My Relatives' "criticism" about BTC, and other AltCoins.

[flippyfeet]

Hey All,

Please note that these are not my criticism, they are my Relatives' and I need better answers than my own.  Well... roll the questions  !

1.  Mining AltCoins?  Isn't that illegal, like printing counterfeit money?
Please help with this one.  My explanation was that mining is just like mining in real life, and BitCoin is just virtual gold.  This brings us to the next question.

2. Bitcoin (and altcoins) are just code?  What value do they have?
Ofc I have said paper is just paper, and besides it's use in tech, gold really has no value either, it's just shiny, so there really is no difference.

The next one happened when I was talking about new AltCoins, and I was talking about making ones for a niche...
3. OMG!  Your trying to counterfeit money!  
I explained that a cryptocurrency has no value except what people are willing to pay for it, like a stock.  Still they do not understand.

I just want a clear rebuttal to these points.  Thank You.

[Bono]

Hey All,

Please note that these are not my criticism, they are my Relatives' and I need better answers than my own.  Well... roll the questions  !

1.  Mining AltCoins?  Isn't that illegal, like printing counterfeit money?
Please help with this one.  My explanation was that mining is just like mining in real life, and BitCoin is just virtual gold.  This brings us to the next question.

2. Bitcoin (and altcoins) are just code?  What value do they have?
Ofc I have said paper is just paper, and besides it's use in tech, gold really has no value either, it's just shiny, so there really is no difference.

The next one happened when I was talking about new AltCoins, and I was talking about making ones for a niche...
3. OMG!  Your trying to counterfeit money!  
I explained that a cryptocurrency has no value except what people are willing to pay for it, like a stock.  Still they do not understand.

I just want a clear rebuttal to these points.  Thank You.

1) Bitcoin to my knowledge is not "patented" and it certainly isn't regulated by any large body... and even if it were those things, most Altcoins differ from BTC in one or more subtle ways. It's not stealing and it's not printing free money. Mining is how every cryptocurrency is spread. The creators of the currency WANT you to mine it.

2) There is no way to explain it more simply than you already have. People value things for reasons. Derp. BTC just happens to be very fast, free of sales tax, secure and anonymous. People who are fed up with banks like that.

3) If mining BTC is working for dollars, then mining LTC and Doge is working for quarters and pennies.


Some people were not meant to BTC

[e521]

1) bitcoin is opensource
2) the real value is in the blockchain
3) no idea how to reply, isn't the same as 1 :-)

[flippyfeet]

Sorry, when I mean making one for a niche, I meant creating one.

And yes Bono, I guess Some people were not meant to BTC

[sibilant_doge]

Probably the best explanation for the computer illiterate you can give would be as follows.

Say a company has a special forum, where when you post messages or reviews you can get points, which can give you discounts with this company. You, as a forum poster are allowed to trade these forum points to other posters on the forum. Really it's just like trading coupons. As more companies accept these coupons, they become more valuable, because more people want them, but there are only a certain number that will ever be issued under a specific brand. From there, someone has to design a new catchy coupon that all the companies can get behind. _{BTC ~ 1C7zzvdAtevGZ5jZj9UDM9zSqKZqx8pzyP}

[c789]

I think many of us had a similar experience over the holidays. Some of my relatives asked me about BTC since they knew I was into it and they had heard of it recently (that alone is good news!). I pointed out the favorable Bank of America report, Overstock's upcoming acceptance, the fast rebound from Silk Road, the US Senate's favorable hearing (no law or regulation was passed or rejected...they simply had a favorable hearing on Bitcoin), and several other significant recent events.  They yawned

[Digigami]

1.  Mining AltCoins?  Isn't that illegal, like printing counterfeit money?

2. Bitcoin (and altcoins) are just code?  What value do they have?

3. OMG!  Your trying to counterfeit money!  

1 & 3 are somewhat the same, and I have only one basic answer..

