Topic: Bitcoin for a few...! - page 2. (Read 378 times)

I’ve hear of terms such as Higgs boson, quantum teleportation, and electrokinetics, as probably many people have, yet they are concepts that are not understood by the vast majority (me included). Coronavirus is another terms that I barely knew, but that now is a pivot topic in everyday life, and everyone knows some basic information about it, even though not to a technical degree.

Bitcoin is on the news every now and then, more often than not for the wrong reasons, and to the masses, it is still not a concept that is enticing enough to grasp. It will require some catalysers to place it on the (positive) top of mind of the masses. Now whether those catalysers are related to development (ease of use/security), regulation, price boost, spread in usage/service possibilities (i.e. big corporations), or a combination of them all, is yet to be seen. What seems clear is that is seen more as an investment than a day to day operational facilitator, and that delimits the number of players with interest in it.

Not really, these people who are not familiar with Bitcoin do not have motivation yet to study what Bitcoin is, eventually they will have a grasp of it in the future when they see that many people are using it, they see it everywhere they read a lot of articles about it, people embrace something that is popular and many people are using.

You can compare Bitcoin to other companies who didn't started with a bang and began slowly before being popular. Companies like Amazon and Facebook didn't have a lot of customers/users during the first early years but when the digital age started to develop this is when we see how they start booming. You can say the same thing to Bitcoin where until now we can't see any kind of mass adoption happening. It is not because not a lot of people are open to using Bitcoin it is just because we don't see the government taking the first steps on being open with the crypto industry making it hard for people to adopt it faster.

You seemed right as I have a lot of friends who heard the word bitcoin but does not really have an idea on WHAT really is bitcoin.
They think it's an investment, associated to the HYIP or Ponzi scheme, but of course I would not just let them believe on that because it's wrong, so as long as we help to educate people about what is bitcoin and its purpose, I think the adoption would really happen, also, it will not happen instantly, it will still take time so as an investor, we need to have that patience.

It is only been a decade.

Bitcoin is known by almost everyone in this world but most people still are not comfortable investing in it because of the negative publicity from the mainstream media and the scams associated with it. Governments have also created a panic regarding Bitcoin with its citizens.

It will change in another decade and you will see a lot of people investing in it.

I suggest that you move this topic to bitcoin discussion 
Yes,  many people heard about btc and crypto but mainstream media usually report about btc in a very negative way.
Also,  as you know,  there is no state or bank behind btc.
There are many other reasons why btc didn't become mainstream yet but I think I mentioned 2 main reasons.
I personally think that in the future btc will be for everybody,  not just a few.

Bitcoin is a nuance.

Having heard of it is one thing. But in order to acquire any amount of it, one has to be in a financially secure place, have the time and also knowledge to acquire any.
Nobody is going to grab anybody's hand and securely drive them towards buying bitcoin. It's much the same with stocks for example.
Although stocks are considered a foundational element of the economy. Stocks have a long history of developing as financial instruments and their through their exchanges there have been created indexes like the DOW and the S&P500 which are considered to reflect the market's best and always go up on average as the market grows.
With all these perks, still it's the 1% that own more than half of stocks in wealthy countries like the USA. Perhaps its even worse in other places.

Now also consider that BTC is much more risky if you take into account price fluctuations with FIAT pairs. Not everyone can afford the risk. And those that can, probably choose to put their money in more stable investments.

BTC ownership is also following similar standards to stocks in terms of distribution. 1% of addresses own around 95% of BTC in circulation.
This of course doesn't imply wealth distribution is as much skewed, because exchanges also act as custodians for many people. But it sure goes to show, that even among those that use bitcoin, many aren't doing it politically and aren't storing funds in their own means.

Bitcoin is making many improvements in its infrastructure. People are learning about it day by day. The best we can do hoping BTC ownership is going to grow, is to inform as many people as possible about how skewed the mainstream system of finance is against the people. It's hard to grasp and appreciate the virtues of bitcoin. But with the right efforts, when the next systemic crisis hits, people will know where to turn once the system around FIAT money fails them.

Because many do not seek knowledge about Bitcoin, nor do they want to be solely responsible for their funds and so they hold on to the faux security the modern banking sector offers.
When Bitcoin was launched only an exclusive few were really actually interested, and owing to the fact that it had no real value then, they were curious about the technology itself. With the rise in price many people got spoked and it became a popular term, but many of the newer members are only interested in the $ equivalent attached to it and have little interest in understanding the network behind it.

Initially, maybe a little; if people understand so little about it, they would accept any malicious label attached to it, especially when it's coming from the government and banking sector which they trust. With time however, I think this would change when it becomes too big to be ignored.

Money is sort of a 'taboo' topic. Everyone uses it, but the vast majority, especially people from countries where their local currency hasn't imploded yet(United States, etc), doesn't even know how money works. But yet they trust it as if the people in charge can't fuck it up. This is why most of the people refuse to delve deeper into Bitcoin and automatically think it's unnecessary(because the USD is currently fine).

Ignorance is a bliss.

the problem is that bitcoin is new and very different from any form of money that people have experienced in their lives. being decentralized and user being in full control of their money is great but also it comes with requiring some effort on the user's part for security, storage,... and that has made things harder for adopters.

additionally there has been a lot of misinformation and FUD about bitcoin. it has been called all kinds of things from a Ponzi scheme to outright fraud! things like that turns a lot of people around who are too lazy to do  their own research and choose to trust the media.

in any case what some people choose to do doesn't mean bitcoin is exclusive to a few. it is a free world, anybody can choose to adopt bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been around for a decade plus now. Research tells me it started in 2009 making it 11years old now and yet, it still feels like a thing for only a distinguished few.
Why is that?
Everyone seems to be familiar with the term Bitcoin but most more than majority gets the idea of what it is really about. I guess that's the clarity this forum offers.
Is Bitcoin really a thing for a few?
Why is it that so many are just aware of the term and yet still know almost nothing about it?
Do you think this has any effect on Bitcoins development?