The "I cannot afford 1 BTC"-Problem

[Velkro]

"But since it is so expensive (2000-3000$), how can I afford 1 BTC?"

Answer is simple:
1. Take loan
2. Sell ur car
3. Sell ur house
4. Sell ur kidney

There you go u have whole BTC.
There are millions of people with no idea what they are doing in financial world. You cannot educate them all :/

[mayax]

Nothing extra could be done in this matter except creating awareness among the people that bitcoin is further divisible into 8 units called satoshis.So no need to get worried about the high price of bitcoin.Just they could even buy 0.00000001 btc which is one satoshi.Even i faced the same problem with my friends when i introduced them bitcoins.Then i explained them that they could even buy 0.1 btc or 0.01 btc and then they got convinced.

why would you buy 0.1? what for? trading? you would better spend  time with some girls instead  

how would you buy 0.1 BTC?  bank wire? the bank wire fee is more than the amount you send.

so, it's useless to buy few BTC cents

[aardvark15]

Hi everyone,

I have a question concerning the current high value of a BTC. I talk a lot with friends who don't know much about BTC and try to convince them to buy some too.

When I tell them about it, the same question which always comes up is:

"But since it is so expensive (2000-3000$), how can I afford 1 BTC?"

I always tell them that it is possible to buy 0.5 BTC or even 0.001 BTC. But I think this is a major problem which gets worse with the price rising even higher.

So here is my question:

Are there any plans on changing BTC to make it "look more affordable"? Perhaps introduce something like mBTC (worth 0.001 BTC / 1 BTC = 1000 mBTC) so that people have a better feeling buying something, which is not a number behind a zero (e.g. 0.025).

I don't want it to become something like a "discount looking currency". But it's a psychological problem, that people don't like to buy only a part of something or (as in this case) often don't know that they can buy less than 1 BTC.

To say "Well, the people who don't know better shouldn't buy anyway" seems to be the wrong approach on the way to mass adaption.

My advice is to ask them how much money they are willing to invest in Bitcoins. If they say $500, then tell them they can buy $500 worth of Bitcoins which is currently about 0.2 Bitcoins. Regardless of how small that seem, that 0.2 Bitcoins may be worth $1000 in a couple of years. They could double their money in a few years, so they shouldn't get caught up in buying 1 Bitcoin. The other thing you can tell them is that the longer they wait to buy, the less they are going to be able to buy (unless they time a buy in a correction).

[chocolah29]

"But since it is so expensive (2000-3000$), how can I afford 1 BTC?"

Answer is simple:
1. Take loan
2. Sell ur car
3. Sell ur house
4. Sell ur kidney

There you go u have whole BTC.
There are millions of people with no idea what they are doing in financial world. You cannot educate them all :/

Yes you can't educate them all and when you just like always convincing them hard to invest bitcoin they'll hear you like a scammer
Let them the one who approach you that they want to learn or invest bitcoin because when you force them to this and they'll just end up to nothing you're the one they will blame. So leave them alone and be more rich.

[junan1]

To say "Well, the people who don't know better shouldn't buy anyway" seems to be the wrong approach on the way to mass adaption.

But people shouldn't be buying bitcoins without having a reasonable understanding of it.  Bitcoin is still effectively an experiment and, if it continues to succeed, will take decades to mature.

I dislike the huge, de-facto standard unit but if we adopt smaller units we should do so because it makes Bitcoin easier to use, not so that we can trick people into buying.  If anything, discouraging such buying is the one redeeming feature of the unit.  It's an opportunity to explain the bounded supply, the importance of it, and discuss debasement, money printing, and inflation versus deflation.

People shouldn't need to study economics to use money, but I wouldn't recommend uncommon stores of value to people with no interest in economics just as I wouldn't recommend uncommon operating systems to people with no interest in computers.

[futile-resistance]

Will earning $2500 a problem for anyone ? Will you buy your wedding ring for one full ounce of gold or some fractions of ounce ? Bitcoin is a currency like PayPal or some other foreign currency, you may go buying it (for what ever prices ) and will spend it (for same value) to find the benefits of using BTC payments which may not available with other payment systems. Now tell me why we need to worry about price levels of bitcoins ?

