Bitcoin Forum

Does this happen to anyone else? You're trying to explain to someone, perhaps a close relative, what crypto actually is? And they come up with all of these strange/sill ideas? These are my top 3, I would love to hear everyone else's.

1. You can only buy whole bitcoins. I guess this one makes sense, if you never knew anything about crypto. After all, one usually buys whole stocks and bonds, and whole other things. But I have had many conversations where the person says something like "yeah I would love to get bitcoin but I don't have (insert whatever the current price is).

2. It's a ponzi scheme/ tulip bubble/ some other kind of scam or shenanigans. I think this one comes straight from the msm. Even prominent financial news outlets regularly print erroneous, or purposely false and misleading information. But, if you actually know what crypto is, the idea that it is the same thing as a ponzi scheme or the tulip bubble is just silly. It's like the exact opposite of those things.

3. I would love to buy some Bitcoin, but (whatever the current price is) is just too expensive for magic internet money. This one I think is due to people feeling like they missed out at being an early adopter. These are the types that tend to say things like "gee I wish I had bought amazon when it was a few pennies a share". But whatever the current price, it's too much. It could literally be $5 a Bitcoin and they would say it was too much. I get it, they don't really understand what crypto is, but it's still a bit silly if you ask me.

What are your favorites?

I was a user who really knew bitcoin at a time when this currency was known to many people around the world. Yes it was in 2018, but I didn't think much of it despite the doubts about how this currency has such a high value. I never thought this bitcoin was a ponzi scheme because I never found a single word about guaranteed return x within a certain timeframe.

I don't know what the dumbest mistake I thought about bitcoin was, but maybe I'm just a little hesitant to spend a lot of money in 2018-2020 buying bitcoin.

And then they go for altcoins.
I have seen many people believing bitcoin is too expensive and they should buy a shitcoin worth less than a dollar.
"This token/coin is now worth $0.0000001. If it reaches $1, I will be a billionaire. Bitcoin reached to 60,000 dollars. So, 1 dollar is nothing and can be reached very easily."

I don't think, everybody can get it right at the same time to buy Bitcoin and hold for future purpose, because there are some people in the community waiting for the price of Bitcoin to decrease to $5k before they can buy and hold, while there are some people are using this bear market to buy Bitcoin and hold, because they believed that the price will not decrease more than $15k before it will increase higher to a level were those that invested in Bitcoin some months ago to start earning from their investment. Crypto is different from centralized currency, because crypto is unpredictable, it can pump higher to enable people to make a good profits and it can also dump to make people to purchase for future purpose in the community. I believe, this is the best opportunity for you to buy Bitcoin and hold so that you will be part of those that will smile when the price of Bitcoin increase higher in the market.

This is the most common people’s thinking, they always see bitcoin having the highest potential in crypto but since it’s price will never be affordable so they end up trying their luck buying altcoins. Not realizing that there are more risks investing in altcoins particularly if you chose those new altcoins in the market as they mostly end up as big scams. But if you go for established altcoins, yes you can be profitable but not as huge as bitcoin.

Here are my favorite (or less favorite  :P) misconceptions:

• Bitcoin uses wastes too much energy.
• Mixing bitcoin means you're a criminal.
• Bitcoin is a bubble.
• Bitcoin isn't backed by nation(s) and, therefore, doesn't have essential value.
• Proof-of-Work will be banned.
• "It's too late to get involved into bitcoin".

Edit: Oh, and franky's punch line, "LiGhTnING IsNT BitCoIN!"

My big misconception around 2013 when I first heard about Bitcoin was

1. Thats just for gamers

My personal misconceptions about Bitcoin circa 2017 just after getting into Bitcon:

2. Can I mine Bitcoin myself with my PC?
3. Surely this cant keep going up, it doesnt make sense?
4. Maybe if I swap some of my Bitcoin for this other project ^{ICO craze} I will make a big profit . . .

And a massive misconception surrounding Bitcoin for the last few years by a certain
cohort of people is that

5. it was created by CSW . . .

