit of our time to educate people to enter the crypto space in an easy and safe way.

Tell them about the basics;

-Whitepaper(tell on whats about p2p system)
-Volatility
-Risk factor on investment
-Real use case

Its not really that hard to understand even on the someone whom you do tend to explain without needing technical knowledge.
Common sense would be enough.

Sometimes it is best to keep it to yourself as you have no headache dealing with others. But if someone close to you ask in a sincere way, why not? Because it is really tiring especially if the person asking you will not do his part, by educating himself also. Because if you will rely on others, would really be hard to understand things. Nowadays, the knowledge that we can get via net is massive.

Honestly, it's as tough as you described. Most people that ask me have the mentality that "doing Bitcoin" means that you're making lots of money but it isn't! The best way I figured is to tell people that It's a currency but it is a digital type. And if they ask about trust, you can give them reference of big companies that have accepted/endorsed Bitcoin. That should help.

To a fresh newbie it is very hard to explain a topic like crypto , how they are issued , the decentralized nature , what effects the value , how to trade using the fluctuating value , the transaction fees and many more  things , for explaining  that to a newbie we must have our own concepts clear about legality because its the most asked question , well if someone just wants to invest they should not need to know about the microtransactions using blockchain , just briefing is enough
and most importantly about the risks involving in investing in bitcoins .

To understand Bitcoin, you must first clearly understand what money is. Any kind of money is a promise made by one  to the other, and Bitcoin records and announces these promises, so Bitcoin is real money, Is a carrier of information of "promises."

Sometimes, it is difficult to convince, explain or convey the message properly what you want to say.
 It is also noticed how you can make someone positive when he is not listening to you attentively.
 If someone wants to gain something , you can show him a video through youtube available on nearly all topics. there is a lot of information available on google and there are whitepapers on each cryptocurrency.
The most important thing is that, if you are earning through bitcoin then everything should be clear and Bitcoin's life period is not one or two years, its life has entered in the 2nd decade.
 There are problems in all businesses of the world So there may be issues about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency but these are nothing.

I don’t think you need to waste your time explaining it to people who have no idea about it. Just give them the basic definition and show them some websites where they can find all the information they need about bitcoin.

Spreading knowlegde is always good and helpful to others.

I will prefer that we tell people around us about bitcoin and crypto currency. Even most of them won't want to listen to us but still its worth a try. I would say that even if we are able to satisfy one of out 10 people and they are agree to invest in bitcoins, then our purpose is fulfilled. The more the people know about bitcoin, the better it will be for the overall crypto comunity.

If you cannot explain a concept in a simple fashion, then you yourself do not entirely understand it. Anything can be explained simply. As far as Bitcoin goes, there are quite number or educational and entertaining short videos on youtube that explain how Bitcoin works and why the technology behind it (Blockchain) results in Bitcoin being the better money.

The point of explaining to someone who doesn't understand Bitcoin yet is to get them interested. After that they will do the learning by themselves...

It's a little difficult to explain bitcoin to beginners. I think we need to explain bitcoin by comparison, yes even though bitcoin can't be compared to something, but it can make it easier for them to understand bitcoin. For example, we equate bitcoin with gold, because there is a physical form so it is easier for us to explain.
As a first step, we explain several things such as, what is gold, how does gold form, and so on. After that we just have to compare that gold to how bitcoin works.

If you explain it to people who ask and want to know more about bitcoin, it's not that difficult because when explaining it they will listen very well and will ask if something is not clear and someone asks something related to bitcoin.
and what they ask is enough to answer according to the knowledge we have then provide a link or site related to what is being asked for more details, if they are serious they will search and study it themselves because now it is very easy to find something they are looking for on the internet, what's more, bitcoin is now very popular and has circulated everywhere, in contrast to that time because it was still very foreign.

So it's basically easier to explain bitcoin to those who ask first than to explain to those who don't ask first, like talking to a statue. :'(

This is definitely right! If the person asking for some clarifications will also do his own research or study as well, he will understand more about crypto. Because a serious person will not only rely to one source but he will search for more information. And with the technology today, you can basically learn new things over the internet. So you should not be worried about people not understanding you because they can always learn more outside your explanation. Also, one thing for them to believe is for example let them create an online wallet or account to any of your local exchange, and send a lil bit amount of coins, and let them see how they can convert it to your fiat. This will be a tangible move to show them that crypto has actual fiat value.

