Common misconceptions about cryptocurrency (Bitcoin)

[apogio]

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:24:25 +0100
From: Satoshi Nakamoto <satoshin@gmx.com>
Subject: Re: Bitcoin
To: mmalmi@cc.hut.fi
The site layout is looking nicer.  More impressive looking.

There are a lot of things you can say on the sourceforge site that I
can't say on my own site.  Even so, I'm uncomfortable with explicitly
saying "consider it an investment".  That's a dangerous thing to say and
you should delete that bullet point.  It's OK if they come to that
conclusion on their own, but we can't pitch it as that.

A few details: the FAQ says "see section 2.3", but the sections aren't
numbered.  Also, could you delete the last sentence on the FAQ "They are
planned to be hidden in v0.1.6, since they're just confusing and
annoying and there's no reason for users to have to see them." -- that's
not really something I meant to say publicly.

The links to sites to help set up 8333 port forwarding is great.
favicon is a nice touch.

Someone came up with the word "cryptocurrency"... maybe it's a word we
should use when describing Bitcoin, do you like it?

Sourceforge is so slow right now I can't even get the login page to
load.  Maybe due to the site reorg they just did.  I'll keep trying and
try to get you that logo stats thing.

Quote by Satoshi himself. The "Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency" narrative is just produced by bitcoin laser-eyed maxis who have no idea what bitcoin is but they learn to repeat some expressions that they hear because they sound fancy.

We are bitcoiners too, but we have to keep our eyes open and distinguish the truth from the lies.

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[KingsDen]

Sorry to say this, I don't really understand why newbies like to teach when they should be learning this is one big mistake I never did. instead of saying things and then it will turn out that I was very wrong I will rather remain silent and learn the basics before trying to contribute.

Newbies teaching instead of learning is a very big concern that the forum has started hissing about recently. I actually do not have problems about newbies teaching, if only they can teach well. It is not all newbies in this forum are absolute newbies in the cryptocurrency industry. Many of them have known about bitcoin and cryptocurrency at large, it is just that they located this forum lately.

The problem only arises when the said newbies start teaching the wrong things or confirming gross misconceptions to be the truth which will be obviously misleading.

[Distinctin]

Sorry to say this, I don't really understand why newbies like to teach when they should be learning this is one big mistake I never did. instead of saying things and then it will turn out that I was very wrong I will rather remain silent and learn the basics before trying to contribute.

Newbies teaching instead of learning is a very big concern that the forum has started hissing about recently. I actually do not have problems about newbies teaching, if only they can teach well. It is not all newbies in this forum are absolute newbies in the cryptocurrency industry. Many of them have known about bitcoin and cryptocurrency at large, it is just that they located this forum lately.

The problem only arises when the said newbies start teaching the wrong things or confirming gross misconceptions to be the truth which will be obviously misleading.

I agree to this. Not all newbies are less knowledgeable, they may be new in the market but some have indeed deep understanding about crypto and the whole crypto space. So if they act as educating the other members in the forum, I guess there’s no wrong with if what they are teaching are relevant to other forum members.

Some higher rank members may underestimate the position of newbie. But to be honest, some newbies are highly knowledgeable than some legendary members, and it can be seen on their informative and highly relevant posts in the forum.

[Saint-loup]

As a beginner , in the digital finance space, it's vital to navigate through the endless sea of information, in this context, telling myth from truth.
There are actually numerous myths when it comes to the Bitcoin space and how it works. Here, I'll try to debunk the most common ones.

• Crypto is not affected by Traditional market: while this misconception may be a popular opinion among beginners, truth is, regulatory shifts and market sentiments can greatly influence the crypto market.

•Crypto (Bitcoin) is a 'get-rich-quick' scheme: Beginners are usually found in this school of thought. Most people think this to be true because of the results displayed by the professionals in the Bitcoin space. The increase in crypto asset prices have contributed to this fictional belief. Take note, there are risks involved, like any market.

• Crypto is for Tech wizards: As many beginners are likely to think this, it is not true. With platforms releasing better user friendly interfaces, it's become more accessible and even beginners like you can navigate the world of digital finance with ease.

• Crypto Gains are not Taxed: This is one misconception that if not addressed early can lead to disappointments later on. Fact is, they are subject to taxation in most jurisdictions. They are just like stock gains .

•Crypto doesn't have any reald world uses: Actually, they do. Other than existing as digital assets, their real world applications include payment of goods and services, like traditional currencies, and enhancement of supply chain transparency.
.
Conclusion.
Personally, I think telling truth from myth, fact from fiction is a great way to enter the digital asset space. You can make the best of your efforts. It may seem like I'm saying pretty basic stuff, but I think that's the point of relating to the beginners.
I'll post more myths later on.
Good luck!

