Shower thought. Why is Bitcoin hard to define?

figmentofmyass

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Quote from: Wind_FURY on July 28, 2019, 01:10:03 AM

Bump.

I believe it might be better to stop defining Bitcoin as "money", and start thinking about it as a "ledger based on cryptographic proof, not based on trust"?

that definition doesn't make bitcoin not money. if people use it as money, then that's what it is. it's up to the market.

besides, i think it's important to convey that bitcoin isn't merely numbers on a screen. it's not created out of thin air. it has a distinct monetary policy, and is naturally a hard money because of its limited supply. the cryptography underlying bitcoin is not the whole story---the economic design is vital to making it work. the economic design is what makes it money.

Quote from: Wind_FURY on July 28, 2019, 01:10:03 AM

With that definition, would franky1 be right that Bitcoin should be a medium of exchange more, than a store of value?

bitcoin shouldn't be anything. it just is.

Wind_FURY

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Bump.

I believe it might be better to stop defining Bitcoin as "money", and start thinking about it as a "ledger based on cryptographic proof, not based on trust"?

With that definition, would franky1 be right that Bitcoin should be a medium of exchange more, than a store of value?

Shower thought. Cool

Finestream

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Quote from: Karamabit_209 on April 28, 2019, 06:22:22 PM

Are you to a non bitcoiner? Because it seems like you are one. It is actually easy to define bitcoin, it is a digital currency, or cryptocurrency. Tell him that it is a currency but a digital one. Like the typical currency, you can use your bitcoin to buy things, you can even use it to play on gaming sites that I personally do when I'm bored so I am entertain. You can even exchange bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies like to the typical currency. You can also invest it.

Right.You just simply tell him that bitcoin is a digital currency.It might not be adopted in most countries for now but soon it will because it has a lot of potentials that will surely help and rises the country's economy.It may also be a great investment that can give us huge profits particularly if you keep holding it for a long time.

Karamabit_209

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Are you to a non bitcoiner? Because it seems like you are one. It is actually easy to define bitcoin, it is a digital currency, or cryptocurrency. Tell him that it is a currency but a digital one. Like the typical currency, you can use your bitcoin to buy things, you can even use it to play on gaming sites that I personally do when I'm bored so I am entertain. You can even exchange bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies like to the typical currency. You can also invest it.

jpnl0008

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i do not see any difficulty in the definition of bitcoin as it is the culture of definition, simply get terminologies and also a common environmental applicable example that can best explain what the bitcoin is and that becomes your own customized definition. bitcoin is simply a digital currency system of peer to peer irreversible exchange of coins/money in real time with an immutable ledger system that keeps record of all the details of that transaction.

Hamphser

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Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

Your first answer would really be enough and that 2nd thought is just a common opinion afterwards of people who do know exactly on what is bitcoin.
For people who do just tend to learn up about bitcoin then that simple explanation at first would already be enough.Not too technical to understand and besides
when giving out explanation you should give also some sites as reference.

BitHodler

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Quote from: Ucy on April 18, 2019, 02:48:11 PM

I'd like to call it the People's Currency or Community Owned Currency. This would make more sense to people you are trying to explain it to. And they will most likely relate with it more

I like the term 'people's currency' because that's what Bitcoin actually is. The term 'community owned currency' is something that refers to a smaller group of people, or even a cult.

Quote from: Ucy on April 18, 2019, 02:48:11 PM

Explaining the technical terms (like decentralized, immutable, uncensorable and deflationary currency) should follow when they need more information or aak for the advantages of Bitcoin

Spot on. New crypto participant's main incentive for entering is related to the price anyway, so the last thing they are interested in at that stage is people throwing around with terms they never heard of or thought to care about.

Keeping it simple does the trick. Lets be honest here, we all have been a newbie at one point, and we surely couldn't care less about the technicals as long as the price kept pumping.

Ucy

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I'd like to call it the People's Currency or Community Owned Currency. This would make more sense to people you are trying to explain it to. And they will most likely relate with it more

Explaining the technical terms (like decentralized, immutable, uncensorable and deflationary currency) should follow when they need more information or aak for the advantages of Bitcoin

minersday

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First and foremost, Bitcoin is not hard to define. Bitcoin is an alternative form of fiat which is a digital currency that operates on a decentralized peer to peer system known as the blockchain network. The reason why people find it difficult in either defining or explaining what bitcoin is for people to understand is due to the fact that most people define bitcoin in a form of comparing its system to that of the bank. Just tell people that bitcoin is an alternative form of cash with no limitation when making transactions with it.

figmentofmyass

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Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

in three words: magic internet money Cool

the unfortunate truth is the concepts underlying bitcoin are complex and can only be dumbed down so much. i often begin by explaining that bitcoin is math-based money. it's secured by cryptography and regulated by an economic design bound by code which means it eliminates all the trust-based failures in banking and government-issued money. then we can delve into the "hard money" aspects of bitcoin based on its scarce commodity-like nature.....

monalia

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Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

Explaining with its all features and the problems causing by the centralized government also need to explained because the problem will be there in the government not in the bitcoin side. If you tell to any person you are using bitcoin and earning in this field means no one will be understand you that you doing in legit way as well.

