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Topic: Easiest way to explain Bitcoin - page 2. (Read 1548 times)

member
Activity: 60
Merit: 10
June 20, 2013, 01:42:06 AM
#6

That will be very specific to each business and each consumer.

That's a big problem! Fiat currency is universally useful to to every legitimate business and consumer, and btc needs to be as well if it's to have a long-term role in the world.

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A person who likes to play poker online will care about bitcoin different from the next person.

That's an almost irrelevant minority from the perspective of long-term success for bitcoin. Same with basically everything sold on silk road.

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Plus, many of the advantages that should be here now with Bitcoin are still out of reach.  For instance, merchants can pass along their savings when accepting Bitcoin by offering a discount for that payment method and gain a competitive advantage.  But few do this today.   But if a customer was offered a 3% discount on the bill if paid using bitcoins, that alone might be enough to cause the average consumer to want to use Bitcoin. 

That's because today there is no competitive advantage to bitcoin. For one, you're telling consumers to use a payment method that is objectively worse for them. There is no insurance at all for the consumer with btc payments currently. If they use Visa/Mastercard/Paypal to buy stuff from me, Visa/Mastercard/Paypal will protect them to some degree. As a merchant, that is incredibly valuable, because I'm not Amazon. I don't have a reputation large enough to precede me, and so I depend on the payment protection that Visa/Mastercard/Paypal offer my customers to ensure that the first time they buy with me (ie before trust is established), they can feel indisputably safe.

As an example, I just bought a $1300 camera from a store in Taiwan over Ebay. I'd never have paid them in BTC, because if they screw me over, I have no recourse. With Visa I have recourse, and Ebay adds an extra layer of protection for me on top of that.

That's the kind of thing that bitcoin needs to explain to consumers. If it's not there, then there's no reason at all for most consumers to use bitcoin, and it will remain a niche currency that isn't useful for most purchases.
member
Activity: 85
Merit: 10
June 20, 2013, 01:31:41 AM
#5
The best way to teach would probably be to have an example. As soon as I sent my buddy overseas 10mBTC, it all clicked together.
legendary
Activity: 2506
Merit: 1010
June 20, 2013, 01:30:27 AM
#4
layman's explanation of Bitcoin


These videos are good:
 - http://vimeo.com/63502573
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-w7SnQWwVA
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA0LkCkvUeU


and why the average consumer should care.

That will be very specific to each business and each consumer.

A person who likes to play poker online will care about bitcoin different from the next person.

Plus, many of the advantages that should be here now with Bitcoin are still out of reach.  For instance, merchants can pass along their savings when accepting Bitcoin by offering a discount for that payment method and gain a competitive advantage.  But few do this today.   But if a customer was offered a 3% discount on the bill if paid using bitcoins, that alone might be enough to cause the average consumer to want to use Bitcoin.  But today the cost to acquire coins (via exchange) offsets that gain and thus offers no economic incentive.

The Bitcoin Education Project might be a resource that will help in this area:
 - http://btcedproject.org
member
Activity: 60
Merit: 10
June 20, 2013, 01:09:14 AM
#3
It's not easy enough yet.  People won't care till governments start to fu.. oh wait.

I'm not asking people to care. I'm asking for a tool to help me make people care.
hero member
Activity: 811
Merit: 1000
Web Developer
June 20, 2013, 01:07:29 AM
#2
It's not easy enough yet.  People won't care till governments start to fu.. oh wait.
member
Activity: 60
Merit: 10
June 20, 2013, 01:05:44 AM
#1
I'm a long-time online merchant (going back to the 90s) with multiple partners, employees, and investors. I like bitcoin, and I'm interested in it, but one roadblock I've come up against multiple times is a concise, layman's explanation of Bitcoin and why the average consumer should care.

Anyone have good suggestions for an explanation of bitcoin that is oriented completely towards the practical? Either a video or a visual presentation of some kind is best.

I've watched videos and read presentations but so far everything I've read either ends up devolving into idealism or geeking out on tech. Neither is useful to the average consumer, to whom Bitcoin acceptance is key to its future success.



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