12 years later and people still don't know to use Bitcoin nor what it's good for

[GazetaBitcoin]

There does not seem to be any way to completely bypass banks right now but in the future as P2P transactions grow things might change.

You can always use a cash-in / cash-out ATM, if you want to exchange BTC for fiat... Or use a decentralized exchange. Indeed, the exchange price is not very friendly, in case of the ATM, but privacy has its price. But, thinking that on the other hand, the banks can seize your account for receiving funds coming from crypto, can force you to justify the origin of your own money, or can alert the authorities, I think the ATM is the right choice, although the exchange price is lower.

[1714261282]

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[pinggoki]

This deserves a clap! Good job OP, this article was really worth reading although it is kind of long but still it is worth to read for especially you mentioned why people are still not interested and still don't know what bitcoin is at this year 2021 where everything is running by technology and etc. Many people doesn't know the advantage of bitcoin simply because they didn't understand how it works and they don't know what it's good for, then the best thing to do is to educate them with our knowledge so that they will know on what bitcoin is good for.

[GazetaBitcoin]

This deserves a clap! Good job OP [...] Many people doesn't know the advantage of bitcoin simply because they didn't understand how it works and they don't know what it's good for, then the best thing to do is to educate them with our knowledge so that they will know on what bitcoin is good for.

Thank you. And yes, this was my intention... This is what I'm trying to do for years. Unfortunately, more and more are blinded by greed and can not see the supreme gifts given by Bitcoin: freedom; liberty; total control over their own wealth' rendering governs, banks and any middle-man as irrelevant; direct peer-to-peer transfers; pseudonymity; privacy; and many other benefits of a crypto-anarchic society.

Those reading my writings are able to learn, if they want. But usually, people proceed to bad decisions, harming themselves. It's like an entity give people the fire, as a gift, for helping them cook their meals and people, instead, use it for burning their homes. Many can not see the forest for the trees. The same is true about Bitcoin: it was given as a gift, for free; but, being determined by greed, people enslave themselves even more, using it together with centralized exchanges and banks -- and such actions are meant just to expose them even more in the eyes of the govern. Instead of taking advantage of their own money, what these people do is like going in front of IRS and showing their money to the agency, yelling "Hey! Look what I've got! Are you so kind, please, to come and search me, my pockets and my house now? And, if needed, to force me explain where I have these money from / arrest me / coerce me to pay ridiculous amounts to the govern or else put me behind bars?".

[0t3p0t]

These banks are scared of Bitcoin like chickens. According to them only bankers should be rich in this world, not ordinary people. You should be a bank slave all your life.

I agree. But we less fortunate people has to use Bitcoin in some sort of transaction just like buying our daily needs and that is where we landed on local exchanges with KYC and taxation. I do hope that one day time will come we will live a life without spending our Bitcoins but keep it for the future.

Some people are Bitcoin illiterate because they are afraid to lose their money and has trouble understanding on how Bitcoin works. We need to educate these people. Even though I am one of those less fortunate individual I still have the chance to gain Bitcoins i some other way because I know how it works so it is an advantage really to have knowledge.

[DarkDays]

Can you really blame people not really understanding BTC or what it is and used for when the media presents it as a no, no coin? I think not, entirely.

Yeah, there's ignorance for sure but we just have not made a clear enough statement as a community overall to give these people no choice but to understanding it. I think with time, this will become more and more the norm, but for now let's just say that most of the world is in its 'lag phase' 

[MWesterweele]

These banks are scared of Bitcoin like chickens. According to them only bankers should be rich in this world, not ordinary people. You should be a bank slave all your life.

I agree. But we less fortunate people has to use Bitcoin in some sort of transaction just like buying our daily needs and that is where we landed on local exchanges with KYC and taxation. I do hope that one day time will come we will live a life without spending our Bitcoins but keep it for the future.