To counterfeit is to try and reproduce something already known.. If you get a printing press, and try running off a stack of USD and attempt to pass them as legit, that is counterfeiting.. Creating your own currency is not the same and is fairly regular practice.. For simplest comparison, say it's no different then a credit card company issuing air miles credits. They are a way of accounting someone's stake, and are accepted in return for goods or services just like cash and are perfectly legal. Crypto just takes it a step further, removing a centralized issuer and giving everyone the opportunity to participate in distribution and transaction clearing between parties.

2, yes just code.. but very powerful. Most people who do not understand crypto currencies have a reasonable grasp of what inflation in normal currencies means. Once you have explained point 1, and they are on board with the idea that it is a legal way to hold and transact value, you can then explain how by design BTC (alt's can be different in this way, so I'll stick to BTC) can be used as a hedge against fiat currency inflation. Which in many peoples minds is one thing that contributes to why this simple code carries significant value.

Kinda basic ideas, but hopefully that helps some..

[abstractednerve]

Hey All,

Please note that these are not my criticism, they are my Relatives' and I need better answers than my own.  Well... roll the questions  !

1.  Mining AltCoins?  Isn't that illegal, like printing counterfeit money?
Please help with this one.  My explanation was that mining is just like mining in real life, and BitCoin is just virtual gold.  This brings us to the next question.

When you mine, you arnt actually printing money, you are being rewarded for confirming network transactions. Unlike counterfiting, everyone is aware that you have confirmed a transaction and is notified via the publicly shared ledger. This is also how currency units are released by the network. The software was released with a finite amount of currency units locked in the network, as you do work you unlock
some of the coins.

2. Bitcoin (and altcoins) are just code?  What value do they have?
Ofc I have said paper is just paper, and besides it's use in tech, gold really has no value either, it's just shiny, so there really is no difference.

They get value based on the amount of computational power one takes to unlock the coins and what others are willing to pay for them, just like anything else of value.

The next one happened when I was talking about new AltCoins, and I was talking about making ones for a niche...
3. OMG!  You're trying to counterfeit money!  

Bitcoin is opensource so anyone can make any variation that they want giving people the freedom to choose what they consider money.

[Ibian]

Some people just don't want to understand. Like my sisters banker boyfriend. The best way to sell bitcoin is probably to explain in simple terms what it is and what it's good for. Maybe something like this:

Bitcoin is electronic gold coins with a built in transfer protocol that can't be counterfeited. Keep it simple and if they show interest fill in more details later (decentralization and what it means, strength of the network, unhackable as long as you pick a strong password etc etc).

So what's it good for, huh smart guy? Why should I spend a lot of money on a few lines of code? Because this code does some very specific things. You can use it as a store of value, similar to gold, million dollar paintings and such. You can use it to buy stuff from stores that accept it, both online and in physical locations. You can transfer any amount to anywhere in the world in seconds (as opposed to days via banking) and with fees that are so small as to be meaningless (this alone already earns money for anyone who crosses borders on occasion). You can buy it as an investment with a yearly 1000% ROI or higher.

Okay but it can't keep increasing in price forever. How high can it go? It can go as high as the combined value of gold, worldwide fiat and paypal combined. As long as you know people who don't use it the price will keep increasing.

I have been having decent results with this, but still working out the details. The key is to get people to want it, so pick whatever angle is most likely to work. Just be sure to be honest about it.

[Sniperdude]

mining alt coins and saying they are counterfiet is like trying to trade monopoly money for real money. Only works if someone wants to do the trade

[infinitybo]

@Flippyfeet  Your "relatives" are interesting however you don't need to be afraid to share them

[Initscri]

mining alt coins and saying they are counterfiet is like trying to trade monopoly money for real money. Only works if someone wants to do the trade

To go on further with this, the reason anything is valuable (money, gold, bitcoins) are because of perceived value. You could tell them that monopoly money could be used as real money, as long as merchants and people in general were willing to buy and sell with it. Bitcoin has the security to enhance the trades, and because people have and already do accept bitcoin, that perceived value is there making Bitcoin worth something.