Here's a couple of my favorite misconception about BTC

1. It's not real money
2. get rich quick scheme, - specially newbies around 2017, quit their job and focus on crypto related stuff....
3. Anonymity anyone?
4. Bitcoin is the same as the Ethereum and the rest of stable coins
5. Government will have to shut it down, one day

Another popular misconception about bitcoin is that, owning any amount of bitcoin can make you wealthy. To benefit properly from bitcoin and the market fluctuations you need to have a substantial amount of bitcoin to properly gain from the market when the value of bitcoin goes up. If you have very little fractions and you are holding on to them without planning on how to get more I'm sorry to say but that bitcoin cannot make you rich or wealthy in that case.

Just leave others' thoughts that I tried to explain. I was confused at the beginning and didn't use Bitcoin as a payment method. I was thinking why should a currency's price shouldn't volatile like this. At that time I dare to use Bitcoin due to its volatile. I wasn't ready to accept losing value. But now it's different, I realized what is Bitcoin and how works as well. The same thing happens most of the time when I want to try to explain about Bitcoin.

"Bitcoin will go to zerooooooooooo!!!!!!!!111oneone"

Every single time in a bear market! ;D Been through this one all the way from 2017 ATH (20k USD) to the late 2018 bottom (3k USD).

ps: I would consider this a strong buy signal. 8) #NFA

And that’s when they start experiencing real scams and lose big amount of money, which is far to happen if they only take the risk buying bitcoin. Well, some altcoins have managed to survive and create sustainable profits but most of the new altcoins today that are out in the market are just for short term duration, after that their value starts to subside.

It's just the same as saying Bitcoin is dead and it's too common to hear or read it nowadays because it almost like a meme whenever there's a correction. And after all these years there are still people who aren't into Bitcoin despite the fact that the market showed what is the price in bearish today. Saying they missed the boat but this price in bear market today was the ATH price where they complain it's too expensive. They really missed their chances to buy because they think owning 1 BTC is thing and having sats is not or they just don't know what is sats.

Nowadays this have increased a lot and more people are getting into scams in the name of cryptocurrency. Recently I made a thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5409168.msg60717056#msg60717056) about a friend of mine getting trapped. Even now he don't have the proper understanding and explains me. For the same amount I've spend someone else have got three types of tokens. I said creating tokens and sending is not a big thing. It need to be in the market. So, proper awareness could make things better.

All of these things are misconceptions that I hear all of the time. The biggest misconception that I hear that drives me nuts is that bitcoin is anonymous and is mostly used for illegal activities. There’s been a number of studies from very affluential outlets that have done on chain analysis that have dispelled this myth time over time; but yet we keep hearing this nonsense.  I’m hopeful it fades away as time goes on.

Yes, I think the news has made too many stories about bitcoin for crime. I think probably it is not very anonymous for governments who know how to find the right info. Regular money is better, because the block chain is public and permanent, there is no way to track dollars sitting somewhere hidden in a basement.

When I had a Bitcoin ATM business, I was suprised by the sheer amount of people who told me "they had no money for one Bitcoin". That's when I taught them they didn't need to buy a whole Bitcoin to get started!

I've said it before:

We should ditch floating point in favor of integer values (sats).

Everyone (exchanges, ATMs) should sell sats and only sats!

Unit bias is a real thing for noobs, believe it or not...

I take these doubts as challenges. For that puts to the test all that I have learned. Usually lay people will think outside the box of someone who already knows something, in this case Bitcoin.

So, even if it's a dumb question, it's valid to test what you've learned, if you've learned.

I think bitcoin is a bubble is probably my favorite. Everyone is bad mouthing bitcoin when I joined because it's a scam, a tulip mania and that it will go to zero.

And then the good one "bitcoin to the mooooonnn", lol, we are going to heard about this once we are in a bull run again.

One of the most common misconceptions, but also an excuse why someone has never bought Bitcoin - because if they can't have 1 BTC, they don't want to have 0.01 or some similar amount.


Bitcoin is unfortunately largely a victim of all those online scams that have happened in the past, so for some people everything on the internet is a scam in one way or another. Those who think this way have never even bothered to see the difference between Bitcoin and some Ponzi/MLM scheme.


I think this has something to do with what was described in the first case, because there is not much logic if someone says that 1 BTC is expensive for him, and when you explain to him that he can buy an amount worth $20 or even less, then it all boils down to the fact that such small amounts do not have sense. Being jealous of those who knew about Bitcoin in the first years of its existence is completely stupid, because Bitcoin was not a closely guarded secret, anyone could be among the early adopters.