Some people are Bitcoin illiterate because they are afraid to lose their money and has trouble understanding on how Bitcoin works. We need to educate these people. Even though I am one of those less fortunate individual I still have the chance to gain Bitcoins i some other way because I know how it works so it is an advantage really to have knowledge.

Here in our country, people were illiterate of what is Bitcoin it is because first, the life here was literally hit us hard that even owning a single digital phone needed to be worked hard, second, owning already a digital phone but the telco services were too sucks, slow connection and you may cursed it as hell. I know our people like me really wanted to learn about bitcoin but i'm lucky enough that i have known it for a quite early and now i am sharing to my friends and people around me of what is bitcoin, i may not teach them how but i did was i explain to them of what is bitcoin and what it is good for. Now they have already an idea about bitcoin whenever they may encounter the word Bitcoin again in their life.

[JollyGood]

Yes you are right the ATM part is true, there are Bitcoin ATMs that you can withdraw funds from and also send funds to your own addresses and they are located in many countries around the world in retail outlets  

 

There does not seem to be any way to completely bypass banks right now but in the future as P2P transactions grow things might change.

You can always use a cash-in / cash-out ATM, if you want to exchange BTC for fiat... Or use a decentralized exchange. Indeed, the exchange price is not very friendly, in case of the ATM, but privacy has its price. But, thinking that on the other hand, the banks can seize your account for receiving funds coming from crypto, can force you to justify the origin of your own money, or can alert the authorities, I think the ATM is the right choice, although the exchange price is lower.

[GazetaBitcoin]

I agree. But we less fortunate people has to use Bitcoin in some sort of transaction just like buying our daily needs and that is where we landed on local exchanges with KYC and taxation.

Why don't you use cash-in / cash-out ATMs for avoiding centralized exchanges and KYC? Or decentralized exchanges, such as Bisq, HodlHodl or LocalCryptos? You can find all the ATMs from your country here: https://coinatmradar.com. And about KYC, have you ever read 1miau's very informative topic about the dangers associated with KYC (Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless)? In case you didn't read it, I bet you'll be astonished after reading this topic.

Can you really blame people not really understanding BTC or what it is and used for when the media presents it as a no, no coin? I think not, entirely.

Unfortunately, mainstream media works against Bitcoin and damages peoples' brains about it... But this is why we are here -- those very few understanding it, which can also explain it to others... For example, see MWesterweele's post. If any "Bitcoin conaisseur" would explain the core ideas of Bitcoin to three individuals, ensuring they understood everything correctly (including its libertarian and crypto-anarchic ideology); then if each of these three individuals would explain it forward to other three... You know what I mean?

Here in our country, people were illiterate of what is Bitcoin it is because first, the life here was literally hit us hard that even owning a single digital phone needed to be worked hard, second, owning already a digital phone but the telco services were too sucks, slow connection and you may cursed it as hell.

Hehe, don't tell me about your country... I live in Romania The following is a picturesque message for any foreigner:

The message says: "Welcome to Romania!!! Set your clock 50 years back". I guess you understand what I want to say

I know our people like me really wanted to learn about bitcoin but i'm lucky enough that i have known it for a quite early and now i am sharing to my friends and people around me of what is bitcoin, i may not teach them how but i did was i explain to them of what is bitcoin and what it is good for. Now they have already an idea about bitcoin whenever they may encounter the word Bitcoin again in their life.

Now that's the spirit! Congrats! Keep doing this as it is the only way for mass teaching people about Bitcoin!

Yes you are right the ATM part is true, there are Bitcoin ATMs that you can withdraw funds from and also send funds to your own addresses and they are located in many countries around the world in retail outlets  

Yup! I just posted a link with all these ATMs from around the world (some are just cash-in though). Maybe you can use it, in case you didn't know about that site... In Romania we have thousands (literally thousands) cash-in ATMs, but also several cash-in / cash-out ones. The lattest ones are offered by three Romanian operators and an international one. The international machines belong to shitcoins.club (yes, don't laugh, this is the company's name) and this company is present in several countries. Maybe it is present also in your country. fillippone wrote a topic about them, but it is written in Italian (I translated it also in Romanian).