Bagaji

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Quote from: maldini on April 13, 2019, 01:42:05 AM

Just give a definition of bitcoin, and give an explanation of the advantages of bitcoin compared to fiat they will certainly understand your point.

It could have be done by that; but many will ask further questions if your explanation to Bitcoin is not elaborated. A colleague of mine had one time asked me to explain in details the true definition of Bitcoin, and i basically told her that, Bitcoin is a technology, payment method, currency. .... but she never understood until she bought some Books about Bitcoin.

BrewMaster

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Quote from: Indamuck on April 18, 2019, 10:17:50 AM

I've explained bitcoin to many people and they usually have a hard time trying to understand how bitcoins are generated with math and electricity. People assume it is easy money to mine bitcoins without knowing how massive the hashrate of the network is.

it is exactly because of this reason that whenever someone asks me about how bitcoin is "generated" and generally about technical stuff, i refuse to answer them and instead ask them to tell me how other things they use daily work. for example i ask them how an ATM machine encrypts the communication with the bank and how it reads the data from the cards,...
people are usually weird only when it comes to bitcoin just because it is new. we have to tell them that they don't have to know the technical details to use bitcoin just like they don't know how 90% of things they use every day work and still they enjoy using them.

Indamuck

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I've explained bitcoin to many people and they usually have a hard time trying to understand how bitcoins are generated with math and electricity. People assume it is easy money to mine bitcoins without knowing how massive the hashrate of the network is.

Ayiranorea

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Quote from: Hardtolife on April 18, 2019, 07:57:53 AM

Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

It is indeed very difficult to explain because it is not in the form of an object so it is also difficult to believe for those who ask questions and often say gambling. If I am asked like that, I only answer that bitcoin is the same as shares. We must also be able to choose a reasonable answer not the original answer.

Every user has got the same though about explaining bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. If an object can be felt physically it is easy to explain while same is not possible with cryptocurrency. The virtual presence is quite hard to define as it will be entirely a new thing for the common people to believe. Probably people will soon get to know about it as the change keeps going with more people have begun to spend time on learning it.

Hardtolife

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Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

It is indeed very difficult to explain because it is not in the form of an object so it is also difficult to believe for those who ask questions and often say gambling. If I am asked like that, I only answer that bitcoin is the same as shares. We must also be able to choose a reasonable answer not the original answer.

CBANX Ltd.

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Is there anyone who can define Bitcoin? Shocked

For newcomer and seasoned player as well "Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency" or in an elaborated way "Peer-to-peer electronic cash for internet" but more than that if someone wants to define Bitcoin then it will be a book itself because rather just knowing, it is important to understand the extinguishing concept behind Bitcoin and its working functionality.

Dingdongjl

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Quote from: Ailmand on April 12, 2019, 03:27:24 AM

If you are actually intending to explain it to a newbie, it is better to just give them a simple and short definition of bitcoin which is a digital currency. Then explain it's convenience. Do not explain the whole scope of bitcoin, trust me I have been into crypto for 5 years and I still find it boring to hear technical and deep conversations about crypto. LOL!

Yeah right after you explain it to them for almost an hour they will just ignore it because in real they really dont understand what we are talking about.

Kakmakr

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I also struggled with the same problem in the beginning and I totally over complicated the issue when I tried to explain it to people. I then took some time to re-think my strategy and decided to make it as simple as can be.

I now start by telling people that it is a alternative payment option, but that is so much better than other payment methods, because it is not centralized. That provoke the normal reaction that I want, which is the most logical question.... Why is it better? I then start by going into the details and differences. Cool

shoreno

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Quote from: Ipwich on April 13, 2019, 02:50:13 AM

Quote from: eann014 on April 13, 2019, 02:23:51 AM

Quote from: Wind_FURY on April 12, 2019, 03:21:24 AM

A non-Bitcoiner friend asked me, "What is Bitcoin?", I was unable to answer directly as my mind was racing to find an answer. My first instinct was to tell him that it was a "peer to peer digital ecash for the internet", but should something global, trustless, provably scarce, independent, open, and censorship-resistant be described as something so shallow?

Bitcoin is much more, but it's very hard to find the words to describe it.

Don't explain bitcoin on a difficult way to understand, try to explain it in a simple way, like, bitcoin is a digital currency that we can use online like buying kinds of stuff or paying online bills, or simply say, it is already one of our currencies now like fiat the difference between the two is that, bitcoin can only be used online while fiat is used for physical stores.

True, be a teacher and know your student, it's easy to educate them if you know them.
Bitcoin is complicated to some, especially those who sees it a wrong way, like they see it as an investment rather than a cryptocurrency.

If other people see it as an investment than a curency , i think those people are already aware with a crypto and there is no point of teaching them . explaining them that crypto should be primary used a currency and not as investment will only make the situation worst because they will only argue on what you are trying to explain . me , i dont teach people around me but ill only wait if they will ask me something about bitcoin and crypto . thats the time that ill teach them in a non technical way .

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