What should you know before recommending Bitcoin to a friend?

[Luzin]

The issue that attracts the most attention about Bitcoin is its value, besides the notion that BTC can make us rich quickly being a major factor. So there are people who do not want to understand this and go straight to the main goal of investing or trading. Their focus is on making money. Once they have chosen a goal, I will talk about what they want. I will set aside the unrelated parts. Next, as stage and time continue to progress, they should automatically understand how Bitcoin works. So understanding people who want to learn will be much easier than giving a lesson to others.

[Daniel91]

The issue that attracts the most attention about Bitcoin is its value, besides the notion that BTC can make us rich quickly being a major factor. So there are people who do not want to understand this and go straight to the main goal of investing or trading. Their focus is on making money. Once they have chosen a goal, I will talk about what they want. I will set aside the unrelated parts. Next, as stage and time continue to progress, they should automatically understand how Bitcoin works. So understanding people who want to learn will be much easier than giving a lesson to others.

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

[Catenaccio]

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

Bitcoin has its market cycle that is very tightly related to Bitcoin block subsidy halving cycle but in the past, in earliest market cycles, Bitcoin had much bigger ROIs and what happened in the past make many people thinking like "Bitcoin is a quick rich" asset for everyone to get it anytime. People have to realize big differences between what existed in earliest years and in recent years, and Bitcoin adoption changed, Bitcoin market also changed a lot, together they all made Bitcoin market from now is no longer possible and realistic to get very high ROIs like past years.

People from long term investment, if practice their investment, accumulation and holding well, will still gain very good profit, but surely ROIs will be smaller than Bitcoin OGs had in past years.
https://casebitcoin.com/

[MusaPk]

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

Bitcoin can make all of us rich only if we follow the right strategy. Don't think that we can blindly invest in Bitcoin and will become rich in few days. Bitcoin no doubt is one of best investment of current time but it need our time and proper research. Without right strategy it will be difficult to get desired results from Bitcoin. There is lot of info available online through which we can increase our knowledge about Bitcoin and one key principle for success with Bitcoin is to think of long term investment.

[Tmoonz]

The issue that attracts the most attention about Bitcoin is its value, besides the notion that BTC can make us rich quickly being a major factor. So there are people who do not want to understand this and go straight to the main goal of investing or trading. Their focus is on making money. Once they have chosen a goal, I will talk about what they want. I will set aside the unrelated parts. Next, as stage and time continue to progress, they should automatically understand how Bitcoin works. So understanding people who want to learn will be much easier than giving a lesson to others.

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

It is so bad about people having such unrealistic expectations, some are misinformed and without doing their own research, Bitcoin tend to reward in the long term expecting to become rich overnight with Bitcoin is completely out of place, realistically Bitcoin has rewarded those who has worked on themselves through focus and determination and adopting strategy of buying and holding Bitcoin, anyone expecting to become rich overnight through Bitcoin are vulnerable to be disappointed.

[Daniel91]

The issue that attracts the most attention about Bitcoin is its value, besides the notion that BTC can make us rich quickly being a major factor. So there are people who do not want to understand this and go straight to the main goal of investing or trading. Their focus is on making money. Once they have chosen a goal, I will talk about what they want. I will set aside the unrelated parts. Next, as stage and time continue to progress, they should automatically understand how Bitcoin works. So understanding people who want to learn will be much easier than giving a lesson to others.

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

It is so bad about people having such unrealistic expectations, some are misinformed and without doing their own research, Bitcoin tend to reward in the long term expecting to become rich overnight with Bitcoin is completely out of place, realistically Bitcoin has rewarded those who has worked on themselves through focus and determination and adopting strategy of buying and holding Bitcoin, anyone expecting to become rich overnight through Bitcoin are vulnerable to be disappointed.

Realistically, except for rare winnings on the lottery or in a casino (which is probably a one in a million chance) or a sudden inheritance, there is no possibility for an ordinary person to get "rich overnight".
Yes, there are people who have launched some successful start-ups and become rich, but that did not happen overnight either, but through years of hard work and research.
Today, people on Google and AI get instant answers to all their queries, and there is an unhealthy or unreasonable expectation that big money can be earned in the same way, immediately and without any effort or work.
In the real world, this does not happen, but many people realize it too late.
Bitcoin is a very good way for ordinary people to make some concrete profit, but not in the short term, but through long-term investing, planning and strategy.
It is obvious that many people are not ready for it.

[Coyster]

Bitcoin can make all of us rich only if we follow the right strategy.

Well, that is not quite correct. As far as getting rich is concerned, it is not about strategy, but when you bought your coins and how much coins you bought. For example, if you had bought bitcoin in 2010 and somehow held it untl today, you'd be rich, that is not strategy per se, you were just smart and you believed in the network.

Now that bitcoin is more expensive, the truth is that it is much more difficult to get "rich" through it, you'd have to have a lot of money and buy a lot of coins, and sadly not too many people can do that, this is mostly done by institutions. What bitcoin can do for plebs like us is to hedge our money against fiat inflation and then give us good ROI in the long run.

[Catenaccio]

Realistically, except for rare winnings on the lottery or in a casino (which is probably a one in a million chance) or a sudden inheritance, there is no possibility for an ordinary person to get "rich overnight".

There are very little people who got rich overnight but with such lucky people, they were not ready to manage huge money, and had no ideas what to do with such fortune. So with them, after fortunately got a fortune overnight, they easily spent such money easily and very quickly, then not too long time after that, they will lose most or all of the fortune. They could enjoy their lives for a while, months but in the ends, likely their lives will very possibly return to what it was.

In the real world, this does not happen, but many people realize it too late.
Bitcoin is a very good way for ordinary people to make some concrete profit, but not in the short term, but through long-term investing, planning and strategy.
It is obvious that many people are not ready for it.