[icopress]

GazetaBitcoin, This article seems to me to be more of a protest against centralization. After reading the title of the thread, I expected to see an essay that sorted out the reasons why most people perceive bitcoin as a financial tool or something like that, (more reasons). Although these questions can be touched upon in the second part of your essay). In this particular case, I think we should better focus on another issue, namely how we all the same get back to basics. To the philosophy that was originally laid down, and not to its interpretations. BTW, in fact, centralized exchanges are just one of many interpretations ...

[Oilacris]

Can you really blame people not really understanding BTC or what it is and used for when the media presents it as a no, no coin? I think not, entirely.

Yeah, there's ignorance for sure but we just have not made a clear enough statement as a community overall to give these people no choice but to understanding it. I think with time, this will become more and more the norm, but for now let's just say that most of the world is in its 'lag phase' 

'Lag phase' due to several factors;

-media influence
-Lack of knowledge
-greed only for profits

Once they do experience some unfortunate events like losing money then they would really be finding
out some answers into their questions that have on their mind.

Just let them be on learning for themselves because sooner or later they would find out
on what it is all about.

[Darker45]

Can you really blame people not really understanding BTC or what it is and used for when the media presents it as a no, no coin? I think not, entirely.

Yeah, there's ignorance for sure but we just have not made a clear enough statement as a community overall to give these people no choice but to understanding it. I think with time, this will become more and more the norm, but for now let's just say that most of the world is in its 'lag phase' 

'Lag phase' due to several factors;

-media influence
-Lack of knowledge
-greed only for profits

Once they do experience some unfortunate events like losing money then they would really be finding
out some answers into their questions that have on their mind.

Just let them be on learning for themselves because sooner or later they would find out
on what it is all about.

Sadly, all these mentioned factors are not insurmountable. A little effort every once in a while will actually inform one the basics of Bitcoin. And one doesn't have to learn all of them in a single sitting.

If one can spend time reading an article which touches on Bitcoin, one could also spend a few minutes verifying online what one has just read. So getting knowledge, acquiring more of it than what one could read or hear over print and broadcast media, respectively, doesn't take much effort and time. Of course, there are more complicated details but a newbie won't have to dive into it immediately.

Losing money or learning things the hard way doesn't have to be the only way. Neither it is the best way.

[Kakmakr]

OP, you are 100% correct. You should also mention other "centralized" services like Wallet providers. When you buy most of these hardware wallets, they ask your personal information and they store this information on their own internal database. (Just a few months ago, hackers got hold of millions of people's email addresses that bought a "Ledger" wallet and they started to target them with Phishing emails specifically targeted at them)   

People also re-use Bitcoin addresses and when they use their single Bitcoin address at a centralized service where they required a signup with personal information (KYC requirements at some online casinos) ..they expose their whole Bitcoin footprint to the person who can trace and link these services to your true identity. 

[Karartma1]

12 years passed already since the launch of Bitcoin. And yet, most of people have no idea how it should be used, nor what Bitcoin is good for. Most of the users make a combination against the nature, using Bitcoin together with banks and centralized exchanges, having no knowledge about its libertarian and crypto-anarchic grounds. Without understanding that Bitcoin is here for helping them evade the slavery that governs and banks coerces them to, people do all they can to enslaves themselves, making an easy job for the elites which oppress them for thousands of years.

12 years ago Satoshi offered a very precious tool to humanity, tool which was able to set them free. Let's see how he was describing his invention:

Well deserved merits for you Gazeta.
Reading your thoughts, it is like reading mine as I also believe that many people do not have a clue about the bitcoin history behind the scenes. The problem is we can't force anyone to find bitcoin and use it the way it was supposed to. Our freedom shouldn't go as far as forcing others to treat bitcoin as a real bitcoiner would do. Don't get me wrong, ideally I am with 100% but we should also be realistic here. Maybe it is too early and with time people will increasingly wake up.
Let it be. 