I still suggest you to offer them a Bitcoin whitepaper, if they don't understand what WP Bitcoin is then just say it's a kind of thesis or dissertation

currently the Bitcoin whitepaper is available in many languages of the world and will continue to grow, the general public has been thinking that Bitcoin is like fiat which can be added/subtracted at any time, they are not wrong because they do not get the right education

and one more thing if when you explain Bitcoin to someone but that person feels he is smart, you better not continue because they are only looking for your shortcomings in explaining

Stick with the basics when you are making some explanation and even if you are just noob then its just impossible that you wouldnt able to understand even with the simplest
terms but actually there are people whose really hard to give out some explanation yet they couldnt understand a thing.

Which it would be better if you do direct them on videos and other information which could really be seen on web, it is really just a matter of effort
on searching things up.

If you are serious then you would be finding ways but for those who doesnt care then they wouldnt able to learn.

For me, I came across it online and was reading through it with no serious mind that it's a revolutionary technology that will become something big in the nearest future. At that time, I don't even talk about, cause that was the period where Ponzi scheme was rampart with in my countryside. That being said, anyone who ask me about it, I'll just say it's a new way of making moneif you can invest in it and they'll ask, is it not another Ponzi scheme? And I'll reply, here, you are the boss of yourself, with no one telling you when to take and leave your money. To an extent, it helped me then, and now, I'll give some heads up and direct them to read more about it online, cause most of them takes you to be one who is hiding his source of finance even when they flow with every new form of technological development around the world.

Explaining people about cryptocurrency/Bitcoin isn't a big task. Here the receiver should be in a state to accept and should have the willingness to know about it. So, initially we must analyse and know whether the particular person to whom we're explaining about bitcoin is interested to know or not.

I haven't encountered big difficulty, because I brief and just leave it. If they're interested, then surely they'll comeback and ask about it further. Once a person whom I said about bitcoin shared the knowledge about it to a third person. Unfortunately I met that third person and he simply asked it is gambling right, I asked why you're saying so. He said it has grown high, as well as crashes unexpected. To such people it is quite hard until they understand it is something about technology.

explain how it works bitcoin in details is not easy. you can explain with some examples but isn't enough in most of the cases.
but really, they need to know how it works? using modern technologies doesn't requires you're an expert of that field.
I mean, we are all using internet, but I have not idea ;D about the stuff behind and what it helps internet to work.
But I am using it with a nice GUI and other applications and it's something that I can't reject on my daily life.
Probably in the future we will use blockchain (hence bitcoin) as we are using now Internet. Masses doesn't need to know exactly how it works but they will use.

Then spreading it would only end up getting much slower if we were to do your approach, the point of explaining the basics of bitcoin is to make sure that you're eliminating ignorance towards a certain subject plus there is a possibility that you're going to find people that would get curious of bitcoin because they know so little about it. Also, it's not a waste of time if they want to hear about it and even if they don't have any idea of it.

There’s really nothing that you can use in comparing Bitcoin because it is the first of its kind. Even if you try to make use of gold in explaining it to people, there would reach a point where you would be unable to go further with that explanation because it wouldn’t work at all.

How do you explain to them the ‘decentralize' part of bitcoin when Bitcoin gold is not decentralized? So, that’s the questions that you have got to ask yourself and the best thing is just for you to go straight to the point and tell them what it is all about. Tell them what it is and it’s up to them to choose to believe it or not.

For the process of introducing bitcoin to big people, it's certainly not easy considering today how bitcoin gets opposition from various groups so that the introduction approach process is a bit hampered, especially regarding the adoption process from these big people, unless the adoption process can be carried out by a whole group of people. then it's an easy way to do the introduction process

I guess what’s being difficult for them to understand is the part that Bitcoin is a decentralized currency. Just try to explain the decentralization for them in a way that it would be understood. Explain to them that being a decentralized currency means that bitcoin doesn’t have any central control unit, rather it is being spread out across computers all around the world that involves in the mining of the currency.

