The technology behind Bitcoin is not important

[tokeweed]

Read and reread Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos.  It's a good reference material for explaining Bitcoin.

No way! If you've got to read a book to be able to use BTC, BTC will fail. Did you read a book to use fiat money? You didn't and that's why fiat money has been so successful for centuries. BTC needs to reach that stage.

Huh?  Using BTC is easy.  Just copy/paste and click a few buttons. No book reading needed there.

But actually explaining how it works...  That's another story.

What if someone asks you, "How is it possible that bitcoin (the currency) has no central issuer?". Would you be able to answer that without doing a little bit of research?

[gentlemand]

What if someone asks you, "How is it possible that bitcoin (the currency) has no central issuer?". Would you be able to answer that without doing a little bit of research?

I wonder how many people out there have gotten as far as wondering where money comes from and who's running it. I would've thought it's just 'there' for many of them.

[tokeweed]

What if someone asks you, "How is it possible that bitcoin (the currency) has no central issuer?". Would you be able to answer that without doing a little bit of research?

I wonder how many people out there have gotten as far as wondering where money comes from and who's running it. I would've thought it's just 'there' for many of them.

Not many. But it's good to be able to answer and explain if someone asks and shows interest.  

... And a little research on your part won't hurt anyway.

[DooMAD]

I recall watching a video some time ago (but sadly can't find it again to post now), where a guy was giving a practical demonstration of some sort of bitcoin debit card.  He said during the interview something along the lines that the hardcore fans like us often do get a little too caught up in trying to explain the tech before we've shown people why they should actually care.  And what we should be focusing on is making the tech easier to use so that we can simply show people the benefits rather than trying to explain it all with complicated jargon.  I felt it rang true in one sense, but at the same time, we're still not quite at the stage where Bitcoin is ready for everyone.  

If you want to use Bitcoin right now, it is important that you have a reasonable understanding of how it works and what not to do with it.  Because if you do something unwise, you'll lose your coins.  Even now there are still people losing large sums because some exchange got hacked and they left their coins there as if it was a bank, because old habits die hard.  It's fair to say that in future, understanding the technology won't be as important, but at the moment we're not there yet.

[countryfree]

What if someone asks you, "How is it possible that bitcoin (the currency) has no central issuer?". Would you be able to answer that without doing a little bit of research?

I wonder how many people out there have gotten as far as wondering where money comes from and who's running it. I would've thought it's just 'there' for many of them.

This is it. BTC needs to reach that same level when people do not question it. On every dollar bill, there's someone's picture, with his name below. You look at him the first time you have the bill in your hand, and then you forget who he is, what he did and why he's there. You just don't care. There's that Federal Reserve somewhere out there printing the bills, and there's that blockchain thing keeping track of all transactions. There's fish in the ocean, too.

[H.W.Z]

I recall watching a video some time ago (but sadly can't find it again to post now), where a guy was giving a practical demonstration of some sort of bitcoin debit card.  He said during the interview something along the lines that the hardcore fans like us often do get a little too caught up in trying to explain the tech before we've shown people why they should actually care.  And what we should be focusing on is making the tech easier to use so that we can simply show people the benefits rather than trying to explain it all with complicated jargon.  I felt it rang true in one sense, but at the same time, we're still not quite at the stage where Bitcoin is ready for everyone. 

If you want to use Bitcoin right now, it is important that you have a reasonable understanding of how it works and what not to do with it.  Because if you do something unwise, you'll lose your coins.  Even now there are still people losing large sums because some exchange got hacked and they left their coins there as if it was a bank, because old habits die hard.  It's fair to say that in future, understanding the technology won't be as important, but at the moment we're not there yet.

Yes, the adoption rate should reach at a certain level when many ppl, like nerd,geek, elite etc are talking and using it. The average Joe will are keen to use it no care about the underlying technology.

[Miracal]

I think the majority of ppl just want something that will save the expense,want secure and easy use.

[Marc B McCurdy]

Hello,

I agree with you that there are not many people who know what exactly is a Bitcoin and how it is being processed for making payments. Few days back, even I was among those people. One day while searching about the Bitcoin information i came across a webpage http://www.cryptextechnologies.com/bitcoin/ here i got to know how bitcoin exchange take place.   