Bitcoin is destroying planet Earth and we will all be left in the dark because of POW + it is only used by criminals and drug dealers, and of course the ever-present terrorists.

This is one of the most common replies you will get when you tell someone about bitcoins and he do not know about the bitcoin and crypto. He might have got the wrong knowledge from others that bitcoin is fake and ponzi and this is feed in his mind and he never cares to research about it himself.

My misconceptions abut bitcoin (some years ago) was related the nature of this creation.
I mean, I was already focused in project like liberty-reserve or e-gold (all shut down and people arrested...) and I was thinking that bitcoin was just another form of such kind of payment provider.
After I have read the white paper I have understood the deeply difference in what was realized in the past and how bitcoin was something able to "survive" as a digital form of payment.

The list of 3 misconceptions in open post is one of the typical I heard about people speaking about bitcoin.
Each time I ask to people "what you really know about bitcoin"? It's pretty clear they don't know anything unless their opinion based on "nothing"!

My favorite misconceptions are:
1. Bitcoin mining is full of wasting energy and generate a lot carbon emissions, while the truth isn't and actually banks are wasting energy and generate carbon emissions multiple times than Bitcoin.

2. Binance is the most safest wallet because they have SAFU and can recover your money. Even though the last hacked event where Binance can refund the whole coins that has been stolen by a hacker, but there's no guarantee if they can refund it when the hacker can stole all of their money in the future.

3. Bitcoin price is manipulated. It's partly true if the whales are bought a big amount Bitcoin, but they're not actually controlling 100% of the market since there's many people who still own Bitcoin.

This kind of thing will always exist, because several news stations are engineered for it. They already have a scheme to spread such fear, and those who read it will believe what they preach. But if we show and point out that it's all bullshit I think they will understand better, although there are definitely people who stand by their point of view. We don't need to think about such things, because of their own natural loss.

I'm happy the op is so casual about these misconceptions and finds them silly, can even name favourites. I've heard of Bitcoin being a financial pyramid (so, #2) from a relative, but it's not the kind of relative who can be convinced by any arguments, really, so I was irritated that he maintained this position.
In general, I like the misconceptions people have about fiat and banks more. Like how many assume fiat is backed up by something that gives it value, or how most think that the money they have in their bank accounts is actually theirs and is actually there.

I also often come across them, they say bitcoin as a pyramid scheme because fraudsters use bitcoin as the main tool to deceive others using pyramid or Ponzi schemes. and this becomes the mindset that continues to stick to them that bitcoin is the main actor and is the center of the pyramid scheme. these kinds of projects that say they are future crypto projects, but in fact they are only exploiting the ignorance of new users in the investment world or in the crypto world, many are trapped and bankrupt due to pyramid scheme investment scams.

As a new user, you have to look for information in many references so you are not easily fooled by fraudulent investments.

This reminds me of conversation I had with someone a few days ago. Apparently, his own misconception about bitcoin is that he will get paid at the end of  28 - 30days if he buys some bitcoins. He just wants to buy $15 worth and then hopes that it doubles to $30 once he holds it for 28 -30days. He said he got his information from a Bitcoin Telegram group he joined and that there are people who are sharing their testimonies about it on the group.

There are indeed sites promising that kind of return after few days of holding.
But later on, they will realize that this platform is more on the scam side.
How can they give you such good ROI, where will they get it? This is why it falls to a ponzi scheme.
But people are being deceived by such offer. They will get their share for the first few days, but later on, the site will start giving reasons why they can't receive anymore.
People who are giving testimonies are only after to attract more naive buyers so they can continue to get their share.

I started investing in 2020, when I only thought about what crypto could make me rich quick,

I am also looking for crypto that is very cheap, because in my mind at that time,
"This crypto is very cheap, it's less than 2 dollars if it goes up to 10 - 20 dollars I can make a profit"

I bought it crypto,
but the price has gone down
and makes me wonder, why is it like that,

then here I ask my senior who has been in the crypto world for a long time about what crypto is good for investment, "try it in bitcoin"

from here i started investing in bitcoin,
and it turns out that bitcoin is the best.

This is a good example of what most people don't understand when they try to understand some things about what Bitcoin actually is. Any group on a social network that has the name Bitcoin in it is considered something official, so many people think that there is a Bitcoin bank or that everyone called Satoshi has 1 million BTC that they will share with anyone who sends them their personal information.