So, that way no one person can control it and not even the government can do anything about it. Even if Satoshi Nakamoto shows up today he can’t do anything about it, he doesn’t have the control over it. I believe that the whitepaper written by Satoshi explains this very well and you can refer them to it.

if its about how bitcoin protocol works
the best success i have had  was using the cheque analogy

short version
its like writing a cheque to someone but instead of a central bank clearing it. special people around the world do it using special mathematically complex specialist devices that cost alot of workload to make a batch of cheques valid, in such a way that its complex to make the valid batch, but super easy for everyone else to quickly verify they are all valid. where everyone in those cheques is deemed as being paid when everyone agrees on the same block as being valid. becasue there are strict rules in place. everyone can come to the same valid block if the block passes the same rules everyone has.
once everyone has the same batch of cheques deemed as valid
the special workers get paid a reward based on the rules they need to meet for a valid batch. thus giving that reward a labour cost which they want to spend. thus giving the reward value. people receiving this 'coin' reward then speculate the value above their acquisition cost based on many things

slightly more detailed version
imagine you write a cheque paying someone, it has where the funds come from, where its going to, the amount, and a signature thats unique to you but you sign it slightly differently per cheque to be extra special.

this cheque is photocopied to everyone, but dont worry its only a cheque between you and the recipient so no one else can cash it

special accountants collate these cheques and they include a cheque on the top of the pile paying themself a reward for work.
into a folder named merkle
they do special maths on the details of each cheque to come up with a merkle ID for the cheques
and some other details like date/time and the math difficulty they attempt, to make it a block of data. they also include an ID of the previous block that was solved by some previous accountant

then they do more complicated math where they attempt trillions of times altering couple little details in the 'some other detail'. the aim is to get a block ID that can easily be calculated back to the contents but also needs to have several 0's at the start. which doesnt happen easily.

because each block has a link to the previous block, the blocks are chained together. hence the word 'blockchain'

if all is successful, and they have a block ID that calculates to the contents and meets the math difficulty requirements.
then they publish this block to everyone who can check their work

the checks everyone can do involve checking the math and also checking all the cheques in the block are moving value they are signing correctly for and deserve to be spending. check the accountants are not trying to charge too much reward for their work. and lots of other little rules. and if it all passes. everyone deems that as the latest valid block.

with everyone confirming the same block on the same chain of blocks. all of the transactions within the blocks become deemed as confirmed. and everyone is sharing the same information.

then thats about it. its deemed the recipients are worthy of the value sent to them. and they can then use that confirmed cheque they received as their value to then spend themselves in future payments.

the accountants are called miners. and they get rewarded X bitcoin for their tiresome math work that these days costs hundreds of thousands of dollars of electric to do. there are rules for their reward. so they have to do a good honourable job to ensure they get paid right.
but their hard work then makes it super cheap and easy for everyone to verify the work and so not everyone needs to be a miner they can just be a verifier or even just a value holder or spender.

these miners are not some government institution. if you wanted to get the special complex math mining equipment you can help out. miners are just random people. where one lucky person or group gets to solve a block and get paid for their work.
leaving everyone else to simply verify quick and cleanly without headache or strain. and just get on with acquiring or spending the value of payments made to us.
the miners expensive work gives that reward a real world cost of work, which they want to spend the reward for something of value. thus giving the reward value. people receiving this 'coin' reward then speculate the value above their acquisition cost based on many things.

As a person who had the same feeling while trying to explain some things about Bitcoin, I can understand you very well. It is really hard to explain it to people who have no relation to the technology or people who are fully close to new things. They are doing just fine with the traditional money for now. But when the time comes and digital currencies start taking the place of the traditional ones, I wonder what they will do then.

I've had an experience like yours, I think you can teach them slowly about Bitcoin, give them a reasonable understanding of Bitcoin, don't teach those who are difficult to understand, show proof of their investment about Bitcoin, if necessary borrow their money for example $ 1000 to invest in Bitcoin and share a little result from that investment for them, in that way a large percentage of them can understand Bitcoin quickly, I did a trick like that.

It is true that the difficulty of explaining bitcoin to people is widespread though it has been for some time but now people have gained knowledge about many technologies. People already knew what bitcoin was, one of the first spikes to be blamed primarily for the economic crisis in. Cryptocurrency has suddenly offered a more attractive way to fund money with the promise of continuous access. People are improving through technology and the use of bitcoin has increased more than ever before.

