The difficulty of explaining Bitcoin to people is massive

[Spack17]

Explaining Bitcoin to especially old people is really hard to me. Because they only know the fiat currencies and gold mostly. They are accustomed to this monetary system too much that they don't even want to give a new technology a chance. Even when they hear about that the prices of cryptocurrencies are very volatile or changeable, they are afraid of the possibility that they can lose a lot of money.

[1715100730]

1715100730

[1715100730]

1715100730

[1715100730]

1715100730

[1715100730]

1715100730

[The Cryptovator]

Explaining Bitcoin to non-crypto people is not an easy task. A few days back some of my relatives ask me about Bitcoin. Somehow they know I am related to it. But when I try to explain about Bitcoin and how it works. Then I encounter many more questions. First of all, they are interested in how to make money from Bitcoin which isn't easy for newbies. When I fully explained almost it's take 2 hours. Then they aren't much interested to invest due to volatility. They thought here is how they could multiply money. But I explain the reality of how Bitcoin works and what was the goal. So whenever you explain about Bitcoin then should share the full story in short. The wrong explanation would lead to loss of funds and they will blame you later.

[Sanugarid]

Hey guys!

I have noticed that whenever people in real life find out that I use bitcoin, they ask me to explain it to them. For example, some family friends that are my age came over to my house around 2 weeks ago, when they arrived, I was looking at crypto graphs because I had a little bit of money saved up to invest. Bitcoin was on one of the charts, so when they walked into my room, they asked about it, "You do bitcoin? How does it even work?." So I started explaining it to them, but what they didnt get was that it is decentralized. When I was explaining it they asked "Why doesnt bitcoin's creator give himself a billion bitcoin?" I told them that it is impossible for the creator to do so since he doesnt have control over the network, but after I said that, they told me that I was wrong and that since He made it, he can control it, which is incorrect. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to explain coins to non-crypto people?

Just explain it in detail especially the part that they don't really understand and tell them that's not how it works the way they think it is. I understand your point but Bitcoin and the technology behind it is not something you could explain and be easily understood by other people in a matter of an hour. Of course, it will take a while before people understand your point just give them time and effort to make complex things look simple and understandable.

[so98nn]

Pray to the God, and start explaining.  
I know how it feels when they laugh on us while we are explaining. So best way I have stopped doing so and continue to earn, invest, trade my coins all the time. I always keep the crypto space for myself for this very reason. I have tried them to convince to invest, start mining with me, open up crypto based store and what not but they never agreed upon it. They lost the chance or what we call it as train to invest. So be it.

[Dhoe]

tell them slowly, and teach them, and guide them, don't rebuke but have to educate, don't hit but we have to embrace, and show them your earnings once, and tell them about bitcoin investment, I'm sure take them slow will definitely jump into bitcoin, as long as we don't get tired of teaching them, I'm sure they will definitely follow us..

[cotton ball]

actually it's not difficult to explain but they don't understand the world of technology, so we have to have extraordinary patience, just like me before, I was also very difficult to accept bitcoin, in fact I didn't believe in bitcoin at all, but luck was on my side me, because my good friend never gets tired of teaching me and guiding me, to invest bitcoin, now I can feel the extraordinary benefits..

[mk4]

You can sit with somebody all day but just tell them to read the whitepaper. They can make their own mind up then, I can’t be bothered to go into too much detail because it annoys me when people are uneducated & unwilling to listen to the positives that bitcoin can bring to their lives.

This can work, theoretically. But it will completely depend on who you are trying to educate. If it's a distant friend or a stranger that you couldn't bother using effort for, then sure. But for close friends or family members? I'd say only 5% of them will be willing to read a science paper lol.

[witcher_sense]

Part of the reason most bitcoin people face difficulties when trying to explain the knowledge to others in a comprehensible manner stems from the fact that those who try to explain things haven't yet fully grasped bitcoin themselves. In short, you are not ready to educate others if you can't explain complex things in simple terms. Bitcoin is more than a complex concept, it is a complex combination of complex concepts. It shouldn't be a surprise that no one understands what you are saying about bitcoin, it may well be you began your explanation from an incorrect starting point, not caring much what your "student" already knows or doesn't know. For instance, if he has no idea how money and the banking system works, you have no chance to persuade him he needs bitcoin. In this case, it is better to start from the very basics and step by step build your explanation to make sure your student is actually able to keep up with it.

[ethereumhunter]

That's because bitcoin is foreign to them. No need to explain too hard, just prove it to them and show how successful you are in bitcoin. That happens, because of the investments you explain to them, usually, they will come to you alone.

Yes, we can explain what they need to know but do not force them to follow what we did. By explaining to them, hopefully, they will be curious and will search by themselves and if they have a question, they will ask us. We can help them to explain furthermore, especially if we know that thing. Telling about the investment side of bitcoin will be a good idea because people search for how they can get more income sources.

[ultrloa]

That's because bitcoin is foreign to them. No need to explain too hard, just prove it to them and show how successful you are in bitcoin. That happens, because of the investments you explain to them, usually, they will come to you alone.

Yes, we can explain what they need to know but do not force them to follow what we did. By explaining to them, hopefully, they will be curious and will search by themselves and if they have a question, they will ask us. We can help them to explain furthermore, especially if we know that thing. Telling about the investment side of bitcoin will be a good idea because people search for how they can get more income sources.

We can explain but for sure they will just ignore and think about we are crazy for thinking that we can earn with it then worse we will be tag by them as we are putting them in danger since we invite them on a scam. That's why the only thing proof we need to have so that we can convince them is to make them realize how lucky we are earning a profit it on since in reality people will not believe you if they cannot see proof of income regarding on what you are explaining to them and once you got their attention then we can help them up became a little bit knowledgeable about bitcoin but we cannot expect that they can follow what we do since for sure it takes more longer time for them to adopt on what we teach to them.

