Topic: The most irritating bitcoin misconception that needs explaining? (Read 4482 times)

ok we are probably going to do why bitcoin has value

yeah true, but that will go away within few weeks or months
we would like to cover the "evergreen" myths first

The new very annoying thing is "dude, bitcoin just closed and announced bankruptcy" and this is the expression of allot of people who heard about MTGOX closure.

Are you happy with it?

Thank you all guys, here is the result of this thread!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kImBgWDgIlA&feature=youtu.be

Good point!

In a Ponzi, the scam is hidden from the participants. In bitcoin noone can give you a promise, the fact that there is nothing behind it is completely in the open.

That is why it is more like a pyramid scheme. Who can debunk that in 2 minutes?

Explain what a Ponzi is and how money is distributed,
Then do the same for Bitcoin 

Who can explain why Bitcoin is not Ponzi in under 2 minutes so that even an idiot will understand it?
We are collecting good points.

Why the idea that miners can make changes to the protocolis is so bad?

Hi
to me its that people get all confused about the numbers and it puts them off unnecessarily. Most people drop maths in high school and so anything "mathematical' as they might see it is confusing and therefore a turn off.
For example they are told some or all of the following whenever they read about bitcoin
1. there are 21 million bitcoins of which 12 million have been mined
2. large rises and falls in the bitcoin in the bitcoin 

Whenever I am explaining bitcoin to a newbie I try to put the thing in simple maths

eg for 1 above I use the number 12. I say imagine we create our own currency where the only units are whole numbers that when multiplied by another we end up with 12 . eg 12 and 1, 6 and 2, 3 and 4 . Thus we have 6 units in the whole of our currency. These can then be divided into many subparts just like 100 cents make up 1 dollar unit
 Bitcoin is the same just with a more complicated formula that means there are only 21 million not 6 units.

eg for 2 above I explain the difference between using and holding.

Using - if a retailer wants 1 bitcoin for a product then look at the current bitcoin price to buy 1 bitcoin. The retailer of course will have already done this so the 1 bitcoin price will be within a few cents/dollars of the credit card or cash price. if you want to buy with bitcoin buy the 1 coin you need then and there and then do the transaction - this gets rid of any bitcoin price fluctuations. if it does start to move the retailer will adjust the bitcoin price to future customers not you eg it may become 1.01 bitcoins to buy tomorrow.

Holding - basically bitcoin is being speculated just like shares can be. usually there is enough information about a company that its share price does not have the ride bitcoin has had ( and will continue to have). But nobody knows what the longer term settling point for bitcoin is. Since most people have little in the way of savings I say to have more than say a few percent of their savings in bitcoin is playing with fire. I also say if they are to buy to hold do not buy until there are exchanges in place in their own country that have some controls on them eg escrow/trust systems so your money does not disappear even if the exchange goes bust ( i use the travel agent analogy here)

good luck with your project - it is much needed

Most annoying misconception? If I had .001 BTC for every time someone talked about the "CEO of bitcoin," I'd be rich. Explain that bitcoin is decentralized, and doesn't have a CEO.

Good idea, most people really do not know what is bitcoin, too many people hold irrational beliefs Ponzi scheme.

Bitcoin is deflationary.  There is no one to fight inflation so the value of bitcoin would deflate if widely used.  

(Many people seem to think that inflation and deflation are synonyms (prices going up / money going down).  If you ask them if they'd prefer their money to go further next year than it does this year, they normally say yes, however, so there is still hope).  

In early 2010 (pre-Gox) BTC commonly sold for under 1/2 a penny.
Try again and you'll see:
You can spend $100 ....Give away/lose/sell 50% ....and still end up with $12,000,000 in late 2013.

The idea that bitcoin is virtual.

Looking at bitcoincharts for MtGox in 2010, the highest open/close I could see in 2010 was $0.46 / BTC.  The lowest was much lower, below $0.05.  Using these number you end up between $270,000 and $2,484,000 depending on when in 2010 you assume someone bought btc.

$100 @ $5 per bitcoin would be 20BTC. If you sold them right at the peak of Nov 29, 2013 at $1242, you would have received $24840.00. Far outside the limits of the '~' symbol I would say.

Here is the auction that will determine the one that gets to have his product/site placed in the video
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/pay-for-product-placement-in-bitcoin-for-dummies-episode-is-bitcoin-a-ponzi-538342

That was an incredible input, thank you all!

So far seems like Ponzi and Tulip are the most irritating ones. We will do both but probably Ponzi first.

Now the next step is to explain it in the simplest way possible in under 2 minutes
help is welcome