Want to Understand Bitcoin? Start With the Problem

[kingstep]

Have you observed that Bitcoin can sound unnecessarily complicated when it is introduced to someone for the first time?

When You start talking about blockchain, nodes, mining, private keys, decentralization and other technical terms, the person can easily lose interest before they even understand why Bitcoin exist.

But what if we start from the problem bitcoin solves instead?

For example, if someone first understands the difficulty of moving money across borders, depending completely on intermediaries, or having limited control over their own money, some of Bitcoin's ideas may start making more sense to him/her.

Instead of asking: What exactly is Bitcoin? the person will starts asking, Why was something like Bitcoin needed in the first place? that small change in approach could also affect the way an average newbie embrace bitcoin helping them see it as a less technical concept and that will greatly influence adoption in Nigeria positive.

A newbie who understands the problem Bitcoin is trying to solve may be more willing to learn how Bitcoin works, rather than seeing it as just another complicated digital asset.

[Agbamoni]

Instead of asking: What exactly is Bitcoin? the person will starts asking, Why was something like Bitcoin needed in the first place? that small change in approach could also affect the way an average newbie embrace bitcoin helping them see it as a less technical concept and that will greatly influence adoption in Nigeria positive.

The easier question is easier to learn by typing on Google "what is the reason bitcoin was created?" and so on. If a beginner wants to learn, he has to ask things he can't understand easily, even if he looks them up on the internet. The challenges beginners face are the most difficult ones, so yeah, it should be the questions that they should be asking.

There is no point in sugarcoating bitcoin. Making it sound pleasant to the ear, when in reality there is a lot to learn. A person who is willing to know bitcoin will stay regardless of the difficulty in understanding the terms.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

A newbie who understands the problem Bitcoin is trying to solve may be more willing to learn how Bitcoin works, rather than seeing it as just another complicated digital asset.

Well, it totally depends on where the person is learning from, if someone actually meets me and say they want to learn about Bitcoin and I see that they really have the interest to do so, I will make sure I teach them in the way they will understand, the technical aspects won't really be the first part to start with when all the person needs is to learn why they have to invest on Bitcoin and also to know if it's a good choice of investment.  If it's someone that is learning on their from information online, just as the first comment mentioned, let the person ask Google or AI the question they want to learn from but if you are the one teaching the person, then also start from the advantages of Bitcoin.

[Female King]

You mean the problem bitcoin has already been solving. Sometimes a simple explanation will give you more results then giving a comprehensive but more complicated explanation, my own explanation is that bitcoin is like money but because it's not a physical cash it can do things that physical cash cannot, instead of arguing with someone abroad on what currency to send seeing as different people will want to trade using their own currency or maybe your preferred currency is different from the one they prefer you can just use bitcoin, it has made buying and selling between different countries that much easier.

[Sammye3]

For starters, the best way to understand Bitcoin is through comparison. For a person who is new to Bitcoin, it is expected that they would not get it right at first, but a more practical comparison could help with making Bitcoin look more simplified and easier to understand. The technical aspect of Bitcoin should come last, the first stage should be understanding what bitcoin is. The best comparison should be the local banks, with time every other thing would fall in place, with consistent research and engagements.

[Loyang]

Have you observed that Bitcoin can sound unnecessarily complicated when it is introduced to someone for the first time?

When You start talking about blockchain, nodes, mining, private keys, decentralization and other technical terms, the person can easily lose interest before they even understand why Bitcoin exist.

But what if we start from the problem bitcoin solves instead?

For example, if someone first understands the difficulty of moving money across borders, depending completely on intermediaries, or having limited control over their own money, some of Bitcoin's ideas may start making more sense to him/her.

Instead of asking: What exactly is Bitcoin? the person will starts asking, Why was something like Bitcoin needed in the first place? that small change in approach could also affect the way an average newbie embrace bitcoin helping them see it as a less technical concept and that will greatly influence adoption in Nigeria positive.

A newbie who understands the problem Bitcoin is trying to solve may be more willing to learn how Bitcoin works, rather than seeing it as just another complicated digital asset.

If a person is told these aspects first, then he will definitely start blaming you for the loss when the market falls. For example, if he wants to make a money transaction and if the market falls during his transaction and if he faces some financial loss during this fall, then he will definitely blame you for this loss. It will never be right to explain Bitcoin to anyone in this way.

