When Your Mom Asks “What is Bitcoin” Use This 5 Step Answer
When friends and family ask you what is Bitcoin, do you have an answer?
After reading this article, you will be able to teach your mom (and anyone else) what Bitcoin is and pique their interest!
So let’s get started.
You are casually talking with your mom and she asks, “Hey son, what is this Bitcoin that I keep hearing on the news?”
The very first step of teaching what Bitcoin is to…
1. Do not tell her what it is!
Or you will just confuse her with buzzwords that make no sense to her.
Avoid these words, by all means, necessary: Fiat, Blockchain, Ledger, Cryptocurrency, Network, Verify, Internet, Digital, Currency, Inflation etc.
If she hears just one of those words, you’ve lost her curiosity and she will probably just see a car in her head and wonder why you suddenly talk about cars (because Fiat is an Italian car brand).
Instead, start with something she already knows, like…
2. “Bitcoin is just like dollars in your bank account...”
This simple phrase gives her the understanding that Bitcoin is a digital currency that she can send and receive via the Internet.
But it’s a way easier to understand! At least this has a better chance of piquing her interest than starting with technical jargon.
Just imagine her reaction had you said something like this: “Bitcoin is a digital currency made by an anonymous programmer to decentralize the financial industry and Bitcoin can be used by anyone to buy good and services and each transaction is verified in a public peer-to-peer network called the Blockchain.”
Next, we need to reaffirm that she already understands the very basics…
3. “…You can buy things, send and receive money.”
With just saying these first two sentences alone, she probably already knows more than most people in the world. And she is probably satisfied with just knowing this.
But before she can understand your passion, we want her to understand why it’s such a revolutionary technology.
4. “But, you know how most countries have their own money like Euro, right?”
She will say, “Yes(?)”
Boom!
You have given her just enough information that she understands the basics and she is interested to hear more.
Now its time to…
5. Give her the full version!
“If we lived in a country that had money which was losing its value fast, we would try to find something that would keep its value, right?
“Yes(?)”
“When the economy is bad, people usually buy gold or silver to at least have something valuable but now they can also buy Bitcoin. Just like you cannot send dollars to a bank account in Venezuela, you cannot receive Venezuelan money in your American bank account, and you wouldn’t want to have it either. But they can change their money to Bitcoin and use it to buy anything they want and send Bitcoin to anywhere in the world, a lot faster and cheaper than any other way.”
“This is why there is a growing need for Bitcoin and you could even argue that Bitcoin is like putting digital money, gold, and stock market together. That’s why it’s so popular.”
That’s it.
Congratulations if you got to this stage in the conversation!
You didn’t have to use a single buzzword and now she understands just enough, what Bitcoin is, what it does, why the price is growing and how it helps people in ways that the dollar (or any other currency) cannot.
Do NOT keep on ranting about 21 million BTC ceiling, the underlying technology or anything else, or she will lose any minor interest that she might have had.
But if she wants to know more and asks you follow-up questions, feel free to explain.
Did you like this explanation?
Clap this post and share it. That way you will not only help your mom but potentially hundreds of moms around the world.
If you want more simple explanations on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, trading, head on to our free Telegram group and follow us on Twitter and read our stories on Medium.