Firstly, I would ask them counter questions like that about FIAT that they have been using for quite some time now. Things like why does a country print money and what it does with inflation, how does the banking storage of money work, what are economic safety checks in place that assure your currency will not devaluate, so on and so forth. I bet you they wouldn't know the answers to that. It's 2022, you don't have to be a televangelist for crypto a preach everywhere you go. There are numerous articles, books, and YT videos published on those topics, and if they are really interested in the details, they can go look it up and educate themselves. You know, like people used to.

I think it will be very difficult to explain bitcoin to people who do not have basic knowledge of technology and of course it will be very difficult for them to understand although basically we have tried to explain it using simple words, previously I have also explained about bitcoin to some friends I and I say that bitcoin is a virtual currency that has no physical but a real presence in the internet space and we can make transactions with fellow users all over the world.

Of course this is not an easy matter to explain bitcoin to big people where currently bitcoin gets a lot of opposition from various circles so it is very difficult to explain to these big people how bitcoin actually performs, especially at this time bitcoin has not received adoption from various countries then this can be a barrier factor for bitcoin being introduced to big people or influential people around them, but if bitcoin has been widely introduced the process of adopting only then it is not impossible that anyone wants to be in the crypto world in the long term

I think of the many years that have gone by, its become much easier to explain what bitcoin is to people because this is something that is talked about everywhere and credit must also go to the media houses for giving cryptocurrencies the coverage they deserve and also one way i like to hear the most is the ELi5(Explain like you 5) as this gets interesting explanations.

For people who isn't using computer or not a techy one, it really is hard to explain it to them.
Instead of them explaining what are the basics of Bitcoin,  you need to share to them at least a little bit of financial management because lets not forget that its not only learning what is Bitcoin and the basics of it but when to invest and when not too so overall for me it really is hard especially for those who have 0 knowledge in Bitcoin or not techy and no financial literacy.

I also tried to explain it but they can't cope up because of its complexity so what I just said is that, if you really want to invest into it just buy and hold it and expect some ups and downs. For me its the simplest way of them introducing to Bitcoin and crypto and its up to them if they will do a research or not.

Oh well, they're a little bit of a basher but not really haha. When I talk to people about bitcoin, or even just open charts, they are amazed and say things like, "I'm sure you're making a lot of money out of that." When I talk to people about bitcoin, their first question is always, "How do we make money out of this?" I'm not sure how to answer because there are so many different ways to partake. I believe you should simply explain it based on your understandings because you already know that they will realize in the future that what you have said to them was correct.

society has a variety of traits and ethics, so it makes people understand about Bitcoin and how it works, it's really a tiring job.  besides that, the role of the government is really the most needed for bitcoin education to the public.  just look at what happened in el salvador, more than 85% of their citizens already understand what bitcoin is and how it works because their government educates its citizens evenly.

Where I live it is difficult to explain about bitcoin not being applicable because in my place many people have invested in coins and done manual trading or trading using trading robots so over time many people have believed that investing in bitcoin and alcoin can get extraordinary profits, I am worried about the situation That's because maybe I predict that in the future more and more people believe in coin investment, maybe the price of gold will drop.

I think it's enough to explain to them that bitcoin is the same as money that is change  into a balance in the savings they save in the bank, its nature is only limited to writing, the only difference is that bitcoin doesn't have a physical, while savings balances can be changed to physical,  the precious sheet of paper.
While the working system of the exchange rate is almost the same, there is a factor that makes the value up or down.

I have the same issue when talking to friends and family, it's very hard to explain crypto currencies to older people. Most of my friends or family have no financial background, they are not really into managing their own portfolios and just give the money to the bank and buy whatever they recommend. Without any previous knowledge I struggle to tell them what I am doing in particular and for them it seems like a waste or even scam. Especially my dad is very against cryptos and any form of online banking or trading. His stubbornness might came from age or its his nature. Its a bit funny because my uncle, his twin brother is very interested into Internet and new things. The best way to explain bitcoins I found is to start with a fixed amount of Internet money that records all transactions in a big book, which is held my many people around the world. So it can't be that one person just makes stuff up in his books, because all the other people wouldn't accept. I am trying to avoid the topic of mining because it makes everything so much more difficult for people with no previous knowledge.