[Kittygalore]

These banks are scared of Bitcoin like chickens. According to them only bankers should be rich in this world, not ordinary people. You should be a bank slave all your life.

That is how the world order should be according to these suit and tie devils. I think that it is fair that they are fighting bitcoin to protect their interests, if I were on their position I would do the same thing because it is human nature to protect what is precious to you although I do not consider this people humans. The reason for their mantra that only them should be the rich and the only one that does not experience pain is that they wouldn't be any significant if they do not have any one to rule over, if everyone is rich then what is the point of having a lot of money when everyone is equal which is the most evil mindset that I can think of, if the people were as solid as the people in the movie Fight Club, then by now, we shouldn't have any credit card company building standing right now.

[GazetaBitcoin]

GazetaBitcoin, This article seems to me to be more of a protest against centralization. After reading the title of the thread, I expected to see an essay that sorted out the reasons why most people perceive bitcoin as a financial tool or something like that, (more reasons).

It was mostly another try I made to open eyes, to raise awareness, to help those not seeing the forest for the trees...

In this particular case, I think we should better focus on another issue, namely how we all the same get back to basics. To the philosophy that was originally laid down

This is a great idea. I tried to touch it, in part in my 1000^th post on the forum - Bitcoin: The dream of Cypherpunks, libertarians and crypto-anarchists. But indeed, more writing on this subject would only help more people.

OP, you are 100% correct. You should also mention other "centralized" services like Wallet providers.

[...]

People also re-use Bitcoin addresses and when they use their single Bitcoin address at a centralized service where they required a signup with personal information (KYC requirements at some online casinos) ..they expose their whole Bitcoin footprint to the person who can trace and link these services to your true identity. 

Indeed, some Wallet providers represent also a huge problem... We've all seen what happened with Ledger leaking hundreds of thousands of users personal information, but let's not forget also about the wallets with closed source code, where nobody knows what's inside that code. Let's also not forget about other wallets which don't issue new BTC addresses after the users made transactions... Yes, these should be avoided as well.

Well deserved merits for you Gazeta.

Thank you!

Reading your thoughts, it is like reading mine as I also believe that many people do not have a clue about the bitcoin history behind the scenes. The problem is we can't force anyone to find bitcoin and use it the way it was supposed to. Our freedom shouldn't go as far as forcing others to treat bitcoin as a real bitcoiner would do.

Indeed, we can't force anyone. I would never think anything like that. Crypto-anarchy is also totally against violence. As Wei Dai wisely wrote 22 years ago,

Unlike the communities traditionally associated with the word "anarchy", in a crypto-anarchy the government is not temporarily destroyed but permanently forbidden and permanently unnecessary. It's a community where the threat of violence is impotent because violence is impossible, and violence is impossible because its participants cannot be linked to their true names or physical locations.

But we can help these people, trying to help them understand the truth.

[internetional]

Thank you GazetaBitcoin, the text is very interesting. I quite agree with your ideas, but I would like to highlight two aspects that were briefly mentioned in the OP and could have gone unnoticed by readers.

1

They are losing their personal information - that gift they received at birth which remains personal only until the individual chooses to not be personal anymore.

This is very important. If a person doesn't want certain information to be personal, they can share that information with anyone or publish it. No one has the right to compel a person to keep any information about themselves secret.

