I tried, I sincerely did. I had many friends who were strong believers in bitcoin. I read articles, I watched videos, and every time it felt like hucksterism. There was no serious discussion of the advantages of bitcoin, no attempt to explain blockchain.
There was a lot of repeating, over and over again, how amazing and revolutionary bitcoin was. "For the first time ever, a computer owns currency!" one youtuber said without the slightest effort to explain why I should care.
Maybe I missed something. Obviously some people did well on it, and if I'd just skipped all those videos, bought a few hundred dollars worth, and then sold those shares a few years later I'd be a lot better off right now.
> "For the first time ever, a computer owns currency!" one youtuber said without the slightest effort to explain why I should care.
The truth is for most people, there's no reason to care. Maybe there will be in the future, but not yet.
Most people aren't looking for an investment vehicle, a replacement for USD, a way to challenge central banks, or a way to perform zero-trust financial transactions.
Most people want to do what they already do in day-to-day life but with less overhead costs or more ease of use. Bitcoin does nothing for this: on-chain transaction fees are too high, lightning network is not there yet, very few places offer support for btc payments, and so on. All these problems add up to a simple conclusion that btc is not useful for the average person, so instead proponents have to sell a majestic vision of the future or a get-rich-quick scheme. Most go for the latter.
> Most people aren't looking for an investment vehicle, a replacement for USD, a way to challenge central banks, or a way to perform zero-trust financial transactions.
I agree with you, and I am a "invest in a well-balanced mutual fund and retire in comfort" sort of person, not at all the target audience for bitcoin.
Still, even an explanation of why it had the potential to replace USD or challenge the central banks would have been interesting. No one seemed to go further than "because I said so"
Honestly I've yet to meet anyone who wants to take down central banking who seems to have the faintest idea how banking works.
You can just read "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" by Satoshi Nakamoto, it's very readable. I personally like "Shelling Out: The Origins of Money" by Nick Szabo as well, for giving some background/entry-level theorizing about money.
With all due respect, Nick Szabo is a computer scientist, not an economist or an economic historian.
Personally I'd recommend "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World" by Niall Ferguson for a more complete look at what makes money, money.
I think it's important to appreciate risks you don't take. If someone offered you to play Russian roulette, and you decline, you shouldn't feel remorse if afterward they pull the trigger to see what would have happened and there was no bullet in the chamber. It was still a wise decision.
It's easy to feel FOMO but if you educate yourself and still are not comfortable, then you're absolutely right to sit it out.
There was a lot of repeating, over and over again, how amazing and revolutionary bitcoin was. "For the first time ever, a computer owns currency!" one youtuber said without the slightest effort to explain why I should care.
Maybe I missed something. Obviously some people did well on it, and if I'd just skipped all those videos, bought a few hundred dollars worth, and then sold those shares a few years later I'd be a lot better off right now.