[Tessnik]

Difficult to educate the public on Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency, it’s the most bizarre aspect all I do is to let those around pick interest than making moves to educate themselves before I step in to help them with more clarity.

[LimLims]

Hey guys!

I have noticed that whenever people in real life find out that I use bitcoin, they ask me to explain it to them. For example, some family friends that are my age came over to my house around 2 weeks ago, when they arrived, I was looking at crypto graphs because I had a little bit of money saved up to invest. Bitcoin was on one of the charts, so when they walked into my room, they asked about it, "You do bitcoin? How does it even work?." So I started explaining it to them, but what they didnt get was that it is decentralized. When I was explaining it they asked "Why doesnt bitcoin's creator give himself a billion bitcoin?" I told them that it is impossible for the creator to do so since he doesnt have control over the network, but after I said that, they told me that I was wrong and that since He made it, he can control it, which is incorrect. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to explain coins to non-crypto people?

That’s pretty legit story and i am sure many of us already faced it.
If you are making people understand about it, then make sure you keep the explanation as basic as you can.
You can make them understand that Bitcoin is like an asset which is stored online.
When more is the demand of the coin, more will be the price.
Regarding the decentralised part, just say them that it cannot be access by any second person or any government except the owner himself .

[blckhawk]

well it sure is difficult to explain crypto to someone with absolute zero knowledge about it, but if you provide many examples and concrete facts then they will understand what you want to convey to them. but for me the main reason that it is difficult to explain crypto is because people are mostly afraid of it they still think that cryptocurrency is a big scam so they tend to have a narrow sighted view on the topic.

[jostorres]

I have noticed that whenever people in real life find out that I use bitcoin, they ask me to explain it to them. For example, some family friends that are my age came over to my house around 2 weeks ago, when they arrived, I was looking at crypto graphs because I had a little bit of money saved up to invest. Bitcoin was on one of the charts, so when they walked into my room, they asked about it, "You do bitcoin? How does it even work?." So I started explaining it to them, but what they didnt get was that it is decentralized. When I was explaining it they asked "Why doesnt bitcoin's creator give himself a billion bitcoin?" I told them that it is impossible for the creator to do so since he doesnt have control over the network, but after I said that, they told me that I was wrong and that since He made it, he can control it, which is incorrect. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to explain coins to non-crypto people?

I don’t think there is much that you have to explain here when it comes to Bitcoin. You can just tell them that Bitcoin is decentralized, and when they ask you what the word decentralization is all about Then you can tell them that it is something that has no central authority or control. To make them understand what it is all about you can breakdown the difference between centralization and decentralization.

I think that we have to make it clear to them. then the next thing you can tell them about is how it is being used, for example Bitcoin is a peer to peer method of transaction and doesn't require any middleman for the transaction to be carried out. So I don’t see anything much in this.

[indo1]

Talking about decentralization is very difficult to explain in theory. We have to jump straight into the field to understand it. If your friend asks like that, maybe teaching him to directly trade with little capital is the best way. Because the meaning of decentralization is very broad, from the development, cryptocurrency, and the price of the asset itself.

[kryptqnick]

Op, when people are genuinely interested in how it's possible, I think it's best to direct them towards YouTube videos that explain how blockchain works or to sci-pop articles on this matter. You don't need to be able to explain the details, and probably won't be able to do it as good as people who invested tons of time specifically into this task. That being said, from my experience, people who ask questions like this don't actually want to know how it works and what it's all about. They already 'know' that Bitcoin is a scam, that it's totally controllable by someone and that it's a Ponzi scheme and many other things, and if they have such strong opinions about it, it's useless to try and convince them in the opposite.

[noorman0]

Right, it's hard. Everyone has a different background knowledge, while bitcoin can be explained in several aspects. You explain bitcoin technically to economists, so they just say "yes" or "so that's it" but their minds wander and just disappear when the topic is changed.
Knowledge of bitcoin will be digested more quickly if that person wants to seriously start by adjusting understanding according to what field they will be in.

[Ngewex Yuk]

People don’t understand Bitcoin, because Bitcoin is not the currency of the government or large companies, and there is no trust endorsement, and the governments of most countries do not recognize the legitimacy of Bitcoin, which may cause many people to have negative thoughts when they don’t understand Bitcoin.

I think the biggest factor in explaining bitcoin is because of the large number of negative news about bitcoin, moreover, many countries banned bitcoin for fear of being used for illegal transactions such as drug transactions, illegal weapons to be used for money laundering, of course people think that bitcoin is very dangerous and has no prospects because of the many bitcoin banned country.

[DooMAD]

many countries banned bitcoin for fear of being used for illegal transactions such as drug transactions, illegal weapons to be used for money laundering

If anyone raises that non-issue, you should point out it's complete horseshit because cash is used far more frequently for all of those nefarious things.  Cash isn't banned, so clearly that's not the real reason why some countries have taken a dim view on Bitcoin. 

[qwertyup23]

Do you guys have any suggestions on how to explain coins to non-crypto people?

Well, explaining cryptocurrencies without explaining on how the blockchain functions can be quite challenging especially to people who has no interest in them.

While it may take some time, you can refer to them videos on YouTube (e.g. TedTalk videos on BTC) that explain the fundamentals and basics of cryptocurrencies in general. At first, they would be confused as to how it operates on the blockchain but once they get to understand the principles, they would understand it easier. Another thing, do not force them to know such knowledge as it will only attract disinterestedness from your peers!