I agree with you, mate. Bitcoins are just another digital currency that’s offering world better opportunity of exchanging money as compared to fiat. Just like paper money, it’s a mode of buying and selling things. Bitcoins are digital sound money that’s bringing people closer from all over the world. Yes! We need not to worry about the value of bitcoins even if they dump. All know that soon the prices recover.

[LouVandetta]

It is a bit hard when it comes to convincing people to use/buy bitcoin.
Also, those mindset is typical actually.

First ask them, how much money they are willing to invest?
We could just started from a really small amount. Tell them try to use a small amount first,
let them understand how the market goes, the prices and how to get profit from it.

[Yakamoto]

Hi everyone,

I have a question concerning the current high value of a BTC. I talk a lot with friends who don't know much about BTC and try to convince them to buy some too.

When I tell them about it, the same question which always comes up is:

"But since it is so expensive (2000-3000$), how can I afford 1 BTC?"

I always tell them that it is possible to buy 0.5 BTC or even 0.001 BTC. But I think this is a major problem which gets worse with the price rising even higher.

So here is my question:

Are there any plans on changing BTC to make it "look more affordable"? Perhaps introduce something like mBTC (worth 0.001 BTC / 1 BTC = 1000 mBTC) so that people have a better feeling buying something, which is not a number behind a zero (e.g. 0.025).

I don't want it to become something like a "discount looking currency". But it's a psychological problem, that people don't like to buy only a part of something or (as in this case) often don't know that they can buy less than 1 BTC.

To say "Well, the people who don't know better shouldn't buy anyway" seems to be the wrong approach on the way to mass adaption.

People talked about this back in 2014 and the overall answer was that we can show it in different denominations but overall it really doesn't matter and there's no point trying to change it because it opens up a whole new can of worms, compared to what it would "fix". If people don't understand that Bitcoin is divisible, and highly divisible, and they don't have to buy a whole Bitcoin, then they probably shouldn't be getting invested in the crypto at all. They should have a better understanding before anything is pushed through.

[Doms]

Expensive is a relative word. What's expensive for others might just be peanuts for some.  And if we talk about investments, it is usually the ones who have money to spare that are able to afford to buy bitcoins even at such a high price. The lower income people can still invest by buying in fractions and if they are patient enough, one whole bitcoin isn't too hard to achieve.

[mayax]

Expensive is a relative word. What's expensive for others might just be peanuts for some.  And if we talk about investments, it is usually the ones who have money to spare that are able to afford to buy bitcoins even at such a high price. The lower income people can still invest by buying in fractions and if they are patient enough, one whole bitcoin isn't too hard to achieve.

patient enough? years?  BTC won't exists as it is in years and it's a high risk investment. this should be a fast return investment. how long will someone earn if he invest 200 usd today? LOL

to invest 200 usd worth of BTC, he has to send a bank wire(fee around of 40 usd) and then, IF he make any profit, he will have to pay another wire fee for withdrawal.

[shamzblueworld]

There are already many small units for bitcoin, I think in your problem, you can start to introduce bitcoin with mBTC unit, or actually convince them to invest in dollars and not worry about how much BTC they are getting for their investment initially.
As if they invest $100, you can sell them the idea that in very short time, their investment can grow to $120 or even higher.
So I think its just about how do you sell it, bitcoin does not have to change for it.

[vok-wok_hok]

Bitcoin is not so expensive for those who know how to make good money. To begin with, people need to learn how to earn well in their own currency, and then move on to the crypto currency for a while.

[TrumpD]

You can simply quote them the price in smaller units. The most commonly used units of bitcoin are expressed in decimal exponents such as BTC ("bitcoins"), mBTC ("millibitcoins") and μBTC ("bits"). Its not hard to explain, just use dollars and cents as an example, eventually you will break through.