To explain Bitcoin to a person, it will be the right decision to first explain the volatility of their Bitcoin. Because whenever you tell them about the volatility of Bitcoin and the risks in the market, then they will not be able to blame you even if they face losses.

Explaining Bitcoin in a complicated way or explaining it in a simple way, no matter how it is explained, keep this aspect in mind so that he cannot blame you. So the first step in explaining a person should be with the volatility of Bitcoin.

[Ndabagi01]

Bitcoin is very complicated when you want it to be one. You cannot explain bitcoin to a layman without including layman terminologies that will make him convince. The better you are at explaining it to someone new, the more they have interest in it and ready to be part of the digital economy.

When learning about bitcoin as a newbie, one should try as much as possible to not want to go dip into the technical details of it, it gets more harder to understand when you skip the basic concepts of bitcoin which is security and privacy. It is to be learnt gradually and not something to rush into wanting to understand quickly.

[Bitcoin-Forever]

Have you observed that Bitcoin can sound unnecessarily complicated when it is introduced to someone for the first time?

Very possible that we feel that strange move of trying to adapt over a newly introduced system, the issue is that people don't tend to easily adopt for a change, which is something constant about life because it is going to always come in as long as you want improvement over how we have been given our lives before, at a point, all of us starting as a newbie in Bitcoin and learnt everything we know today.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Your point of view is well noted OP and it makes sense to see Bitcoin as a solution to necessary everyday across border payment settlements without the interference of third parties and what should be more compelling to add is that, Bitcoin can be a strong hedge against inflation in which saving in the bank depreciate overtime, but with saving in Bitcoin, the value of your money remains and gas the potential of rising if accumulated for long time.

A note if caution though is to know who you discuss about Bitcoin with because this is how people get attacked and gain nicknames that relates to Bitcoin, thus making them walking targets for criminals.

[Freeveto]

Instead of asking: What exactly is Bitcoin? the person will starts asking, Why was something like Bitcoin needed in the first place? that small change in approach could also affect the way an average newbie embrace bitcoin helping them see it as a less technical concept and that will greatly influence adoption in Nigeria positive.

A newbie who understands the problem Bitcoin is trying to solve may be more willing to learn how Bitcoin works, rather than seeing it as just another complicated digital asset.

This is a good idea; if newbies understand the main reason why we need Bitcoin in the first place, they will embrace Bitcoin without thinking about any problem or think it is hard or difficult to use, and the technical aspect will not be the problem because if you really know the importance of privacy and want to control your future investment yourself, you will want to learn the basics so that you can be able to hold your Bitcoin successfully without relying on any exchange to hold it for you, and understanding the Bitcoin will make it better for you to plan your future.

[ZeroVinsonN]

Have you observed that Bitcoin can sound unnecessarily complicated when it is introduced to someone for the first time?

Very possible that we feel that strange move of trying to adapt over a newly introduced system, the issue is that people don't tend to easily adopt for a change, which is something constant about life because it is going to always come in as long as you want improvement over how we have been given our lives before, at a point, all of us starting as a newbie in Bitcoin and learnt everything we know today.

Bitcoin will always sound too complicated to someone who's isn't interested in it, making them interested can be difficult or easy depending on how you go about it. But if they on their own developed an interest in bitcoin and asked you for a bit of a breakdown on what it involves then you will find that it won't be as complicated to them as with someone who isn't interested in it, they will even be looking for ways to make it easier for themselves, they won't grasp everything themselves but they will be far better off compared to those who didn't show any interest at all.

[MisFoxie]

The way newcomers are attracted to Bitcoin changes as the days go by because even a few years ago newcomers used to come to Bitcoin because of Bitcoin’s continuous price pump but Bitcoin cannot keep pumping like before for the rest of its life. At some point it will try to become somewhat stable and at that time newcomers will try to invest in Bitcoin by seeing the advantages of Bitcoin like this.

We don't need to teach them anything they will get the answer just by searching "which currency is best to store for longer time?"

