Bitcoin is too complex for the average person

[sakira]

The average person shouldn't use bitcoin, yet.

but because the people know bitcoin can be money, therefore they want to use it, even though they were idiots

[KaChingCoinDev]

The average person is an idiot

Pretty much. I know many people who didn't like it because they couldn't understand it.

[picolo]

If the price ever hits $1000, you will suddenly find all the average person will become a smart person. The problem is also because people are too lazy to learn. If they notice that bitcoin has the potential to become higher, suddenly you will see people developing to interest to learn up everything there is to know about bitcoin. Right now, it's too damn difficult and it's certainly not worth the time spent to learn up.

It is not that complicated to use blockchain! You buy/earn/receive some bitcoins then two type of addresses, private and public, you click send, copy paste the public address, done!

[bloodDiamond]

Anyone ever got the feeling that Bitcoin is too complex for the average person? The average person wants things as simple as possible, so when the word, Blockchain, Decentralization, etc, come into play, I feel that makes it too complicated for the average person to understand or even care.

i do not think so...

mobile wallets/apps,
are really very easy to use...
in the last year thw really matter,
it was,
and i hope not will be,
the bitcoin price...

i'm sure if the price restart to rise,
the interest comeback too.

[networthsigns]

Nope! that's not true!
It was complex once but now every average guy knows internet and google teaches it all easily

[Nerazzura]

If the price ever hits $1000, you will suddenly find all the average person will become a smart person. The problem is also because people are too lazy to learn. If they notice that bitcoin has the potential to become higher, suddenly you will see people developing to interest to learn up everything there is to know about bitcoin. Right now, it's too damn difficult and it's certainly not worth the time spent to learn up.

Although the future is unknown,
many are wondering what it will do to the value of bitcoin. BTC does not operate in a vacuum. learning is important, but the decree of government regulations and a country that will affect the price of the bitcoin. More countries are receiving, then the price will be improved

[noobtrader]

Nope! that's not true!
It was complex once but now every average guy knows internet and google teaches it all easily

i remember when android was released, at that time everyone uses blackberry or symbian phone. no one understand what android offer, but then ppl start using android and even bbm was ported into android, and android got better games than symbian.

thats what will be needed for bitcoin to reach the masses.

[cellard]

Anyone ever got the feeling that Bitcoin is too complex for the average person? The average person wants things as simple as possible, so when the word, Blockchain, Decentralization, etc, come into play, I feel that makes it too complicated for the average person to understand or even care.

No one knows how fiat, banks or credit card work, they still use it.

[dothebeats]

Anyone ever got the feeling that Bitcoin is too complex for the average person? The average person wants things as simple as possible, so when the word, Blockchain, Decentralization, etc, come into play, I feel that makes it too complicated for the average person to understand or even care.

The only thing that make things complicated is the way how people perceive and understand things. An average person doesn't need to have an in-depth knowledge of how is money made; he just needs to know why is it needed, how was it used, and who are the people using it. Same as your food. You don't know how it was made/processed but in the end, you'll end up eating it because you need it. Understand the basics and surely you'll go fine. 

[gentlemand]

Anyone ever got the feeling that Bitcoin is too complex for the average person? The average person wants things as simple as possible, so when the word, Blockchain, Decentralization, etc, come into play, I feel that makes it too complicated for the average person to understand or even care.

No one knows how fiat, banks or credit card work, they still use it.

Indeed. The end user experience is what counts. It's up to the BTC space to streamline that and convey the underlying benefits.

[dothebeats]

Nope! that's not true!
It was complex once but now every average guy knows internet and google teaches it all easily

i remember when android was released, at that time everyone uses blackberry or symbian phone. no one understand what android offer, but then ppl start using android and even bbm was ported into android, and android got better games than symbian.

thats what will be needed for bitcoin to reach the masses.

What bitcoin really needs is the support, adoption and knowledge of the general public to it. As the given quotes stated above, Android was once an unknown technology introduced by Google and other companies but once it reached the masses, it was quickly understood and seen widespread use all around the world.

[vm_mpn]

Drop the nonsense please. How many air passengers know aerodynamics and internals of jet engines? Can average office user name even one layer of OSI model before sending that print job to a network copier? My 80 years old uncle blown away every time fax machine sucks sheet of paper on one end and it comes out of another fax machine across the town (he thinks it's magic). Throughout the history we have been using tech very few of us truly understood, but all those brilliant engineers made it easy for the rest of us because all the complexities of engineering and technology have been hidden behind simple and functional user interfaces. Bitcoin tech is no different - it's in very early stage with a lot of brilliant scientists, engineers and coders working on it while the rest of us posting dumb things on the forum. Give it some time and you see how simple Bitcoin tech can be for an average user. 

