My mother is 70 ...

[Bamelin]

We talked about bitcoin today on the phone.  She asked me if she gave me 30 dollars if I could invest it for her.  I explained the volility of the coin that we could go from 100 to zero just like that.  She still wants to put in 30.

That tells me while we may not be mainstream yet, we are getting there.

[Iranus]

Sounds bad.  People very casually investing without really contemplating that much about it (just hearing about it on the phone and presumably hearing about previous prices) and not even learning how to invest themselves suggest that they have no idea what they're doing.

People also commonly say that a stock or asset is in a bubble when your grandmother is buying it.  The age range that they're talking about is people who are about 70, especially lay people.

That tells me while we may not be mainstream yet, we are getting there.

What's this obsession that people have about "going mainstream"?  Can't it just be what it is, an experiment in cryptography, and then find out what it becomes used for?  Especially when the idea of "going mainstream" is just putting money in it, not actually doing anything with it.

[shillberting]

Well more people are getting to know about bitcoin but it seems people dont care to learn about what it is but rather just want to make a quick buck. If that isnt the mainstream coming in, I dont know what is. But it is still

the beginning I think give it 1-2 years we will see true mainstream adoption by then!

[HelloGarci]

My mother's 50, and she doesn't like Bitcoin.

[gadman2]

For 30$ to become 100$, at current price, would need bitcoin going to near 20000$.

[migueltiu]

That's quite depressing seeing her with no interest in learning the ways of bitcoin. Nevertheless, considering her age would be understandable. I talked to my mother at first regarding investing in bitcoins and she didnt hesitate to tell me that I shouldn't due to the scams and hacks that happen nowadays. It seems that more people prefer normal investing in stocks; thing that have been tried and tested that wouldn't result to a scam. I still love to hear and read about bitcoins still though, since this seems to be interesting something that was once $7 became $600 in 4 years.

That being said, Bitcoin is still on the verge of rising through the markets and being known to everyone. Maybe some day, bitcoin would be the main currency of individuals.

[CryptosapienZA]

We talked about bitcoin today on the phone.  She asked me if she gave me 30 dollars if I could invest it for her.  I explained the volility of the coin that we could go from 100 to zero just like that.  She still wants to put in 30.

That tells me while we may not be mainstream yet, we are getting there.

Way to go mom. I commend her for even wanting to try out this Bitcoin thing. My friends are half her age and they won't even listen to me. Its so frustrating sometimes. But hey, I have tried. I used to be that annoying friend who's always talking about bitcoin. Now I don't even talk about it anymore. I can't wait to drive a Lamborghini (joke). Maybe they will listen.

[zikabra]

We talked about bitcoin today on the phone.  She asked me if she gave me 30 dollars if I could invest it for her.  I explained the volility of the coin that we could go from 100 to zero just like that.  She still wants to put in 30.

That tells me while we may not be mainstream yet, we are getting there.

Tech part: I've been trying to explain to my parents for last 2 years what bitcoin is, how to use it and for what to use it. They understand it only partially because they are also older people and they believe in touchable papers, new technologies are harder for them to understand.

Economic part: I was doing my regular "price updates" telling them that bitcoin is worth 6300$ and guess what? They told me there is something seriously wrong with bitcoin and I could get burned.

[Dummsaus]

We talked about bitcoin today on the phone.  She asked me if she gave me 30 dollars if I could invest it for her.  I explained the volility of the coin that we could go from 100 to zero just like that.  She still wants to put in 30.

That tells me while we may not be mainstream yet, we are getting there.

Tech part: I've been trying to explain to my parents for last 2 years what bitcoin is, how to use it and for what to use it. They understand it only partially because they are also older people and they believe in touchable papers, new technologies are harder for them to understand.

Economic part: I was doing my regular "price updates" telling them that bitcoin is worth 6300$ and guess what? They told me there is something seriously wrong with bitcoin and I could get burned.

Did you also tell them that your girlfriend is enjoying your golden dick?