I once wrote an article on this topic. It’s in Russian, so I'll quote a translation of an excerpt from it here:

Not long ago, one bank imposed a restriction on transactions from my account. According to the bank's internal instructions, the procedure to lift the restriction could only begin with the completion of a form in which, among other things, I had to confirm that I had not disclosed my personal information, including identity document data, to third parties. I was outraged: it's hard to imagine an adult who hasn't shared their personal data, including passport information, for various purposes such as employment contracts, civil contracts, interactions with healthcare institutions, dealings with authorities, and more. Even this very bank requested my passport before providing me with services. Does the bank really think it's unique? And personal information (other than passport details) isn't just shared by me but almost every person on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and similar ones. It's completely normal that if we re not shy about our names, ages, appearances, and lifestyles, we share this information (our personal data) with those interested.

However, the bank employee said that without a properly filled out form, the bank wouldn't consider lifting the restriction on transactions from my account, so I had to sign such a form. Of course, after the process started, I submitted an additional statement to the bank, explaining that when I signed the statement in the form, I meant that I hadn't taken those actions to provide third parties access to my account, while I did share my data with third parties for other (legal) purposes.

It seems like I found a way out. But what really irks me is the fact that I'm almost being forced to keep a secret that isn't a secret! All sorts of smart experts and commentators keep telling me that I must never disclose my passport details to anyone because otherwise, someone could take out a loan in my name, open a legal entity, set up an account with a financial organization, and use it for illicit activities.

I disagree. At the very least, because "my passport" doesn't mean "me."

I publicly declare: if something (a loan, a legal entity, an electronic wallet, etc.) is registered under my passport, until I personally inform you that I did it myself, you have no reason to assume that I have any connection to it (the loan, legal entity, wallet, etc.). My passport details (and yours, for that matter) are known to many.

2

And what do the exchanges do? They win when BTC soars, as they earn fees from the users. They earn when BTC value goes down, as they are receiving fees now as well. When the users withdraw their money from the exchange, they lose more money. And I'm not talking about the network fees, but the exchange's fees. In other words, people constantly contribute to the benefit of exchanges and also to their very own poverty.
…
similar to centralized exchanges, bank clients will lose money in all possible ways: they'll pay fees for opening accounts, for depositing money, for withdrawing money, for transferring money, for checking the account balance, for the administration of the accounts, for having issued a credit / debit card and so on.

This is absolutely true. Every time we use the services of any business, we lose money. It doesn't matter to whom we give it: the exchange for matching two orders, the bank for issuing a bank card, the hardware wallet manufacturer for the wallet, or the Lightning service provider for opening the payment channel. Within capitalist relations, the consumer always loses money.

If you view businessmen as enemies, it's better to never use their services at all.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Thank you GazetaBitcoin, the text is very interesting.

And I thank you for your post

This is very important. If a person doesn't want certain information to be personal, they can share that information with anyone or publish it. No one has the right to compel a person to keep any information about themselves secret.

Correct. But it is like saying that nobody forces someone to live healthy. If someone wants to die at 40 because of a stroke -- it's their decision, right?

I once wrote an article on this topic. It’s in Russian, so I'll quote a translation of an excerpt from it here

I already offered here a very thorough reply.

This is absolutely true. Every time we use the services of any business, we lose money. It doesn't matter to whom we give it: the exchange for matching two orders, the bank for issuing a bank card, the hardware wallet manufacturer for the wallet, or the Lightning service provider for opening the payment channel. Within capitalist relations, the consumer always loses money.

If you view businessmen as enemies, it's better to never use their services at all.

Bitcoin was invented to eliminate third parties, which only want a buck for any possible person. Have you ever read the white paper?

I am using Bitcoin the way it was meant and I am advocating for that. I am also trying to help as many people to do the same.

There are some businesses which are necessary to live -- e.g. a grocery store, from where you buy bread, milk and so on. Or the company providing electricity. But you can live -- and live better! -- without many other companies and, for sure, without exchanges (at least centralized ones) or banks. Bitcoin facilitates peer-to-peer transfers so there is really no need to use a centralized exchange to do that for you. Regarding banks, I am coerced, by my employer, to have a debit card where my salary is paid. But when my salary is paid I cash it out entirely in the same day and I pay for the rest of the month only with cash. Nobody is supposed to know what I am doing with my money, besides me.