I agree with you, because everyone's understanding is different, so don't compare other people to yourself. Moreover, explaining to ordinary people,
we really have to explain simply in language that is easy to understand. Do not explain in detail in terms that are too difficult, it will only make those
who listen to our explanation more confused. Then the most important thing is just to explain about Bitcoin that people want to know, let's not get
too technical, it just makes people think Bitcoin is complicated. After that recommend some trusted sources of information, let them learn more
about Bitcoin.

Well, it is when they ask you and you start explaining but as usual, people still don't get you and sometimes throw their false opinion towards bitcoin which is very annoying. But honestly speaking, as everyone says, you need to get used to it. It is very rare to have someone who is a good listener. For me, --don't explain too much, just make it brief and make them curious to know bitcoin better on their own, because if that someone is interested, it tends to be more curious rather than believing their false conclusion.

People would normally get interested if they do saw something on you like having some new possessions or do see that you do have some money because of crypto and this is where interest do been poke up and also the time that they would be approaching you and asking out things.

When you do tend to explain something then stick with the basics and let them do the rest speaking with more research since everything could really be searched up on net.

Although explaining with the basics wouldnt really be needing that technical knowledge even highschooler would able to understand it.

This is exactly the problem I'm having over here in my local tiwn; it's always very had to convince people to buy coins most especially if they haven't even heard of the ideology of crypto and how it works .
It really sounds funny when most of my homies ask silly questions about crypto and it freeks me out. They'd be like "how the f$ck does this crypto work? You've been on your phone all day just for this sake, can you teach us to be like you?"
Beginning an explanation to this peeps will take my whole time and they'd start arguing unnecessarily, I'll only count this as a detriment for being explanatory :D

In this case you see the Dunning Kruger effect at play, whereby those with less knowledge overestimate their knowledge of a domain and thus attempt to refute you despite knowing nothing about the protocol. So I would not bother explaining bitcoin to such people, as they are highly unlikely to buy it anyway once explained to them.

At best you can plant seeds by giving broad statements about cryptocurrency, and from there it's up to them to do the research.

I personally used to explain it to people who are in need. This means I explain it, so that they can make some money investing little amount of cryptocurrencies from their monthly earnings. But, there is no one who got convinced at the beginning. One person he himself requested and asked help. I explained and he picked a coin of his own for investment. From that he experienced the profit and started to explore and now he himself learning and investing.

Sometimes, we have limitations on what we are going to do. Like this, trying to explain to many more massive people about Bitcoin and also cryptcurrency. There will be pros and cons and if we focus on them, we may feel dizzy. Moreover, most people now only focus on the media that they can listen to, read, and also watch without digging more deeply to know the truth. Most of them only believe in the media that release the news. And we actually know how the media is reporting about the cryptocurrency world right now.
What we can do is by explaining to people around us, people who are asking to us and also willing to know xactly about crypto.

People get confused by bitcoin dont tell them that there are other thousands of coins with different purpose they will shirt circuit. I don't think you should even focus on explaining to them ask them a little bit and then tell them to watch YouTube videos. If they are really interested in they will learn themselves. It is not something you can explain in just one or two sitting. The only frustrated person who will come out of this everytime will be you.

I have encountered a similar phenomenon many times, but it was not always so that they did not understand me. The point here is this - when a person does not understand anything at all in IT and computer hardware, networks and software - it is certainly difficult for him to explain the topic of blockchain as if I was jumping over previous blocks of information. But when a person is familiar with the world of computer technology, at least to some extent, it is already much easier to communicate and explain with him. However, most of the population, unfortunately, is conservative and looks at all this as some kind of "muddy" pyramid.

Well, but you had success with one person, and that's very good, in my case I've talked to several friends, and they've bought but all the time they tell me that their investment has dropped considerably, what's more difficult to explain is the fact to do Hodl, because for someone who does not have any high financial education it is difficult for him to understand that an investment must be extracted at the moment of obtaining benefits and not before, I have also seen that many are guided by the news and by what they see on TV and what they usually watch is CNN, and other news networks that do live FUD.

This is actually the reason I refrain from talking about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Not only that, but also, I prefer not to explain in detail how I've made money from it, how much I've made and having to answer similar questions. I'm not keen on talking about my finances. Most people won't understand, and the conversation eventually turns to the point they are putting pressure on you, to teach them how to make money with Bitcoin, being unable to understand that it's not that simple.