People should really start thinking for themselves a little more, otherwise they voluntarily agree to live in a world of misconceptions that can often result in financial losses and great disappointment.

I think I was guilty of the first misconception. It's also not hard to see why people think like that. Bitcoin is costly as it stands, we generally feel like we missed out and have no hope.

I'm not sure if I already read this somewhere but it seems familiar.

Anyway, perhaps the most widespread misconception about Bitcoin isn't even on the list, and it is that Bitcoin is a way to get rich. While it is indeed possible that Bitcoin would rise in fiat price, it isn't a vehicle to get rich. This is a misconception that has actually brought a lot of Bitcoin supporters. And this misconception is strengthened or reinforced because the price has indeed multiplied thousands of times. But it doesn't mean Bitcoin is a get-rich pill. It simply isn't.

For me it goes like I explain them about bitcoin and then they buy bitcoin. But soon after that, lets say after a few months they keep saying that it didn't increase much.
Mostly its because it has been falling for the last few months but I had already told them to invest only for the long term.
Yet they keep complaining about the price keeping on dropping every month. They don't listen when I say them that I told you to invest for a long term.
So forget about the price for next 3 years.

1. It's because most people thing that they "need" to own one whole bitcoin in order to make profit. It is something more psychological I guess. They don't realize that they can accumulate bitcoin over time and then eventually own a whole bitcoin.

2. Only those who don't know how bitcoin and the market works are going to call it a ponzi scheme. Also those who lost all their money for being greedy thinks they lost their money because bitcoin was a ponzi.

3. And then they keep on waiting for the price to drop which never happens. They end up crying and "hating" bitcoin even more.

my misunderstanding regarding Bitcoin.
• I think Bitcoin is illegal, that's what I consider based on some of the rules I've read, but I misunderstood it it's only illegal for those who use it as a means of payment, but if Bitcoin is only for the use or possession of it, of course that's a different story.
• my other misunderstanding is anonymous, but not anonymous, the nature of the anonymity is visible at the beginning, the Blockchain used to make Bitcoin transactions, is public, people can see transactions.

Or, how people think they need to "build credit" when they are young, and think the way to do this is to get into credit card debt, and pay ridiculous interest rates, and get caught in a cycle of bad debt.

For me, this is the most common I encounter. Especially for those people who are non-techy. But even also on techy people who don't have an idea how Bitcoin works. First, their thoughts are, "Bitcoin is a money doubler", sometimes they ask, "How much is your capital", "How much minimum investment", etc.
Most people also thinking when you in Bitcoin or own some, you are rich already or making easy money.

Majority of people who had been able to learn up about crypto is that into those hyips and ponzi back in the past where it do offers huge income or returns on a short time basis and
i was one of those people who had known crypto due to this thing but eventually i do able to learn up something even more as i dig further when it comes to various things
and i do able to realize and learn up on whats the truth.This is something that you should work and learn for you to sustain and make money even though not on constant
but at least you are really that able to survive this unpredictable market.

Really, many people started in crypto with these easy earning ways. And it filled with newbies wanting those gains. And in the end, the overall view of BTC was this easy win.

I think now most of us have cleared up our misconceptions, there is another misconception that Bitcoin is going to cause next energy crisis. I feel that is a dumb logic. The world has seen so many sources of population for last 200 years. But did nothing, but now for them my miner is more dangerous than a factory in city outskirts.

I've experienced this kind of thing when I first got to know bitcoin and haven't fully explored bitcoin, inviting relatives / friends to invest in ponzi schemes or hype that were trending at the time I just thought this was a very big advantage without doing anything especially with a 2x return, but i got stuck and lost everything my friend charged me the promise with the profit and this was indeed my fault so i never tried again and i thought back there was no easy investment especially with a short return, that's what my fault with bitcoin thinking too much about profit on other people while I have to pay them because I invited him.

Never mind that it became my memory in the past, and now I know the true meaning of bitcoin and I continue to learn to be greedy in the sense of only making investments that I can afford and never insisting on going back to invite other people let alone beginners.

There used to be too much over-indulgence in bitcoin which I finally understood in my conclusion as the experience.

You know when people don't want something they come up with every silly excuse they can get. They are afraid it  take over their local currency and try to prevent it in any way there is even an article that Bitcoin is 50% harm free in terms of energy emissions that all those companies