[internetional]

Bitcoin was invented to eliminate third parties, which only want a buck for any possible person. Have you ever read the white paper?

I am using Bitcoin the way it was meant and I am advocating for that. I am also trying to help as many people to do the same.

There are some businesses which are necessary to live -- e.g. a grocery store, from where you buy bread, milk and so on. Or the company providing electricity. But you can live -- and live better! -- without many other companies and, for sure, without exchanges (at least centralized ones) or banks. Bitcoin facilitates peer-to-peer transfers so there is really no need to use a centralized exchange to do that for you. Regarding banks, I am coerced, by my employer, to have a debit card where my salary is paid. But when my salary is paid I cash it out entirely in the same day and I pay for the rest of the month only with cash. Nobody is supposed to know what I am doing with my money, besides me.

Yes, I’ve read the white paper. And I do something similar with any fiat money coming to my bank accounts. I don’t cash it out, but I exchange it to bitcoins via Localcoinswap or LNP2PBOT.

But what do you think about miners? Aren’t they that very third party which only wants a sat from any possible transaction? I see professional mining as a move away from the concept of intermediary-free transactions. I would prefer a digital cash system where every user is also a miner.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Yes, I’ve read the white paper.

Then I believe you should re-read this part, for understanding what Bitcoin was created for:

A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. [...]

Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process electronic payments. While the system works well enough for most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trust based model.  Completely non-reversible transactions are not really possible, since financial institutions cannot avoid mediating disputes. The cost of mediation increases transaction costs, limiting the minimum practical transaction size and cutting off the possibility for small casual transactions, and there is a broader cost in the loss of ability to make non-reversible payments for non-
reversible services. With the possibility of reversal, the need for trust spreads. Merchants must be wary of their customers, hassling them for more information than they would otherwise need.  A certain percentage of fraud is accepted as unavoidable. These costs and payment uncertainties can be avoided in person by using physical currency, but no mechanism exists to make payments over a communications channel without a trusted party.  What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.

The above part is related to this part of our earlier conversation:

This is absolutely true. Every time we use the services of any business, we lose money. It doesn't matter to whom we give it: the exchange for matching two orders, the bank for issuing a bank card, the hardware wallet manufacturer for the wallet, or the Lightning service provider for opening the payment channel. Within capitalist relations, the consumer always loses money.

If you view businessmen as enemies, it's better to never use their services at all.

Bitcoin was invented to eliminate third parties, which only want a buck for any possible person. Have you ever read the white paper?

I am using Bitcoin the way it was meant and I am advocating for that. I am also trying to help as many people to do the same.

There are some businesses which are necessary to live -- e.g. a grocery store, from where you buy bread, milk and so on. Or the company providing electricity. But you can live -- and live better! -- without many other companies and, for sure, without exchanges (at least centralized ones) or banks. Bitcoin facilitates peer-to-peer transfers so there is really no need to use a centralized exchange to do that for you.

But what do you think about miners? Aren’t they that very third party which only wants a sat from any possible transaction? I see professional mining as a move away from the concept of intermediary-free transactions. I would prefer a digital cash system where every user is also a miner.

Nobody stops you from being a miner. And no, miners are not third parties. They are part of the core of Bitcoin's functionality.

[Promocodeudo]

This is normal, it has decades that school was found but till this moment, is not everyone that's ready or willing to have formal education, this should also be the case of bitcoin, bitcoin has mad itself available for many to grab the opportunity, but it is still the interested ones that seen the technology as an opportunity to either growth their wealth or add value to their asset, we don't force people to do what is right for them, you can only involve in such conversation unless you are invited to do so, bitcoin was invented for many purposes but the major aspect of Bitcoin that got my attention is your identify being secured, that's privacy which is what many individuals has always wanted.