If this person ask sincerely with interest to do something, it then means he or she is ready to read more and research on what to do, even though he or she is being guided with links and sites to get some useful information from the person who is showing him the way through that will be of help to him. Some will just behave as if they are interested and after talking much, they'll end up post postponing and it dies off with them doing nothing.
I came to see that anyone who is very interested will put in more effort and research, how to invest and where to invest, and will want to give it a try with some little start to know how it works.
I normally refer them here in this forum, where they can get first class information about Bitcoin and crypto currencies.

People usually only like to hear and see things that they are used to and that they actually like. Its very hard to break that powerful psychological barrier. But in the end, they will have to come to the conclusion that Bitcoin is a very good thing that will help them in life. So sooner or later, they will be interested in learning about it. Up until that point, the most we can do is basically just the "marketing" portion on our part.

Lets hope the world adopts Bitcoin faster. ;D

It took me a while to get the idea of Bitcoin and Blockchain as well. At first, I didn’t have it on the radar, then it became a major thing and I tried to listen to people talking about it but got really confused, and then frustrated. Didn’t touch the subject for a while. Then a good friend gave me quite a good explanation of it all, I wish I could rephrase it but don’t remember it exactly. But something clicked, that’s for sure and analogies were definitely a big part of it. Also, I realized at the time that I had some major knowledge gaps in terms of how our money system/local currency actually works. Filling in those gaps also helped with understanding crypto currencies.

Well, that depends on the type of person you come across, there are some who understand quickly, because they have some knowledge of what the economy is, but people who in their lives have had no idea how to manage their money and who are pending of other things there yes, otherwise the media will take care of that as they are doing now, a person who is aware of the news, who reads, who sees new information and who is not satisfied only with what the media are offering, people will learn to be more investigative when it comes to money.

I experienced such problems exactly until bitcoin became worth more than $10,000. Then it got easier. I just gave such an example for people who did not understand me before. He told them this: imagine that you have some kind of rare coin, over time, collecting and circulation of such coins grows as well as their value. And so you waited 10 years, the coin that you inherited from your grandfather costs 100 times more. Etc.

In the past this was a big thing. Nowadays things have changed a lot. During those days people were in a dilemma whether to go invest on cryptocurrencies or just ignore considering the regulation. With slow and gradual growth we've got more support from governments and more applications for the same is being developed. This makes the cryptocurrency easy understandable and usable without anyone's briefing.

the thing is, it isn't only bitcoin! people does not know about money, self education finances or whatever. However I believe to teach the best way is to educate people with good quality content, specially on your blog or social media. I do believe in long term education and that's why for the last 5 years I've been helping people from my website https://financialmove.com.br

Please don't use my thread as a place to advertise, please take your website and its advertisements somewhere else.

Actually the site is quite relevant just like this article posted.
https://financialmove.com.br/como-funciona-o-bitcoin/

The site isnt english language on default but you could really make out some translation.
This is somewhat relevant for somewhat to read on at least.

There are various forms on which we could attain real information and its true that letting others know or explains to them is somewhat
a challenge.

Some people will get it right away with a little description and research, and some people will take many years to get it.

I think the simplest way to explain it is to say Bitcoin is a strong form of money like Gold was throughout history - the same things that made Gold valuable make Bitcoin valuable - but it's entirely digital and far more efficient than the digital money we use in banks today, and it isn't controlled by governments or anyone, so it is immune to manipulation, and anyone in the world is free to use it which is also not true of the money we are used to using today.

That covers most of the really important money stuff while leaving the more technical stuff aside that would take more research and understanding.


Another way of explaining it would be to ask some questions:
- Do you not want to rely on corrupt banks?
- Do you not want to rely on incompetent governments/politicians manipulating our monetary system?
- Do you not want to watch the value of your money inflate away, but instead want the money you save to actually grow significantly in value over the long term?
- Do you want a more efficient system of money where it doesn't take a week for your money to hit your bank?
- Do you not want your bank and government to have complete control over your actual bank account?
- Do you want all the best things about Gold and all the best things about digital money but better than both of those combined and without the downsides of each?
If you answered yes to these then Bitcoin is the answer.