Topic: Did you talk about bitcoin at the Xmas party? (Read 2607 times)

I mentioned it a lot over Christmas.... reactions varied from genuine interest to utter confusion.

It is a hard one to describe to a layman; putting Bitcoin in simple terms doesn't get close to why it's revolutionary and may shake up the way business is done on the internet.

I gave my brother four casascius coins as a gift - he was very interested when I told him how much they could be worth one day 

I talk about bitcoin to everyone i meet

a friend of mine holds 20 BTC which he originally bought for buying weed on SILKROAD  but did not do so till now, and does not want to do it, cause they are rising

yes, we both talked to alot of people about bitcoins, also at the christmas "party", but not with family.

I gave 1 casascius bitcoin to several family members and friends for xmas.  I talked heavily about bitcoin in general, but also was sure to mention The Good Wife episode which will air on January 15 at 9pm.

I've convinced several family members to buy some (just by showing my excitement and enthusiasm).  I only recommend small amounts because I don't want someone losing more than I've put into these, heh.

Merry Xmas!  And Happy New Year!  We'll see what 2012 brings for bitcoin!

So I voted no, but then I went to a Christmas party today and did talk about it.  My family seemed pretty interested.  Some of them had actually heard about it already but didn't know much about it.  I didn't get too technical and explained hashing as "difficult math" but they got the basic idea.  I made my main point that it cannot be printed by some idiotic central authority (i.e. The Fed) and cannot be seized by any bank or government and allows near instant transfer anywhere, including places that the government/credit company/bank/etc does not want you to send money like WikiLeaks.

I think it went over well. No one seemed bored at least.

At my family's Christmas party, I made it well known that I recently bought a large amount of BTC (like within the last week) and that my advice is, "buy now".

At our company Christmas party, all employees got a 25 BTC Physical Bitcoin.  It was worth $75 when given (BTC value alone).  $100 now.

We give out 1 BTC coins regularly at the office as impromptu rewards.

I gave a friend a 10 BTC silver coin for his 40th birthday just this last week.

We have family members who will babysit for us but will not accept payment.  I pay them in bitcoins.  Somehow that makes it all OK.  I've also given away a few 1 BTC coins to anyone showing an interest in BTC.  They tend to keep them.

I have some business associates, one of whom, upon hearing that I was published in Bloomberg Businessweek for pulling a healthy profit trading BTC, said "make sure I give you $5k next time you screw around with something".  That was in June.  Within the last week, I replied to that message and said "the time is now."  He bought some BTC without hesitation, and so did one of his adult kids.  Says, "I'm sure you'll let me know when it's either all gone, or that we doubled our money".  Obviously, I hope for the latter, and then some.

I keep a few thousand Gox dollars on hand just in case someone tells me they want to buy, so I can make it easy for them (I don't want to give up my own BTC).  I feel fine with that since I use Yubikey.

speaking of brothers, i was able to talk one of my brothers into investing in btc last summer.  the other brother probably did altho he hasn't told me as much.

at first, the brother who did invest, spent about 2d of our fishing trip talking about how immoral btc was and how when one worships money they are destined for destitution.  he said how Mom and Dad (who have passed away) would have been unhappy with me investing in such a concept and how i was bordering on tax dodging and how he had learned from many years of being a believer in religion that happiness and dedication to family was most important.

i responded by saying that money is just a tool and that nuclear power wasn't inherently bad but ppl are the ones who build bombs with that technology.  i said how is btc any different than a suitcase full of USD's shoved under the table to buy drugs.   the other brother who plays poker in Vegas with a system and who can consistently win against the house laid those same arguments on me.  i then asked him point blank if he paid taxes on his gambling winnings.  he said "of course not".  i then responded "who's fault is that?", the USD or him?  he didn't answer.

i asked them how investing in gold was any less of a method to hoard value away from the reach of gov'ts and banks.  my sister, who happens to be the most moral person you can think of, has invested in gold.  they didn't answer.

i offered to sell btc to one of them at cost w/o any tx fees.  the one brother took me up on it and has held since.

I'm the only one who holds right now, though my brother is somewhat interested in it.

As for the Christmas party... well, I talked about it while getting a ride home Turns out my ride had already heard of it, and was thinking of playing around with it since he was already doing some GPU programming.

I actually didn't bring it up, my brother-in-law asked how the bitcoin mining was going. I was happily surprised at how much he already understood about it, and since we only talk once or twice a year I knew he did some research.

My dad wanted to watch Youtube videos of Ferrari's on my computer.  While we were playing videos the market swung 20 cents down and I went "LOOK AT THAT!"  He was like "Wut?"  So I'm all "The market just crashed a little!".  So he went "Oh jesus christ, it *is* a real market you are talking about all the time, it even has charts".   

I talked about it a bit yes. My cousin had already heard of it, but didn't understand exactly what it was and how it worked. I think I helped him understand it a bit better, but I think it's really hard to explain how it works verbally. Or maybe I just go into too much detail.

I only speak to those people  I think understand gold because if they do I think they have a chance at understanding bitcoin

It sounds like you're speaking to the right people.  My friends are engineers, teachers, retail workers, etc.  It's nigh on impossible to explain bitcoin without sounding like a religious preacher or conspiracy nut.

i've gotten alot more comfortable talking about Bitcoin at parties.  and this is to really wealthy ppl incl a hedge fund manager, a former MS investment banker, real estate agents, oil speculators, a chemical engineer, a money manager for BAC, a Deutche bank bond trader, etc.

i hold one index finger up and say, "you believe in hi tech don't you?", i hold the other index finger up and say "you believe in gold don't you?".  i then link my two index fingers together and then say "Bitcoin is digital gold; you need to learn about it".  that usually gets their attention.

I decided to give everyone a break today. It's too early to talk about it with just anyone.

I'm the only one holding.

I gave my whole family 10 bitcoins each as Christmas presents

ya on my wife's side that's what they do too   ... i try not to talk about it with them, their just not ready  

but It did come up this party, they said something like "..money is controlled by the government..."

and i said "No, banks are a private organization that lends the government money, and their no way for the government to pay back that loan because then can only borrow more to try to pay it back."


I think i might be starting to make them see the light  

This!
I'm meeting with my father, to let him spend some. Just so he can see that he can get something physical with them.
You know! Seeing is believing.

i guess i'll answer my own question

Once everyone was looking like ->  

I pulled out the bitcoin charts on the laptop. my sisters bf took a look, we started talking, 5 mins later i had convinced him bitcoin is going to up up up! Over 30$ each, and it never going to stop increasing in price, EVER.

 

He wants to buy some but its kinda complicated for him, so i told him to give me a call sometime and ill buy him a few.

I know, he probably wont call me to buy some....

But! what I'm going to do is give him 50$ worth of bitcoin on his B-day, so he can experience how easy they are to Receive and Spend.

People roll their eyes at me because of how much I talk about BitCoin.  

Currently, I'm the only one in my family, but I've been trying to get my dad involved, maybe even to invest a "bit".