perception of Bitcoin in mainstream-discussions and -media

[Mrbluntzy]

Why is it, that Bitcoin still seems to have low-interest, low-visiblity, low-trust and low-understanding in most parts of society.
Is this just my personal experience, am I way off?

Probably because it is not centralized and controlled by the government just as they controls other centralized system like fiat. Secondly, it has not been made to be a legal tender around the would just like El Salvador did, and another reason is that the government do not introduce Bitcoin to her citizens and encourage them to invest or adopt it. There are more reason such as, so many people are scared of Bitcoin because they fear the way its price swings, they don't understand the technology well. 

There are so many no coiners in my country, it is not strange because not everyone can believe in Bitcoin, even if you introduced them to it just like you did, you will notice that not many people agree with the Bitcoin idea, even when they understand some things about Bitcoin, they afraid of price movement.

[LUCKMCFLY]

- friends that are non-crypto related (from sports, other interests or just old-school folks I've known for over a decade) just don't care almost at all about crypto. I have been talking about it a lot with them when I was still new to it for a period of maybe two years, on and off, but after a while I just resigned and don't really care anymore if they care.

To spark your friends' interest in Bitcoin, instead of imposing economic theories on them, show them practical, frequently used use cases, such as fast money transfers without bank or third-party permissions, and low-fee payments for services they already use. When they see the advantages of Bitcoin over traditional banks, everything will change for them.

However, not everyone has a high level of financial literacy and is swayed by traditional media like TV and some influencers who speak negatively about Bitcoin. No one can completely dismiss the best existing economic technology that BTC leads, not even renowned detractors like Warren Buffett or Peter Schiff, who, despite their criticisms, continue to follow BTC.

Most people who hate BTC do so because they think they've missed their chance to acquire it, given its fluctuating prices around $63-$64K. Most simply don't understand satoshis, divisibility, or the dollar-cost averaging (DCA) strategy, hence the frustration.

[Swordsoffreedom]

As someone who's been quite enthusiastic about the tech aspect of Bitcoin for about 10 years now, here is something that's been on my mind from time to time over the last several years.

Then you must have already accumulated a few 100 BTC in last 10 years. Good Luck,,,

Why is it, that Bitcoin still seems to have low-interest, low-visiblity, low-trust and low-understanding in most parts of society.
Is this just my personal experience, am I way off?

Bitcoin adoption is not happening like technology or app because most people are unaware and uneducated. You know Bitcoin challenges many of our established idea. Older generation, who are uneducated usually do not easily accept anything that goes against their current worldview. For outdated brained people who have taken traditional finance for granted, Bitcoin often does not seem like solution to them, rather they consider it a problem.

However, Bitcoin adoption may follow a different path, imo. In future, many people may use Bitcoin, but they may not think much about mining difficulty adjustment, UTXO model, monetary policy or censorship resistance. Just like in the beginning of the Internet, we used email or the web but did not know how TCP/IP works.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

Naturally, perception in like manner must exist, all puzzle is normal, what ever that involved money must have all negative and positive impact which may come from media and public in general, as crypto enthusiast all matter most is the limit you have to reached through your understanding and what you hope futuristically will help override some negative impression, many expectations has been turned down, some crypto lords believe the system will move as speed of light as Donald trump's take over following some body signal but don't work out. In adoption perspective, information level to booster and drop many individual adoption both some organization are not properly passed most time by media as most social media influencer are the courses of the failure all this contribute where perception like this title will be inevitable but understanding the wave direction through good knowledge will encourage crypto lover to stand firm.

[uchegod-21]

Bitcoin's adoption may be slow, but is is not mostly about the poor knowledge of Bitcoin. It is the risks of volatility that has made some people, if not all of them who don't fully understand Bitcoin, to stay far away from Bitcoin. And in their defence, they spread false and misleading information about Bitcoin just to encourage themselves that they are doing well. Another is the concept of decentralization which they do not really understand. Up till now, some persons still need central authorities which they can hold accountable.

Although it is still taking people a long time to understand Bitcoin, but We are gradually getting there. We are slowly getting there. We shouldn't bother ourselves about something that is not a problem in the first place. It is just a matter of time.

