Bitcoin Forum

Recently on IRC someone said:
"I could've presented the system more clearly, but you know, bitcoin is a very difficult thing to explain briefly"
I've also been thinking a lot about how to briefly and accurately explain Bitcoin to people.

What might be your Elevator pitch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch) for Bitcoin?

Here's why I'm interested in Bitcoin.  I'd like to help on more pitches, but I'm not really sure what the audience for Bitcoin is at this time.

     "Bitcoin offers direct democractic control over monetary policy.  Previously only governments and large banks could amass the trust necessary to stabilize a currency by having physical control over moneys.  Today, technology eliminates the need for physical control- replaced by majority consensus.  Bitcoin operates as a public ledger of transactions, for which all participants share in verification.  Thus the use of monetary instrument transactions are likewise democratically decided, thereby returning control to the individual."

While everything you say is true. I'm not arguing your logic at all, here is why as an "elevator pitch" it falls flat.

It doesn't explain the actual benefit of using bitcoin for the listener in the elevator. If the listener replies, "That's nice! I hope to hear more about bitcoin as it matures!" Then your elevator pitch has FAILED.

An elevator pitch is all about opportunity. Not about the subject matter. An elevator pitch has to make the listener interested in immediate follow-up. Because if he fails to immediately follow up, he personally will lose the opportunity to gain value, and someone else will likely gain that opportunity.

My elevator pitch would be:

"Captcha's are broken, but they are required for the web to continue to function."

(Say something that people can agree with, the second part, and something plausible but perhaps they weren't currently thinking about, the first part.

"Bitcoin is going to be the new captcha. It can anonymously separate botnets from humans based upon tangible value."

(What makes bitcoin, different from everything out there. But not something that is philosophically polarizing.)

"Anyone who sells a captcha replacement based upon bitcoin, is going to make a boat load of dollars."

(Tell the audience why they need to follow up now.)

Hey. I know of a way of investing money that doesn't require you to sign loads and loads of form and lot of money. There's a new currency called bitcoins. It's electronic and all, but people are buying bitcoins for buying stuff or in the hope that it become big. You can invest 5 dollars and buy bitcoins on the currency exchange market and then sell it for a higher price. If you're successful, you can repeat this process as much as you like. If you lose 5 dollars, than it isn't a huge loss, anyway.

Plus, you could buy something with bitcoin if it doesn't pan out.

I agree with you that my pitch is probably only of interest to macro-economic majors.  But what audience are you pitching this to?  I personally don't think bitcoin is mature enough to be pitching to everyone you meet on the street.  If joe-sixpack invests his paycheck in bitcoins- thinking he's going to get rich- and the market never develops, he's never going to trust digital currency again.  Today you have people decrying fiat currency because of their perception that it robs them of wealth more than if they held gold.  The lasting perception of being cheated creates significant barriers to entry which even a fully matured currency may not be able to overcome when there are accepted alternatives.

I think the elevator pitch should be targeted at hobby/home business owners who are not tech savvy. They have little to lose and a lot to gain. One of the selling points should be that there is a growing new market which really wants to spend money and the new market doesn't yet have their product yet. Essentially telling them that there is a niche to be filled.

I tried this out on a friend who is starting a small business. I'll let you know how it goes

Please donate a few bitcoins if you think this elevator pitch is useful! ;)

Nice pitch Liberty! Shows benefits and has a call to action! I'd probably follow up on that.

There are a lot of good pitches coming out here guys. Nice work.

The more different examples we have, the easier it will be to find the one that suits your 'target'.
The pitch to a cryptoanarchist is going to be different to the pitch to your grandma.

Keep them coming.

Anyone else?

Who are our targets? Here are a few ideas.

• Home businesses
• Internet businesses
• People who are interested in technology
• Privacy businesses
• People against the Federal Reserve
• People who are interested in privacy
• Community builders
• Economists
• People who are interested in positive disruptive movements ()
• Entrepreneurs
• Consvatives/Progressives/Anarchists each for their own reasons
• People who are interested in cryptography and/or math
• Sociologists
• Civil criminals (copylefters)
• Real criminals (This is a whole can of worms. I do not promote it, but whether you do promote it is up to you, but at least refrain from promoting it publicly.)

It's good to recognize our enemies and weaknesses. These should not be used in the pitch, but should be kept in mind in case you receive follow-up questions. Many of these negatives are positives to specific demographics.

• Bitcoin does not have the consumer protections of traditional electronic payments, but that's because Bitcoin is the digital equivalent of cash. The same consumer protections can be provided by a trusted third party.
• Governments potentially don't/won't like it.
• Although unlikely there are certain attacks against the currency which are theoretically possible.
• The currency is not backed by anything concrete, but rather just the community. This can be good or bad depending on whether the community grows or shrinks. People who have low confidence in the growth of the community should get their bitcoins in and out quickly, whereas people who have confidence in growth should invest and sell whenever they need cash. Electricity used to be an argument for backing, but I think we're quickly getting past that stage.
• Theoretically it could be used for money laundering and moving funds by criminals. Please don't participate in these activities and pretty please don't use bitcoins for these activities.
• Theoretically it could be used to avoid taxes. I encourage you to pay your taxes.

My short pitch would be


Your wife will take half your stuff if she finds out you bought something you shouldn't have on your credit card-so use bitcoins and save lawyers fees.



 :D

Bitcoins, the only money fit for Libertarians!

Best selling point ever.