Some of those so called common misconceptions are relevant while other are wrong I think. So it would have been better to rank them by their relevance and their dangerousness. For example the 'get-rich-quick' scheme should be at the first place. Because it's definitely the most common and most deceiving one of the forum and the cryptoverse IMO, and not only from beginners. People really think assets can take several dozens percents increase without any risks of falling down few days or weeks later. It's just because of a high volatility most of the times, actually.

[Issa56]

Sorry to say this, I don't really understand why newbies like to teach when they should be learning this is one big mistake I never did.

Because they believe the only time they can get merit is when they are teaching, they think if they are learning, then they won’t be receiving merit when they are learning. But the most surprising part is, how will you be teaching something you don’t really know much about? Most of them will just go and read pdf, and they will decide to rewrite the post and drop it here. Some of them won’t even rewrite, they will just copy and paste it here.

Some newbies to the forum do not consider themselves as total newbies

Some new accounts are not really new, most of them are alt accounts. And some people have the wrong orientation about the forum, most of them are just joining the forum for the sake of making money, they think they can just come and rank up their account easily without making any serious contribution to the forum. Even if you join the forum for the sake of signature, then you should be prepared to learn, because if you are not ready to learn as a newbie, then you won’t be able to rank up.

[Bushdark]

It is hod we understand that cryptocurrency is not a get rich scheme so we need to avoid it if we are so interested about making fast profits without waiting for the bull market to commence before we start taking profits.
There are plenty of things we need to learn about the crypto market and we don't need to rush things. Everything should be gradually so that we can keep doing the right things that would give us profits.

[_BlackStar]

Reading your thread - I remembered a thread I made in the past, it still had to do with some myths and facts.

Myth vs Facts and My Assumptions about Bitcoin


Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency despite its decentralized nature. I agree with that opinion even though it seems like there are some of us who don't agree with it. Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency - while its derivatives are called altcoin regardless of whether they are centralized or decentralized like bitcoin.

But bitcoin Wiki defines it like this: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:FAQ#What_is_Bitcoin.3F

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a distributed peer-to-peer digital currency that can be transferred instantly and securely between any two people in the world. It's like electronic cash that you can use to pay friends or merchants.

[Darker45]

I guess some Bitcoin supporters started to dissociate Bitcoin from cryptocurrency during the time when the crypto market has grown big and wide and already includes all kinds of centralized shitcoins that are actually a disgrace to the technology. They probably don't want to call Bitcoin crypto because Boobcoin and Beibercoin are also crypto. Surely, they can't be categorized together. That would be an insult to Bitcoin.

I disagree.  They can be categorized together generally as Cryptocurrencies even if other than Bitcoin most others are Shit Coins.

Why do we call a local very small scammy business a 'business' if Amazon exists?  They are both businesses, even though one of them is a disgrace.  I understand the hatred, but we can not lie to ourselves.  They are Cryptocurrencies whether we like it or not.

I'm with you on this. I also disagree with them or this particular sentiment. Whether the cryptocurrency market is clean or dirty isn't the point. I guess we just have to bear with it. But Bitcoin will remain to be a cryptocurrency. We can't just pull Bitcoin out of that category simply because the market has already gone muddy with all the shitcoins and scams and centralizations.

It's ironic that a lot on social media who proclaim Bitcoin, not crypto or Bitcoin isn't crypto are themselves using and even promoting centralized platforms.

[doomloop]

Crypto is not affected by Traditional market: while this misconception may be a popular opinion among beginners, truth is, regulatory shifts and market sentiments can greatly influence the crypto market.

I don't completely agree with this. Regulatory shifts and market sentiments that are related to traditional markets barely affect the cryptocurrency market unless they are directed at the cryptocurrency market. Those who think that regulatory shifts and market sentiments of other markets don't affect cryptocurrencies are right because you don't see Bitcoin going up because of positive sentiments in the stock market unless there is something positive happening for Bitcoin itself.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are affected only when there is some news or event about the cryptocurrencies and market sentiments affect the prices of cryptocurrencies when those sentiments either make investors buy or sell certain cryptocurrencies.

[Taskford]

Sorry to say this, I don't really understand why newbies like to teach when they should be learning this is one big mistake I never did. instead of saying things and then it will turn out that I was very wrong I will rather remain silent and learn the basics before trying to contribute.

I suggest you should also consider that.
From your perception your absolutely correct with your led down misconception about Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies (including shitcoins) at large but believe me as time goes on you will then to find out that you where wrong in some point. Although you're making good points too but for me I think it's not time to teach rather you should spend more of you time visiting the learnmeabitcoin.com website https://learnmeabitcoin.com/ to have background knowledge of Bitcoin including the technical related knowledge of Bitcoin.