[Faisal2202]

Bitcoin started as something that was illegal. Hence it's no accident that lots of illegal stuff associates itself with Bitcoin.

I think most of the money going into Bitcoin today is legal, normal investors (mostly through KYC'd apps), but there is still a strong "anti-government" (which is often anti-law) vibe to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin started as a legit thing, it did not scam anyone, it was decentralized, so don't say it was started as something that was illegal, because it was not. It was associated with that stuff later when it became famous and when everyone started to hear about it. The agencies and authorities called it a tool for money laundering because they could not control it, they could not know with their old analytical tools who was sending these coins to whom, and that's why tax evasion would have been easier, which they were mostly concerned about.

Although many reports have shown bitcoin is not the best choice for money laundering, it was still given a bad image by those who wanted fiat or gold to remain the number one choice, but with time they failed to do so, and the fact that they eventually came around to Bitcoin itself is evidence that they were wrong and Bitcoin was not illegal.

[Ziskinberg]

Bitcoin is highly interesting for us, but it does not create an appeal to everyone. Simply because, they don't understand the concept of bitcoin well, or they refuse to understand because their minds are closed with bitcoin. And for that, you can't do nothing until they will find it themselves the interest to understand the concept and innovation of bitcoin.

The only advantage of bitcoin is that, it does not need this kind of people to guarantee its continuous existence. Bitcoin does not need their approval. But as long as there is bitcoin community that will aid in bitcoin global adaption, then its staying and will never stop evolving.

[d5000]

- interestingly enough I know a lot of folks with great informatics, mathematics, general IT skills that have not only skepticism but a strong distaste and almost hate towards Bitcoin. filled with ridiculous prejudices, completely ignoring the real revolutionary concept of Bitcoin.

Most people are negatively influenced by a couple of associations:

First, the general idea that Bitcoin is a hyper-speculative asset. This comes above all from the crap that many crypto influencers communicate, that Bitcoin will "go to millions of dollars" and make you rich quick if you follow "my exact strategy". I think even people like Adam Back (who undoubtly has merits) are not helpful with their extreme predictions.

Then, the association with people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and Saylor with his "wonky" communication is also not really helping. These people are immensely unpopular in 90% of all countries.

And finally the general sentiment about the altcoin market with its scammers and ICO hypes. For people not knowing about the differences with Bitcoin it is difficult to separate both. They're all "crypto" ...

How to improve that? My recommendations would be:

- don't laugh about "nocoiners". That just looks cult-like. And nobody knows if Bitcoin will still make anybody rich who is investing now.
- unfollow all of these crap influencers and clarify to everybody that "they're not Bitcoin". (They're simply people who want to make money with low effort, and they would jump on every topic.)
- clarify that Trump is also just a politician who wants to use Bitcoin and crypto (trump coin) for his own benefit. Nobody can prevent that, but we can prevent voting them or giving them attention.
- if someone shows a minimum level of interest, take your time to explain that censorship resistance (Bitcoin's main solution to a real problem) is not only an advantage for criminals. It helps everybody against several threats, for example: authoritarian tendencies of the State, thieves and hackers (see the anti-KYC thread) and greedy companies who want your payment data to offer services like insurance.

[legiteum]

Bitcoin started as something that was illegal. Hence it's no accident that lots of illegal stuff associates itself with Bitcoin.

I think most of the money going into Bitcoin today is legal, normal investors (mostly through KYC'd apps), but there is still a strong "anti-government" (which is often anti-law) vibe to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin started as a legit thing, it did not scam anyone, it was decentralized, so don't say it was started as something that was illegal, because it was not.

You are probably too young to remember a time when digital currencies were illegal, but yes, when Bitcoin started, all digital currencies were effectively illegal, and if Bitcoin was not decentralized (say owned by a single legal entity) then it would have been shut down. That's the entire reason why Bitcoin is decentralized: because it wouldn't exist if it wasn't.

A few years later, and largely based on Bitcoin's popularity, digital currencies became effectively legal, which why (for instance) ETH was able to move to a Proof-of-Stake architecture.