[Decoded]

I understand where you're coming from, and I experience this alot. People are simply stunned and in awe, when I tell them Bitcoin is $2.7k apiece. It just makes it deal near impossible to get one.

But just like how one Troy ounce of gold is $2.1k, one Bitcoin is just a unit of measurement. It should have no effect on it's users, but yet it does, because it is the default measurement and barely any services will show your balance to you in bits (or mbtc, or ubtc...).

I think it would be wise to change the default measurement by multiplying every single output by 100, making a total of 21 billion Bitcoin. This would mean that one Bitcoin would be $2.7.

Still the same value, just the default has been shifted up.

[maku]

When I am discussion bitocin with my friends and people I meet occasionally and try to convince that BTC is something to invest into, this topic "how I can afford 1 BTC"  is always present.
From my experience, I can tell you that the best answer which can motivate people to buy bitcoin is telling them about bitcoin history and price evolution.
You need to assure them that current $2000-$3000 price is not the end of the read here and bitcoin will be much more expensive in the future, by no buying BTC they would miss a serious opportunity.

[Smarty14392]

The same problem occurs with many people here especially newbie. Even i didnt bought 1 BTC when i was a noob. To start with, we can always prefer small amounts like you mentioned 0.5 or even 0.0001. You canstart with low and once you have enough to spent on 1 btc, you can invest it. All the earning activities like trading, gambling, etc can be done with small amount bitcoins and it dosent really have any restriction to spend atlease 1 BTC.

[Manuj]

I know there are so many people who cannot afford to buy even 1 BTC. I myself cannot buy 1 BTC. There are also those that can buy but are afraid.
I think buying BTC right now is expensive but it will get more expensive soon so better buy now. I am buying, but less than 1 BTC.

[BitcoinPC]

Yeah, bitcoin is too much expensive, now it is out of our budget to buy 1 Bitcoin. But we could try to earn and i prefer to you, should try altcoin trading, it definitely help you to earn bitcoin in a good source. Actually, now you have late because in the previous year, bitcoin has no highest price. Also it is really hard to buy in the coming years, because everyday bitcoin price is going to high. 

[Cocobrayy]

If I think 1 mbtc is also difficult, what else does 1 btc take long to achieve if I have the capital I want to buy when the btc price goes down and I will resell it when btc goes up so continuously up to 1 btc even if it can be more

[CyberKuro]

Hi everyone,

I have a question concerning the current high value of a BTC. I talk a lot with friends who don't know much about BTC and try to convince them to buy some too.

When I tell them about it, the same question which always comes up is:

"But since it is so expensive (2000-3000$), how can I afford 1 BTC?"

I always tell them that it is possible to buy 0.5 BTC or even 0.001 BTC. But I think this is a major problem which gets worse with the price rising even higher.

So here is my question:

Are there any plans on changing BTC to make it "look more affordable"? Perhaps introduce something like mBTC (worth 0.001 BTC / 1 BTC = 1000 mBTC) so that people have a better feeling buying something, which is not a number behind a zero (e.g. 0.025).

I don't want it to become something like a "discount looking currency". But it's a psychological problem, that people don't like to buy only a part of something or (as in this case) often don't know that they can buy less than 1 BTC.

To say "Well, the people who don't know better shouldn't buy anyway" seems to be the wrong approach on the way to mass adaption.

mBTC, uBTC, BITS, Satoshi, and a whole lot of other stuff already exist. you can read more about it here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Units

and most wallets already have the option to switch between these popular units that i named so you can see what you are most comfortable with.

Consider as answered, clearly about "discount looking currency" as you want, it has been stated since long time ago
The most famous units are:
- BTC       : 1
- mBTC    : 1,000
- uBTC     : 1,000,000
- satoshi  : 100,000,000
Even though it seems bigger but its value still the same, after they are figure it out about bitcoin units.
What's matter is whether they know about the advantages of bitcoin, purchase BTC1 at rate $2750 indeed require big amount of money, but as long as they know the value keep growing over time, then it shouldn't be problem anymore.