Maybe because they also want to get fast merit for their thread created? Usually they do this just because they think that there are so many people will give a merit to a thread created. But they forget to know that they should be more informative and also the words they posted is accurate so that people will not get confused on what they are trying to write here. Its good that there are people correct him regarding on misconceptions in mind and for sure he learn something from the thread he created.

Newbie should learn first before they try to teach other so that they can share more valuable information and not those misleading one.

[Churchillvv]

Sorry to say this, I don't really understand why newbies like to teach when they should be learning this is one big mistake I never did. instead of saying things and then it will turn out that I was very wrong I will rather remain silent and learn the basics before trying to contribute.

I suggest you should also consider that.
From your perception your absolutely correct with your led down misconception about Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies (including shitcoins) at large but believe me as time goes on you will then to find out that you where wrong in some point. Although you're making good points too but for me I think it's not time to teach rather you should spend more of you time visiting the learnmeabitcoin.com website https://learnmeabitcoin.com/ to have background knowledge of Bitcoin including the technical related knowledge of Bitcoin.

Maybe because they also want to get fast merit for their thread created? Usually they do this just because they think that there are so many people will give a merit to a thread created. But they forget to know that they should be more informative and also the words they posted is accurate so that people will not get confused on what they are trying to write here. Its good that there are people correct him regarding on misconceptions in mind and for sure he learn something from the thread he created.

Newbie should learn first before they try to teach other so that they can share more valuable information and not those misleading one.

When I said the above I knew what it meant for someone to share valuable informations in the forum, even if one want to grab merits it's better done in a way that its worth meriting not just teaching without clue of what you're really teaching or maybe you read some article and decided to reframe and post forgetting that the forum has lasted over decades and almost all the articles where inspired from good/quality informations in the forum.

So I just decided to let the OP know about this in order to up his game before he would post again but i mean harm or I wasn't tryna criticize him but some people like the below took it as an attack.

Mate quite saying shit, just because you've got a full member account doesn't mean you know shit even tho it's a sign you've been here long enough, I hate seeing post like this, instead of saying this rubbish actually contribute if you claim to know than been a critic, he is a newbie doesn't mean he doesn't know anything, if there is something wrong with the post show seniority by correcting.

I decide to over look such response because I was confident of what I was saying. This kind of people are the people who go to meta to scream that other high ranked members attacks them or bully them, I once discussed such thing with pmalek and he made so many corrections yet this members don't really get the information.

I think one big force that drives this kind of response is the fact that I'm also a newbie in the crypto space like him, well to teamsherry I'm not in position to argue with you because I believe I'm one of the youngest people in this forum with age, so you might be far older than I am, so I can't argue with an elder.

[Pmalek]

• Crypto is for Tech wizards: As many beginners are likely to think this, it is not true. With platforms releasing better user friendly interfaces, it's become more accessible and even beginners like you can navigate the world of digital finance with ease.

I am only going to talk about bitcoin here, not crypto in general.
Bitcoin does require some time to get used to it, particularly if you have been mindlessly swiping your card everywhere without thinking about anything else.

With bitcoin, you have to think about several things if you want to play the game as best and as safe as possible. There is no support center to call if you make a serious mistake, like you can with traditional banking. You have to generate your seed safely and store it properly. If you lose it, you have most probably lost your bitcoins. You have to learn how to use a bitcoin wallet, send and receive transactions, figure out how much to pay in fees. It's important to stay cautious of viruses, malware, and scams. Verifying and double checking your entries before paying isn't something we do when paying with a card. It's essential for bitcoin, though.

Preferably, you are going to have different wallets for different use cases. It's best to combine cold and hardware wallets  with hot online wallets when you are out and about, for example. If you want maximum privacy and security, you are going to have to run your own node and set up an airgapped system. Then you will need some time mastering working with PSBTs and public keys. All of these are new concepts the first time you try them out.

[serjent05]

Look, you've done a misconceptions too.

Cryptocurrency ≠ Bitcoin

In fact, according to Satoshi himself, the word cryptocurrency was good. You can see this email from Satoshi to Marti Malmi (Sirius) for further info. I haven't read all the conversation, so I apologize if they concluded that the word wasn't appropriate, but according to the email above, Satoshi said:

Someone came up with the word "cryptocurrency"... maybe it's a word we
should use when describing Bitcoin, do you like it?