[neurotypical]

Do people how cars work? How smartphones work? How computers work? Nnnnope. Yet everyone uses it.
Bitcoin's use is going to be exponentially simpler, and knowing how it works its irrelevant to the average joe.

[tss]

i think it's easy.  don't try running bitcoin core as a noob.  sign up for coinbase or equivalent and you're all set.

[CtrlAltBernanke420]

Just ask some one to log into blockchain.info and send them $5 while they are looking at the screen and it goes beep. And then you show them how you had them give you an address,  and that is how you send a coin to someone. But they need to be logged in and looking at bitcoin for this to work… Don't make a fuss over passwords or 2FA… They'll figure that out, and at this point once they have the $5 you can begin talking about security and what being your own bank REALLY means.  Then they will understand the importance of Farm to table… You cannot eat bitcoins lol.

[mlferro]

Nope! that's not true!
It was complex once but now every average guy knows internet and google teaches it all easily

Said it all!
Today with google, everything becomes easy.

[remotemass]

I think the main two things that the average person needs to understand and that simplify things a lot in their head are:

1) The relashionship between private key and public bitcoin address.
Any random 256 bits, that is, 256 zeros and ones can be picked and the corresponding bitcoin address will be yours because everything you need to control a public bitcoin address is its private key.
2) Bitcoins only exist as virtual balances associated with a bitcoin address as a result of previous transactions related to that address that are recorded on a global ledger that is recorded and replicated in every computer node on the network.
What you need to keep and can copy to a USB, to a CD, or to a paper, or even email to yourself and friends is the private key.
To protect your private keys you need to encrypt your wallet.
Bitcoins are not created. They simply enter circulation given as a reward to those that secure the network "mining" the proof-of-work that garantees all transactions enter the global ledger in the correct order.


If these two things are mastered and understood deeply the average Joe will have no problems with bitcoin, i'm telling you.

See my youtube video production: "United Colors of Bitcoin".

[Lauda]

I think the main two things that the average person needs to understand and that simplify things a lot in their head are:

1) The relashionship between private key and public bitcoin address.
Any random 256 bits, that is, 256 zeros and ones can be picked and the corresponding bitcoin address will be yours because everything you need to control a public bitcoin address is its private key.
2) Bitcoins only exist as virtual balances associated with a bitcoin address as a result of previous transactions related to that address that are recorded on a global ledger that is recorded and replicated in every computer node on the network.
What you need to keep and can copy to a USB, to a CD, or to a paper, or even email to yourself and friends is the private key.
To protect your private keys you need to encrypt your wallet.


If these two things are mastered and understood deeply the average Joe will have no problems with bitcoin, i'm telling you.

I like where you're heading. There does come up a problem in this case. What I've been usually asked is 'how are Bitcoins created' and 'aren't they just fake money' (where people do not seem to understand the difference between the virtual currencies such as gold in certain games and digital currencies).
I have no problem explaining the mining process, but that is where the problem occurs. Most of the time they do not understand and that's when they start doubting me. This is known as 'personal incredulity'.                 Because people find something difficult to understand (in this case the mining process, or Bitcoin in general), or are unaware of how it works, they will make it out like it's probably not true.                                              

This is one of the reasons that every now and then we stumble upon someone who believes that Bitcoins can be indefinitely created.
Lack of knowledge inevitably leads to lack of understanding.

[redsn0w]

@LaudaM, you should reply to these person : aren't fiat money fake? When a government printing his money ...
bitcoin isn't falsifiable and this is a great thing.

[remotemass]

It is misleading to say that bitcoins are created or that they exist at all.
It is much better to think of them as virtual balances.
The network and the bitcoin protocol ruled by the majority of nodes on the network limits the total amount of bitcoins in balances at any given time, as they enter circulation in a schedule known in advance.
That makes each amount in a virtual balance rare, and because they have usefulness as a medium of exchange, the laws of supply and demand will apply determing its market value, known as bitcoin price.
They are fake money indeed, they are not legal tender. But that doesn't imply that they don't have value.
Of course, were they legal tender their usefulness as a medium of exchange would be much greater and would make its price skyrocket. But the beauty of it is that unlike fiat it doesn't need to be forced upon people for it to acquire a significant amount of value.