Topic: What Would You Tell a Friend Who's New to Bitcoin? - page 5. (Read 1164 times)

If any of my acquaintances or friends want to know about Bitcoin, I will first tell them about the volatility of Bitcoin. If I don't tell them about the volatility of Bitcoin first, they will want to invest in Bitcoin after hearing everything positive about Bitcoin from me, so first of all they need to know about the volatility of Bitcoin. Then I should tell them that Bitcoin is a risky investment and Bitcoin is a speculative asset that is bought on the basis of speculation and has to be held for a long time to be successful. Then I will tell them how to protect their Bitcoin investment because whenever a new person invests in Bitcoin, they may encounter various scams, so they need to learn how to protect themselves from fraud. Then I should tell them about trading or gambling because when they learn about Bitcoin, they will want to move towards trading or gambling.

First of all I would explain why bitcoin was created and what type of problems we face with fiat money and the banking system. If a person doesn't understand that the current economical system can't keep going this way and things will only get worse then he'll never understand why bitcoin is the solution. And you also need to make sure he understands that many things can happen, this not a get-rich-quickly scheme, it takes a lot of patience.

Your question reminded me of the first merit point I got here in the forum after activating the merit system in 2018. The comment that got the first merit point was in response to the question concerning first technological foundation for Latin America:

According to an HSBC survey* , about 60% of consumers across the world said they never heard about blockchain technology, and that 80 percent of those who have heard of blockchain don’t understand what it is. Meanwhile, there are exciting stories everyday about interesting blockchain and decentralized applications touching important world issues like money transfers and financial system, health, and the energy industry. In order for these ideas to play out, they need people to participate. The only way this can happen is if we inform the public about its advantages. Those people you mentioned are not a proof that everybody in America know about Blockchain as they are professionals in technical path when public doesn't have to know the details of the behind-scene code when they should know (generally) that blockchain is just behind-the-scenes code. That’s all  Smiley but any person dosn’t need to be the person who knows how to code for it, but he does need to know the type of systemic changes it can affect.. he does also need to know the industries it can effect.

* http://www.hsbc.com/news-and-insight/media-resources/media-releases/2017/rise-of-the-technophobe-education-key-to-tech-adoption-says-hsbc

I chose this answer to republish in this topic because it answers op's question accurately and objectively.

I'm a tech guy, maybe I'll tell him first how bitcoin first by being technical then the others will be learned to experiences. As long as you know the foundation of cryptocurrency, you'll easily get hooked to everything like every single detail, you'll be curious and search about it. Crypto knowledge is everywhere now, and it's not limited, we also have this forum that tells everything about bitcoin. Actually, bitcointalk itself is a gold mine, you can read all of every person's insight regarding crypto and you can read a lot of details here.

it entirely depends on what they are asking about Bitcoin, I am saying this because I've been asked by relatives before about Bitcoin, and all of them are only interested in its investment potential so I usually focus on that part(I include the risks Bitcoin has too) but I do still insert some very basic technical things that I know of and ways to protect themselves when dealing with crypto.

The first thing to do is to make sure you don't tell them they can get rich through BTC, that is the mistake a lot of people make, they tell their friends that they should 'buy BTC and become rich', that is not such a smart thing to do. It is better to start by telling the person what BTC is and how it works, you should also tell them about seed phrase and wallets, these things should come first, before you tell them how BTC is a good investment and the reasons why it is.

the first thing i explained to him was what bitcoin is and what the technology behind it is, then what are the features it has and why it is so popular globally. the point is I will only explain the basics about bitcoin and how it is used. while if he asks why many people invest in it and whether he can get profit if he invests in it, I will stop and say that he should find out for himself, and ask me if he has any confusion about bitcoin. because honestly most people like this are only interested in getting profit from bitcoin if they jump into the market without knowing the risk of investing in it. they have to learn it themselves because i also don't want to be involved if they experience loss from it.

The investment and financial freedom side. Before it was all in for the tech, 'hey this is a new technology, blockchain bla bla bla'. But can't deny that this time, it's all about the financial side and what bitcoin can bring to a new investor. And the brighter side about it, only few friends of mine are asking me about it. Literally few and they can be counted on our bare fingers and that's why only the serious ones are asking me about it, I save time, they do as well and the serious and real ones gets the shortcut and hears what I went through all over these years with my investing and holding journey of Bitcoin.

The only advice to those who are new to Bitcoin is to keep their wallets secure and always use a non-custodial wallet and since crypto is very volatile, one must accept their own risk before investing here and not blaming anyone for it.  won't go  And to get good returns from Bitcoin, you must hold for long term, if you hold for short period, there is more chance of loss than profit from it.