Well it is true that

Cryptocurrency ≠ Bitcoin

but

Bitcoin = Cryptocurrency

So  this statement

Someone came up with the word "cryptocurrency"... maybe it's a word we
should use when describing Bitcoin, do you like it?

used cryptocurrency as a general term, and Bitcoin being under the umbrella of cryptocurrency, simply means Bitcoin can be described as cryptocurrency since Bitcoin is really a cryptocurrency.

Conclusion.
Personally, I think telling truth from myth, fact from fiction is a great way to enter the digital asset space. You can make the best of your efforts. It may seem like I'm saying pretty basic stuff, but I think that's the point of relating to the beginners.
I'll post more myths later on.
Good luck!

In addition, knowing basic stuff is the best step for investors.  Knowing facts from myths can help new investors avoid scams and stay away from people who love exploiting beginners.  It can prevent unnecessary losses and can help investors establish their investment venture with less hassles.

In addition wiki has lots of Bitcoin myths if someone is interested you can just check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths

More articles to read about Bitcoin/cryptocurrency Myths:

https://blog.trezor.io/bitcoins-biggest-myths-f46268f9a372
https://moneyminiblog.com/investing/bitcoin-myths/
https://www.investopedia.com/tech/top-bitcoin-myths/
https://support.bittime.com/hc/en-us/articles/8896770151311-15-Myths-and-Facts-About-Bitcoin-Check-the-Details

[Hyphen(-)]

• Crypto Gains are not Taxed: This is one misconception that if not addressed early can lead to disappointments later on. Fact is, they are subject to taxation in most jurisdictions. They are just like stock gains .

This tax issue is based on location and legalization in a particular country and sometimes it is based on exposure a country has in digital marketing. In my country, no tax is fixed in our crypto transactions yet although it is not open and legalized which is why I think it depends on your country’s regulatory system.

•Crypto doesn't have any reald world uses: Actually, they do. Other than existing as digital assets, their real world applications include payment of goods and services, like traditional currencies, and enhancement of supply chain transparency.

It actually does have use but most newbies come with the mindset of making money. Some of them don’t even know what is the use of the crypto currencies, meanwhile, we are using them for payment methods as alternative to fiat currencies to have financial freedom and have in traceable transactions because of privacy.

[Patrol69]

Many users who are new to cryptocurrency start their journey with some common misconceptions. When they start their journey with common misconceptions, these misconceptions stay with them for a long time and they shy away from various things with these misconceptions. Many of us may think that the market is controlled by others or that there is a certain hand behind the names that appear in the market, but the truth behind this is that the market is controlled by ordinary investors. If there is an oversupply of a commodity in the market and people do not want to buy that commodity, the sellers are forced to sell that commodity at a lower price. If there is no product in the market, but the demand for that product is high, the seller will increase the price and the buyer will buy the product at a higher price. The kind of buying and selling at higher prices that I mentioned usually happens in the crypto market.

[Miles2006]

I guess some Bitcoin supporters started to dissociate Bitcoin from cryptocurrency during the time when the crypto market has grown big and wide and already includes all kinds of centralized shitcoins that are actually a disgrace to the technology. They probably don't want to call Bitcoin crypto because Boobcoin and Beibercoin are also crypto. Surely, they can't be categorized together. That would be an insult to Bitcoin.

I disagree.  They can be categorized together generally as Cryptocurrencies even if other than Bitcoin most others are Shit Coins.

Why do we call a local very small scammy business a 'business' if Amazon exists?  They are both businesses, even though one of them is a disgrace.  I understand the hatred, but we can not lie to ourselves.  They are Cryptocurrencies whether we like it or not.

In my opinion, calling bitcoin crypto can be misleading cause as a newbie learning all the quality features about bitcoin without knowing the difference can get mixed up when   writing. The name Cryptocurrencies is a general name so it's best to be specific when writing like what the op wrote. I'm more familiar with the name bitcoin but still if anyone is writing about cryptocurrency with the quality feature of bitcoin I will definitely know the person is referring to bitcoin.

[PrivacyG]

In my opinion, calling bitcoin crypto can be misleading cause as a newbie learning all the quality features about bitcoin without knowing the difference can get mixed up when   writing. The name Cryptocurrencies is a general name so it's best to be specific when writing like what the op wrote. I'm more familiar with the name bitcoin but still if anyone is writing about cryptocurrency with the quality feature of bitcoin I will definitely know the person is referring to bitcoin.

It is wrong to refer to Bitcoin as 'Crypto' or 'Cryptocurrencies'.
It is also wrong to refer to Bitcoin as 'not Crypto' or 'not Cryptocurrency' though.

Bitcoin is a Cryptocurrency.  If some body writes up an article about Bitcoin but never mentions its name, that is a writing mistake and misleading, yes.