Bitcoin was never a "scam", but that doesn't mean it fit into financial regulations.

It was associated with that stuff later when it became famous and when everyone started to hear about it. The agencies and authorities called it a tool for money laundering because they could not control it, they could not know with their old analytical tools who was sending these coins to whom, and that's why tax evasion would have been easier, which they were mostly concerned about.

Although many reports have shown bitcoin is not the best choice for money laundering, it was still given a bad image by those who wanted fiat or gold to remain the number one choice, but with time they failed to do so, and the fact that they eventually came around to Bitcoin itself is evidence that they were wrong and Bitcoin was not illegal.

Bitcoin was, and still is, a tool for money laundering. I agree it's not the best tool anymore (because there's Monero et. al.), but it certainly can be used that way and still is.

That is not to say that is all you can do with Bitcoin, or that most people use Bitcoin for that (they don't), but you can do that with Bitcoin nevertheless.

[lombok]

Bitcoin is highly interesting for us, but it does not create an appeal to everyone. Simply because, they don't understand the concept of bitcoin well, or they refuse to understand because their minds are closed with bitcoin. And for that, you can't do nothing until they will find it themselves the interest to understand the concept and innovation of bitcoin.

The only advantage of bitcoin is that, it does not need this kind of people to guarantee its continuous existence. Bitcoin does not need their approval. But as long as there is bitcoin community that will aid in bitcoin global adaption, then its staying and will never stop evolving.

Indeed, the stability of this top cryptocurrency is founded on the credibility of it is decentralized network, which is not anchored on the concomitant acknowledgment of all strata of society. The unwillingness to adopt technological innovations is a typical characteristic in the history of the adoption of new financial systems. This ecosystem will further expand and establish itself, independent of others in the global digital economy as long as its technical support, efficiency in transactions, and the active participation of its users go on.

[Maslate]

You can't force them to like bitcoin just because of your personal views and opinions. There are really people that no matter how obvious it is, how visible it is that bitcoin is legit and is never a get-rich-quick scheme, they will always be blinded from its reality. Maybe that's how stupid they are not to witness that bitcoin is creating opportunities as a currency and as a potential asset. Or they don't just like the idea of bitcoin just because high volatility is connected with it.

However, that's also their POV's about bitcoin, and we can't change it. But one thing we can always do is to help bitcoin in its journey and let its future success becomes a reflection of it. Believe me no one wants to be left behind with bitcoin. They will secretly accumulate bitcoin once they have proven its safe and legit.

[mirakal]

I don't pay too much attention on that front either, but my past experience didn't seem that different from yours. It's a waste of time trying to discuss it against someone with a strong prejudice either. I only follow what's the new law updates and whatnot to see how the market actually evolves. Probably won't change anytime soon though.

Funny thing is, I see crypto being mentioned here and there on various TV dramas in Asia. Sometimes on the negatives, sometimes on the neutral side of it, and so on. I can only say the exposure does it increase.

But we can't deny the fact that when it talks about bitcoin, most of it still link to bitcoin as a get-rich-quick scheme.

However, I'm already immune about the negative narratives of bitcoin, and it does not affect me anymore unlike before. I just chose to prioritize bitcoin because its profitable on my part, regardless if others mostly see it as a negative scam. We can't change those people, but we can always change how we react to them.

[Danish Ali]

Most people are negatively influenced by a couple of associations:

First, the general idea that Bitcoin is a hyper-speculative asset. This comes above all from the crap that many crypto influencers communicate, that Bitcoin will "go to millions of dollars" and make you rich quick if you follow "my exact strategy". I think even people like Adam Back (who undoubtly has merits) are not helpful with their extreme predictions.

Then, the association with people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and Saylor with his "wonky" communication is also not really helping. These people are immensely unpopular in 90% of all countries.

And finally the general sentiment about the altcoin market with its scammers and ICO hypes. For people not knowing about the differences with Bitcoin it is difficult to separate both. They're all "crypto" ...