Based on my real experience, I prefer to suggest potential investment because people will do it and interested if the suggestion can or has the potential to make money or the money works and grows.

And it will be more accepted because after telling Bitcoin is an investment that can make profit especially I will suggest to do it in the long term by doing DCA and all that I explain in detail and also tell my experience in terms of profit that will make my friends excited to get involved and after that I tell Bitcoin is an amazing technology and also freedom because we control everything ourselves, but unfortunately and maybe most people will be more interested if it deals or can make money. Because for other things they can find and learn it as time goes by, and it is real and happens to some of my friends too when I try to explain to them because they want to know and see me good in terms of finance.

To me, one of the major thing that has attracted most people told of Bitcoin is the freedom aspect of it because we haven't had such a thing in the history of mankind, and secondly, The inflation hedge because based on the staggering economic situation of most countries where inflation is ravaging various economies of a country and their fiat currency collapsed, people are very much interested in asset where they can hedge their funds and further makes some returns over time and Bitcoin is a safe-heaven for them. Lastly, it decentralized nature, most financial we've had have a central control (centralized) but Bitcoin is opposed to that.

Trust me, if you just talk about factors like technical, technology, use cases but don't mention the investment potential of bitcoin. People will instantly get bored and not want to hear anything more about bitcoin from you.

The truth is that money is what people prioritize the most these days and profit is also what we care about the most when it comes to bitcoin. I don't think people will think differently from us, people will put money first so let's talk about investment potential and profit first. Then talk about other factors so they know why bitcoin has potential and is worth investing in. Of course, risk is one of those things that we should not ignore and even emphasize more to avoid being blamed later.

I will suggest him about the investment potential. If I tell about the technology behind Bitcoin, that will be too complicated for new people. It is better to direct him to use Bitcoin as his investment so he can start to buy Bitcoin.

I will introduce DCA method to him so he can start to learn for more. But that depend on my friend because not many of my friends wants to know about Bitcoin or accept a new thing so I will not explain for too detail.

If it's the first time that they are hearing about bitcoin, the first thing is to educate them about the basic knowledge needed; they should know what bitcoin is all about. It's important how it could be used as an asset, store of value, and alternative payment option. 
 
And if they ask about investing in the currency, I will advise you to start telling them about the risk involved before the profit that could be made from it; putting profit in front first might give the wrong impression. Many have only learnt that profit can be made from bitcoin and do not know that they can experience portfolio depreciation.

It’s simple to explain if you understand it yourself. The reason it’s popular is its technology - it introduced a decentralized system that has the potential to disrupt centralized systems, and this is already happening due to Bitcoin’s increasing adoption rate. We’re also seeing institutional investors entering the space.

So, explain that with massive adoption, its value is likely to increase. Unlike fiat currency, which governments can print anytime they want, Bitcoin has a fixed supply, and a lot of it is even missing in circulation. As demand rises, its value naturally goes up. With this explanation, I think he’ll understand it better and won’t hesitate to invest.

I say that Bitcoin is a digital-only currency that is not issued by any central authority, which can fairly easily be exchanged into local fiat and is sometimes used directly as a payment. Then the second thing I say is that it's also a very high performing asset, which grew from being worth less than $1 in 2009 to $100k in 2024. I think it's hard not to be impressed with a result like that, and even with previous results like $60k or $20k.

Then the conversation depends on what another person brings up, but I think it's important to mention that there's no guarantee of profit and that it's easy to lose your money with Bitcoin if you're careless (e.g. forget where you put your passphrase or accidentally send BTC to a wrong address).

No, i do not focus on the tech. I tell them about investment first, the easiest way to understand a lot about Bitcoin is starting up from the investment part before gradually learning about the technological aspect. At the early stage, the newbie brain can not get the whole knowledge about Bitcoin blockchain since some terminologies will be heard for the very first time.

Once he has gone pass understanding Bitcoin and some used practice surrounding, it will be easier on him to extend his search about Bitcoin technology on his own.

I would just tell them something about it, how to use and keep it safe, basic knowledge about it, I would also encourage them to do their own research, I wouldn't try to encourage them to invest on it or give them investment advice.

Until now, no, that's why I had never experience any bad situation because I always stay private with my crypto holdings.

The first stage should be teaching him about Bitcoin as a currency and referring him to the Whitepaper. The next phase should be based on his level of understanding and interest. Some people are not good at the technical aspects of some concepts, they might not understand them. But if they have an interest in learning about it, I will refer them to the forum's technical board. Most people are interested in the investment part of Bitcoin. I will expose him to the Bitcoin cycle and other concepts that relate to volatility, bull run, halving, etc. The best place to learn everything about Bitcoin is bitcointalk, refering him to the forum will be good.