How to explain BTC to family members？

[Sall-Mo]

I explained to my family that BTC is a currency, and my father said, "just like the dollar?"

[zoata87]

Tell them it's not like dollar, there's no owner, no company, and the network is made up of millions of people. The network is currently 300 times more powerful than the top 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world combined.
Tell them that Bitcoin is not a stock, it's simply an alternative to a 100-year-old obsolete financial system.
Tell them that Bitcoin is a logical evolution stage for a financial system.
Tell them to do some research for themselves and watch youtube videos

[TryNinja]

Make them watch these videos:

The one video every beginner without any technical knowledge MUST watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2en3nHxA4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4g1XFU8Gto
Then, if you want a more technical video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JGQXCTe3c

And if they have the time (the video is 37 min long) and are really interested in learning about Bitcoin, this is one of the best "introduction to Bitcoin" videos I have ever seen (made by aantonop): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1si5ZWLgy0

[Dudeperfect]

The best way I know to explain Bitcoin to a new person is to demonstrate the process of a transaction. The links quoted by TryNinja would help your family members to learn about it and when they will read and watch the theoretical part, help them to create a free web wallet and send few satoshis to them and ask them to return on your address. Trying their hands on it with flexible methods like web wallet platforms will attract them towards Bitcoin and to they will start learning about it further. Please do not lie about anything.

[Velkro]

I explained to my family that BTC is a currency, and my father said, "just like the dollar?"

If you want to explain something u must have elementary knowledge about it.
Then you can create short version to explain it. For example Bitcoin is store of value like gold. Just easier to move and keep.

[mayo2u]

I explained to my family that BTC is a currency, and my father said, "just like the dollar?"

In one sense it is like the dollar; in another it's like gold.

It is like the dollar but there isn't a central reserve bank nor is there a government deciding policy; nor are there banks deciding the validity of transactions. "So how does it work?"

There is a ledger of transactions - a public ledger of all transactions that have ever taken place. Groups of transactions are added to this ledger every 10 minutes.

Math (cryptography) keeps the process safe.

If they're interested in how transactions are added to blocks; how blocks are considered to be valid - well now you're into technical discussions. If you don't have a grasp you can watch youtube videos with your family or side step it by asking how a US dollar is created: how is the paper chosen, the ink added, etc...

[Sall-Mo]

Make them watch these videos:

The one video every beginner without any technical knowledge MUST watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2en3nHxA4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4g1XFU8Gto
Then, if you want a more technical video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JGQXCTe3c

And if they have the time (the video is 37 min long) and are really interested in learning about Bitcoin, this is one of the best "introduction to Bitcoin" videos I have ever seen (made by aantonop): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1si5ZWLgy0

Thank you. I think my family will be interested in BTC after watching video

[btsjimin]

I explained in a way that he would not ignore what I was saying by choosing the right time and explaining them properly so that they could easily understand it.

[EvaGC]

Tell them it's not like dollar, there's no owner, no company, and the network is made up of millions of people. The network is currently 300 times more powerful than the top 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world combined.
Tell them that Bitcoin is not a stock, it's simply an alternative to a 100-year-old obsolete financial system.
Tell them that Bitcoin is a logical evolution stage for a financial system.
Tell them to do some research for themselves and watch youtube videos

Now replace "Bitcoin" with "cryptocurrencies" and you'll be explaining the future

[InnMind.com]

Here is a good video that explains everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzjtvt77mgc&t=96s


And here is a funny but good article on how to hold a conversation about bitcoin
https://cointelegraph.com/news/can-you-hold-a-crypto-conversation

Good luck!

[HabBear]

I explained to my family that BTC is a currency, and my father said, "just like the dollar?"

Contrary to what others are saying, i think you should respond "Yes! Just like the dollar, but better!"

Better because:

• There is no single person, entity or government that reigns control over the currency
• Money supply cannot be inflated, therefore the value of the currency is retained over time, not eroded; E.g., is cheaper today to manufacture a car (with globalization and mass manufacturing and such), why are cars more expensive today than 20 or 50 years ago? Because the spending power of our fiat currency has gone down
• The transaction network (blockchain) is decentralized around the globe, meaning that no country or single attack can bring it down
• Bitcoin is still trying to figure out what it is, it's a currency, but it's also being used as an asset; Ultimately the market will determine what Bitcoin's best use is...but one thing is for sure, it's here to stay!

Let us know how it goes!

[legend018]

In my opinion, cryptocurrency is too technical for a lot of people. I have started talking about it to some people and there eyes glaze over or they show that they are not interested or there attention span isn't that great so after a sentence or two there not really listening. I was able to explain it to one person over dinner and they seemed interested in hearing about it, but showed no interest in wanting to get involved or to learn more.  In some ways, I almost feel like I shouldn't talk about it, at least not investing discussions.  I think you can talk about blockchain in general and the future possibilities and that could be an interesting subject in itself without getting into BTC.   Investing in it is risky and some people just kind of give you that "What are you getting yourself into" looks.  I don't know if others experience these kinds of reactions.

[TriggerHappyCoin]

Tell them to make $100 will cost the gouvernement $0,06 with no restrictions to full throttle.

To make a bitcoin will cost round $3000, with limits.

No tempering by goverment, no inflation, 100% secure due to largest CPU power in the world, a revolution!

[coinlocket$]

It's really hard to explain but depends how much open mind they are, You can just say it's a currancy that can change the world we know and right after you can show the value graph from early stage to almost 20k value. After that they will be interest and you can talk about details.

[bboeaston]

In a nutshell, Cryptocurrency is considered by most to be property, more then money.

It is obtained either by purchasing it outright with money just like you would buy any other kind of property, or it can be obtained by "work" your computer(s) perform.  Much in the same way humans have jobs that they "work" at to earn money, the computers have calculations that they perform (called mining) to earn the cryptocurrency.  The harder and faster the computer works, the more crypto it will earn(mine).

Crypto is converted to "real" money by the owner listing it on a website and selling it for a price (much like property).

As time goes on, more computers mine it, more people own it, the value goes up.  That is where the speculation comes into play, just like in stocks.  There are multiple cryptos out there and the speculation is which one will advance it's value sooner or higher then the next.

[BTCedgar]

Facing the same problem, as in you're teaching your family member about bitcoins as well? Generally, that's not a bad idea if you're just 'teaching' them about cryptocurrency or bitcoin in general. However, if you're forcing bitcoin on them, that's a different story. If you're going to be explaining what bitcoin is, make sure that they know that it can be profitable because I know most people now are trying to find the easiest way to make money.

[ananas99]

I explained to my family that BTC is a currency, and my father said, "just like the dollar?"

When he understands that this is a conventional electronic currency and not as a dollar he will develop. because they can not attract electronic money, only those that are in the hands and which you can pay off at once.

[samuel999]

I hope you have better success than I did. It’s now come to a point when I bring the coin up in front of family they all rolled her eyes and looked back down at their phones ha ha. It’s only a matter of Time before they’ll see it on the news then start questioning what it really is

[qq1041414104]

Thank you very much for your answer, it is very useful to me, I recently also troubles how to introduce BTC to my family, I think I know how to do it, thank you!

[iamMhew]

start to explain with proof for more manifestation, because it is difficult to prove to our family how its really works with out proof. so before you explain it onto your family, study a lot more things first all about bitcoin, then after you learned a lot of things about bitcoin you can explain it clearly into each member of your family to fully understand what bitcoin is.