[Cormoran]

The day there's no one still sitting on the sidelines, wondering whether they should invest in Bitcoin or hold off for a pullback, is the day we should all sell because there's nowhere left to go but down. Most older people are skeptical of it, and rightly so; they've all seen plenty of asset bubbles before, and seen people try to pick themselves up from the wreckage left behind. We still don't know if this is a bubble or not, really... it's showing all the signs of it, in terms of the speed of growth and the euphoria of some of the participants, but as a currency it could of course be a different story. Gold is also largely held up by psychology rather than any valuable use cases or economic moat, but it's been there for thousands of years and is now considered one of the least risky investments rather than the most. When people first started digging shiny rocks out of the ground and making ornaments from them rather than throwing them at each other, I doubt any of them considered the investment value, and the first ones to start accepting it for food, water and other basic necessities were seen as absolute fools - just like, once upon a time, a pizza shop was seen as foolish for accepting 10,000 bitcoins instead of "real money."

[Cloud27]

Your mother of 70 asked for your help to make an investment for her because I assume that your mother is not a techy person. Bitcoin will become a highly technical process for a person doesn't expose on the internet with topic in business, investment or any money making internet concept. Good for her, she's got nothing to lose it is your 30 dollars. For me, I will never hurt the feeling of a 70 old loving mother.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

30 USD is barely worth it, tell her to spend it playing bingo or whatever it is old people do.

[Fappanu]

My mother's 50, and she doesn't like Bitcoin.

My mom is 57 and I think bitcoin is quite hard for her to understand. Though I believe that my mom is smart enough to understand such things, I think that she has a lot of things to do rather that surfing the internet as often as I do. If we're on the same age I believe that she is more responsible than I am right now.

[leex1528]

I have talked with several older people who are not in technology at all.  They have no interest in Bitcoin and believe it to be a complete waste of time.  We aren't going to change them either, so if Bitcoin sticks around for 30-50 years we could possible see it go mainstream, more than likely it will never be the dominant currency because of how it works. 

There are way too many in this world who don't have access to computers/technology and want nothing to do with it.  They will never use Bitcoin.

[Squidoogeek]

If it was me, I'd remind her to make sure that she's comfortable with possibly losing $30 and tell her that you'll buy it from her at the current market rate if she ever want to sell, and then send her $30 worth of Bitcoin out of my own wallet. That way, nobody has to mess with the exchange fees and she gets $30 worth of Bitcoin.

And for the people saying that old people don't get Bitcoin, I'd just say that there are plenty of young people who don't get Bitcoin and wouldn't give a rip if there was a way to make Bitcoin sexy and cool to the non-tech savvy people.

[Rakabel619]

hello, my brother is 5 years old and wondered if he can invest his bitcoin grant-in-aid to make a profit

[dali_masmoudi]

It is really good that your grand mother understood what Bitcoin is and what is its importance and the best that she decided to invest it it.
We should keep oldies updated of the new technology because maybe they can have a new ideas that teenagers Don't event have in mind. So it is very important to invlove them in a part in our life.

[Raimy]

Just think if when she was 64 she invested that same $30 in bitcoin, she would be rather well off right about now with 100 bitcoins. So hard to say what another 6 years will bring, maybe that $30 investment today will still surprise us.

[MiningSensei]

I dont understand why there are some people who are investing in projects that they dont even know how do they work. It is just like that "classic family" with a stable job who hires an investor to invest their money on Stocks, bonds, etc.. and they dont know in which instruments is he investing the money in.
Why dont you tell her how does it works? and yes, tell him that with $30 she can not do anything, it would be better if she use that money for buying some stuff instead of hopping to see those $30 turned in $10000 in a few years.

[hahahafr]

It is very sad to hear that he doesnt want to learn about bitcoin and how does it works, but it is cute to hear that an old woman is interested in buying some bitcoins, it is not a big amount of money, but probably if she likes it he will invest more, just like it happened to all of those who bought bitcoin before.
I invested $300 at the beggining, and then i putted more than $2500 on my balance, i still remember those days.
But yes, teach her a little bit more, because she is so ignorant right now.