With Bitcoin, it's an opened opportunity for everyone who can make their individual decision and invest money in Bitcoin. Then they will be able to fully control their bitcoins in non custodial wallets with some wallet backups. There is no dependence on any company and its business operations in future years, with Bitcoin it's simple, buy it, hold it, and wait for profit from Bitcoin development & adoption growth as well as the market growth.

[Rubuchi]

Because of the story that "bitcoin can make us all rich", people often have unrealistic expectations and expect to become rich overnight.
I would say that bitcoin is just a means or a tool, but if we don't know how to use it well, it won't help us achieve our financial and other goals.
Without hard work on yourself, learning and research, planning and developing a strategy and a basic understanding of the crypto market, it is not realistic to expect any concrete results and earnings on btc.

it is infact good to mention this here. The mindset in which somebody uses to join bitcoin really matters alot as it will either make that person or destroy them. It you come into bitcoin with the intention of becoming an Elon Musk within some short period of time, such person may likely choose trading above investment because bitcoin investment will hardly promise you such outcome and when someone trades bitcoin with greed, they may even end up in gambling without knowing so mindset does play an important role when introducing or being introduced to bitcoin.

[Crytohillss]

The issue that attracts the most attention about Bitcoin is its value, besides the notion that BTC can make us rich quickly being a major factor. So there are people who do not want to understand this and go straight to the main goal of investing or trading. Their focus is on making money. Once they have chosen a goal, I will talk about what they want. I will set aside the unrelated parts. Next, as stage and time continue to progress, they should automatically understand how Bitcoin works. So understanding people who want to learn will be much easier than giving a lesson to others.

Absolutely, most folks first come into Bitcoin because of gain potential, the deeper understanding usually comes later once they have spent time in it different people are just at different stages. That's just how it usually goes,  some individuals  just come for the profit first without sticking to long term investment.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Hey d5000, please be aware that AOBT just made one more translation for your thread:

- Indonesian translation, made by Husna QA.

Cheers!

[Juicyhome]

Bitcoin can make all of us rich only if we follow the right strategy. Don't think that we can blindly invest in Bitcoin and will become rich in few days. Bitcoin no doubt is one of best investment of current time but it need our time and proper research. Without right strategy it will be difficult to get desired results from Bitcoin. There is lot of info available online through which we can increase our knowledge about Bitcoin and one key principle for success with Bitcoin is to think of long term investment.

I don't think we need so much knowledge to stay in Bitcoin investment, except you want to start a daily trading that's when you need to learn and update your strategy to help to gain much knowledge, because Bitcoin is avery wide to know all, to invest you only need to know how to buy and sell, then the habit to know for long without panic is the main knowledge we need to excel in Bitcoin investment.

If you're waiting to gain all the strategies and knowledge of Bitcoin before investing you will miss so much opportunity, as you're learning it's better to buy and hodl, most importantly is the ability to hold for long, because that's where the gain is. The more you hodl more you benefit.

[ChisomP]

This thread was inspired by this one, where a forum user talked about him regretting to have recommended Bitcoin to a friend because some lost their coins or Bitcoin didn't hold up to their expectations.

The idea is to collect things which are useful to know before you recommend Bitcoin to friends and relatives.

It can be absolute "musts", or simple tips to make your Bitcoin journey better.

And just to clarify: It's probably not a good idea to aggressively try to drive friends or relatives into Bitcoin. I'd mainly recommend Bitcoin to people who already are showing some interest in the topic, or at least in related topics, for example if they are asking directly about alternative investment opportunities, being conscient about the risks.

I start with a couple of absolute "musts" everybody who wants to recommend Bitcoin to someone should know and tell the new users.

1) Not your keys, not your coins! That's perhaps the most basic sentence everybody should understand before engaging with Bitcoin. Coins hold on an exchange or a custodial wallet do not really belong to you -- if the company behind them gets bankrupt or is hacked, you can lose coins.

2) Back up your keys and seeds. You should have at the very least one or better two physical items (paper is okay for low amounts you can afford to lose, but not the best option, metal-based items are better!) where you've written down your seeds or keys from your main Bitcoin wallet.

3) Don't think that the Bitcoin price will always go up. Above all if the price is already bullish for several years, it is likely that it will eventually correct.

4) DCA is perhaps the best method to buy BTC and avoid problems with its volatility. Buying Bitcoins all at once is risky, especially if the price is already high. Buy them in chunks, regularly, for example once in a month.

5) Do not reuse addresses! This is above all valid for addresses you use for HODL purposes. Reusing addresses means to receive funds once you have sent coins from the same address. This can expose you to privacy risks and to quantum computers once they are available.

6) Bitcoin payments cannot be reversed (like credit card payments for example). Check all info, like addresses, and the trustworthiness of merchants and service providers, before you make a payment. It is your own responsibility to deal with the consequences. If something goes wrong and the payee doesn't cooperate, your only option is to go to the police.

7) Only use Bitcoin from safe devices. If you have only the slightest doubt your device can be infected with malware, or you're engaging in unsafe Internet usage (and use Windows ) then move your coins ASAP to a safer location! Consider a hardware wallet or dedicated device for larger amounts.

User contributions in this thread:

--edited out--

Can you add something? Good tips will be merited and linked in the OP!

Wow, I really love this, a lot of knowledge here. And I'll also love to add that:

Tell your friend to also "DYOR"

I think this is also very paramount because if they don't, they won't fully understand what they are getting into thus, making them invest irresponsibly

And also "It is never too late to start Bitcoin investment". 10 years ago was a great time to start, today is another great time to start investing in as much as you are patient.