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March 12, 2015, 03:11:30 PM |
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I agree. It is a pretty infographic but some of the information is wrong, misleading, or outdated.
For example:
Every currency has two things in common: Something of real value and a centralized government to control it.
I don't know if it really matters that both of these statements are incorrect to the average person but they are incorrect, nonetheless. The very word "fiat" means "by decree". The value of a US dollar is backed up simply by the US government's word and nothing else. It is worth money simply because the government says so. Secondly, various currencies have existed for thousands of years without a centralized government to control them. One example would be seashells. The community or village on island all agreed to use seashells as their currency and the value of the currency found its own level. There was no chieftan behind it all "controlling" it. The "backing" of a currency is not necessary for the currency to be accepted and used, nor is control.
The second point you make is that others have worked to create a digital currency of their own. Our entire financial system today is mostly digital, from bank accounts to credit card accounts, they're all just numbers in ledgers. The real problem in the past has been the fact that everyone has tried to use existing currencies on the Internet, something the Internet and the current financial systems were not designed for.
It says that huge computer investment, rather than gold or silver, are what give the bitcoin it's value. In reality, nothing really gives Bitcoin its value. It is the agreement of all of its users to use it as a currency that gives it its value. It is free market dynamics that creates its value. A person only thinks a Bitcoin has worth if everyone else does. If anything, you could say Bitcoin gets its value from its usefulness.
There is a nice little picture that shows "value" of BTC in US Dollars in Sept 2011 vs. Feb 2013. The word "value" is extremely misleading here. I would say the average traded price of BTC but certainly not its value. The value is debateable and is different to different individuals. To some people, Bitcoin has value and they would certainly trade their dollars for them. For my mother-in-law, Bitcoin has no value and she wouldn't give you a nickel for one.
These are just a few of the misleading "facts" of this infographic but the one that bothers me the most is at the bottom where it shows current uses for Bitcoin. This is so misleading that it absolutely needs an overhaul. In reality, this is merely a list of things you can spend BTC on or places to spend BTC, not a list of its uses. Bitcoin is "useful" because it allows someone to send money anywhere in the world in seconds at an extremely small cost. It is useful because it allows near anonymity when making purchases. It is useful because it allows one to send payments without having to give up personal information which could be used against him or used for identity theft. It is useful because it eliminates the high cost of credit card payment processing and the extremely high and rising cost of fraud to the merchants, which can then be passed on as savings to the consumer. There are other mobile payment systems out there and the average person has choices. He needs to understand what makes Bitcoin different and more than just a mobile payment system. He needs to know why he would want to use it over, say, Softcard, Apple Pay, or Google Wallet.
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