[Kprawn]

I do not explain a lot in the beginning... I just tell them that it's a NEW payment system, where there are NO 3rd party like a Bank or PayPal taking HUGE fees. A transaction directly between two people. 

The NO Banks and Nearly NO fees normally take care of all the questions they want to ask about How it works... The next question is ussually... How do I get Bitcoins... and that is where people start to struggle.

There are a few people who wants to know more... {For that I normally direct them to resources on the internet ...Youtube videos are the best}

[kpitti]

Unless there is a real reason for usage it will be difficult to explain why to jump to it and use it. As payment instrument there is only possibility that Bitcoin will be accepted by merchands and shops worldwide. This will be very good reason for acceptance of people without focus on what technology is behind. How many people is using Credit cards and how many of them understand how it works?

[foxkyu]

Met a guy a few days ago, he told me he heard about BTC but he didn't quite understand how it worked. I guess I could have tried to explain (though, I'm hardly qualified for doing this) but I chose not too. Why explaining? Do people need to understand BTC to use it? I don't think so.

This very day, millions of people have been using a microwave oven, but I bet only a handful actually knows how this appliance works. I've read an article telling that millions of Americans are using Viagra. Everybody knows what it does, but who knows how it works? Same thing for computers or cars, most people don't know how they work, and they just don't care.

From now on, I propose we stop trying explaining how BTC works to people discovering it. The nerds already know about it, but to the general public, technology is not important. It's what you can do with technology which matters.

I shall just say that BTC is a new electronic currency, independent from all governments, which you can transfer safely anywhere and anytime fast and cheap.

i'm quite agree with you. when i try to explain bitcoin it's very hard to explain to my friends. especially about technically how bitcoin works.
and finally i figure it out that the easiest way to explain bitcoin to my friends is the benefit about using bitcoin rather than explain how bitcoin works.

[Dr. Pepper]

Unless there is a real reason for usage it will be difficult to explain why to jump to it and use it. As payment instrument there is only possibility that Bitcoin will be accepted by merchands and shops worldwide. This will be very good reason for acceptance of people without focus on what technology is behind. How many people is using Credit cards and how many of them understand how it works?

I think there are plenty of real reasons to use it, though it's more of an underground niche of geeks and libertarians at the moment (and also capitalists looking to make a profit) though I think it will slowly break into the mainstream. I think people will flock to it when companies like Paypal and Visa etc ban its use on certain websites like file sharing sites and adult content (paypal wont work with most adult sites for instance).

[countryfree]

Met a guy a few days ago, he told me he heard about BTC but he didn't quite understand how it worked. I guess I could have tried to explain (though, I'm hardly qualified for doing this) but I chose not too. Why explaining? Do people need to understand BTC to use it? I don't think so.

This very day, millions of people have been using a microwave oven, but I bet only a handful actually knows how this appliance works. I've read an article telling that millions of Americans are using Viagra. Everybody knows what it does, but who knows how it works? Same thing for computers or cars, most people don't know how they work, and they just don't care.

From now on, I propose we stop trying explaining how BTC works to people discovering it. The nerds already know about it, but to the general public, technology is not important. It's what you can do with technology which matters.

I shall just say that BTC is a new electronic currency, independent from all governments, which you can transfer safely anywhere and anytime fast and cheap.

i'm quite agree with you. when i try to explain bitcoin it's very hard to explain to my friends. especially about technically how bitcoin works.
and finally i figure it out that the easiest way to explain bitcoin to my friends is the benefit about using bitcoin rather than explain how bitcoin works.

Good, that's the way it should be. After all, when you learn to drive, nobody' teaching you how an engine works.

[ensurance982]

This is very interesting. Well, the technology actually *is* very very very important. But not for the common person using it, that's it. Many people claim that the Blockchain is the only useful thing about Bitcoin, which I don't agree with, either - the Blockchain needs to have an incentive to be mined by people - otherwise it isn't secure. The tokens (Bitcoin) need to have a value.