[Donneski]

I know an experienced bitcoiner today who started using Bitcoin because he wanted to receive funds from a relative that's living in the US. He told me that before that very day, he's been told about Bitcoin on few occasions but he thought it was something that's too technical and complicating. It was after he witnessed how seamless it was to use Bitcoin for cross-border transactions that he developed interest, today, he has intimidating depth when it comes to the technicals of Bitcoin. I think it's easier to get more Nigerians into knowing bitcoin by teaching them of how it can be beneficial in their day to day lives

[Ashawowo(OS)]

Have you observed that Bitcoin can sound unnecessarily complicated when it is introduced to someone for the first time?

When You start talking about blockchain, nodes, mining, private keys, decentralization and other technical terms, the person can easily lose interest before they even understand why Bitcoin exist.

These are advanced topics, it makes no sense to start with it for a newbie in bitcoin, and some of these newbies might not be tech savvy, so it's best to start with the basics.

But what if we start from the problem bitcoin solves instead?

The first step to start teaching someone about anything is by knowing what it is, the "problem it solves" is secondary.

The first introduction is "What is bitcoin?" and it can be accompanied by a leyman answer as follows "Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that allows people to transact with themselves directly without relying on intermediaries or third parties or even the government".

[Gozie51]

There is no point in sugarcoating bitcoin. Making it sound pleasant to the ear, when in reality there is a lot to learn. A person who is willing to know bitcoin will stay regardless of the difficulty in understanding the terms.

I tell you for many people, it is a mirage how money can be made to stay in a wallet as cryptographic locking script which is coded to represent a string of identifying script on the Blockchain to direct which wallet and owner it is coming from. Seriously, it looks like magic. If not that afterall the world has involved technologically and we are having to do bank transfers from apps, the understanding of bitcoin will still be in milage. So it is deserving to ask questions about bitcoin from new ones and learning from people already using it.

Most of us as newbies didn't quite understand how you can have scripted coded instructions as money, likewise those trying to settle down their minds on our digital modern day realities.

[kingstep]

When learning about bitcoin as a newbie, one should try as much as possible to not want to go dip into the technical details of it, it gets more harder to understand when you skip the basic concepts of bitcoin which is security and privacy. It is to be learnt gradually and not something to rush into wanting to understand quickly.

Sometimes it is because those teaching newbies about bitcoin tries to give newbies the idea that they know so much about bitcoin and so they over complicate things by going deep into bitcoin terminology that newbies don't even need at the start of their journey.

For instance, if a newbie would not be engaging in bitcoin mining at the start of his journeying in bitcoin, what is the whole essence of introducing the concept of mining to them? if they are not trading but are only investing, why not just focus on the investment part and let them know that if they are interested in trading that they can do research about it when they are already in the system. the way you introduce bitcoin to a newbie determines how receptive he will be.

[gracreavix]

You just assumed that the person you want to teach Bitcoin to is into cross border payment. What if that person has no limitations in payment because he or she doesn't need to pay anything online or receive anything online. Their business is local. Then what? This is worth answering because it touches another area entirely that we know but neglect. What I think those people need first is understanding of how finance works, only then whatever you say about Bitcoin will make sense.

[Itz-prisigold]

I believe this tactic can do a lot to make the discussion more relatable, most especially for an individual who has never made use of Bitcoin.  Sometimes, it's better to start the conversation with a real life situation before even thinking of explaining the technical side of Bitcoin. When the individual comes something they like in your explanation, they will naturally also be interested in the technology involved.

And another important thing that people shouldn't do is giving someone the impression that Bitcoin is the perfect solution to every financial problem.  First explain the idea of Bitcoin to the person, then give him or her room to ask for more questions and let them conduct their own research. This helps the learning process to become more natural.

[Asiska02]

You just assumed that the person you want to teach Bitcoin to is into cross border payment. What if that person has no limitations in payment because he or she doesn't need to pay anything online or receive anything online. Their business is local. Then what? This is worth answering because it touches another area entirely that we know but neglect. What I think those people need first is understanding of how finance works, only then whatever you say about Bitcoin will make sense.

You made a point about this and I think that many people coming into bitcoin now are not looking into it as a means of finance but as a means of investment. If you’re explaining bitcoin to someone that has no problem with cross border payment, they will not really see the importance of it and may likely not want to listen. Bitcoin was invented to be an alternative to the fiat currency but as we can see today, it is seen as an asset of investment rather than any other benefits it comes with and this is what people want to hear. They want to know how they can profit from the investment overtime, not really interested to use it for payment as an alternative to the traditional currency.