How to improve that? My recommendations would be:

- don't laugh about "nocoiners". That just looks cult-like. And nobody knows if Bitcoin will still make anybody rich who is investing now.
- unfollow all of these crap influencers and clarify to everybody that "they're not Bitcoin". (They're simply people who want to make money with low effort, and they would jump on every topic.)
- clarify that Trump is also just a politician who wants to use Bitcoin and crypto (trump coin) for his own benefit. Nobody can prevent that, but we can prevent voting them or giving them attention.
- if someone shows a minimum level of interest, take your time to explain that censorship resistance (Bitcoin's main solution to a real problem) is not only an advantage for criminals. It helps everybody against several threats, for example: authoritarian tendencies of the State, thieves and hackers (see the anti-KYC thread) and greedy companies who want your payment data to offer services like insurance.

Probably the most difficult to solve is the altcoin confusion issue. The word ‘Crypto' has been ruined with scams, fraudulent cash-outs, and celebrity tokens, so that technically smart individuals, who do not jump to conclusions but rather research first, tend to ignore everything within the ‘Crypto' category as a whole. And, to be honest, that is sensible reaction to the evidence that they are seeing.
Control blocking aspect is not being used in these discussions. First thing most Bitcoin supporters promote is price and returns, which is sure way to confirm the gambling guess that Bitcoin is an asset. This is very different way to start a story with “this protects you from payment blocking, frozen accounts, and financial spying” than with “this is great way to gamble.” Online personality issue will fix itself over time, they will go away when the attention fades.

[legiteum]

- clarify that Trump is also just a politician who wants to use Bitcoin and crypto (trump coin) for his own benefit. Nobody can prevent that, but we can prevent voting them or giving them attention.

Trump is a disaster for Bitcoin's image, but it's not as easy as writing him off as a pump-and-dump scammer since:

1. He's President of the United States and millions of US voters are convinced he's 100% honest and it's everybody else in the world who are lying.

2. He owns, himself, over a half of a billion dollars in Bitcoin.

3. He owns, himself, the company named, "American Bitcoin", which is one of the most prominent "Bitcoin" companies in the world.

So yeah, it's pretty darn hard to separate Trump and Bitcoin.

But hey, look at the bright side, Bitcoin doubled in price after Trump got elected*.


(* Gains have all been given back).

[Tamaperdana]

Snip

It's undeniable that there are still quite a lot of people who hate Bitcoin, so I personally don't know for sure why they do. Bitcoin is an extraordinary asset, and it's perfectly suited to the current era. As we know, the world has become very modern. So, people should realize that in this modern, digitalized era, they should also understand that Bitcoin is a very good asset.

But unfortunately, most people close their eyes and ears, thinking that Bitcoin is an asset often used for evil or even assuming that investing in Bitcoin is extremely risky and hopeless. Logically, we should be able to think more openly and realistically. Because if we only view an asset from the negative side, everything that arises will inevitably be negative in our minds. So that's why I think people currently still don't like Bitcoin or don't recognize it. It is certain that their thinking is really not open and is stuck in their old school thinking.

[bhadz]

/begin discussion of: is my perception way off?

- if no, what could be the reasons and how to make a change? is just another decade needed? that's what I though about 7 years ago... now I'm not so sure anymore.[/b]

Nope, that's not way off. In fact, that's the same as what I've experienced too. And I think for those negative perception with what I've seen is more likely about the misuse of bitcoin. Not really a misuse but with how scammers use bitcoin and the victims are blaming or putting their anger to bitcoin itself. That is the reason why we see skeptical people about it for being targeted and a victim of a scam that used bitcoin as a tool for them so that the scammers won't be tracked. But despite that these scammers are still there, the positive side is gaining more people understanding it because bitcoin is a real money and that's why activities like that are also happening which is the same in real life.

[Somegory]

OP what you are experiencing is a sign, when people are so negative about crypto is when you should be cautious of your investment plans, start putting it together one after the other.

People like your friend only likes to join the train after there is a massive positivity going on, they are the type that ask questions right after the rocket is on its way to the moon, that's a good sign if you ask me.

You can read the future of assets that are speculative just from the reaction of people around you towards those assets, when people got tired and they start sharing hopeless news is when you should take things very seriously.