Nostr Web Client

I was on the phone yesterday with my friend over at nostr:npub1jx702fwvkdtqkhd9p8n6ctgnycpl6whsx07a0h9s9h2hlgx6q60svk2c49 we were talking #Bitcoin, life, business, all the good stuff I really enjoy diving into.

He said something that stuck with me: how simple Bitcoin really is. And yet, so many people still struggle to grasp it.

The problem, he pointed out, is that a lot of people are stuck in complicated business strategies or challenging lives where everything feels harder than it needs to be.

So when they encounter something simple - like Bitcoin - they dismiss it. They’ll say it’s a scam, or that it’s “too easy,” because it doesn’t fit the difficult framework they’re used to.

And I think he’s right. That might be one of the biggest hurdles slowing adoption. Not that Bitcoin is hard, but that it’s too simple for people conditioned to complexity.

It’s interesting to think about - especially in industries like real estate or finance, where people are so tied to “the way things are done.”

How do we help people see Bitcoin’s simplicity for what it is? Do we even try? Or do we just let people come to it naturally, when their own needs finally push them toward it?

#asknostr

mike 4mo ago

Why has it taken me more than 5 years of full time study to understand something that simple? 😂

Seriously tho, your car is simple to drive, yet a mechanic spends years learning how to maintain it and an engineer spends even longer learning how to build it.

But yes, to use, Bitcoin is as simple as AliPay or tapping a credit card. There is some validity to the argument to rename Sats to Bitcoin as I have noticed some people believe that at over $100K a coin it is unaffordable and they have missed the boat.

But ultimately, in the west at least, it doesn't solve a problem for most people, despite the devaluation of most fiat currencies, most people can still afford life and they don't need to switch to a less adopted, more volatile form of money.

I went to my first Bitcoin conference in Bedford a couple of years ago, Peter McCormack had orange pilled the food trucks, so we all paid for lunch with Sats, the next day the price tanked. I felt sorry for the vendors who now have to pay bills like wages and supplies in pounds. They weren't ready to adopt it for their business, you have to understand Bitcoin to be able to accept it at the tills.

Bitcoin is a learning curve, it does have nuance, it is different to anything else in the fiat world and it takes time to understand.

I remember when I first started building the Internet in the 1990's, I had established email links to our offices around the world. Coworkers would bring me handwritten faxes to be sent by email, they didn't understand.

Today, the Internet is a utility we all take for granted, Bitcoin will be that for money, but not yet, we are still early. But it's good to have discussions on how to accelerate adoption, especially under the current economic climate.

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Discussion

Oshi (推し) 4mo ago

Absolutely. I appreciate these kinda of discussions a lot. Helps me understand a perspective that I didn’t previously have. Curious to hear more about how you contributed to building the internet?

mike 4mo ago

The Internet in the 1980's and 1990's followed exactly the same path as Bitcoin does today. When I first got involved in 1989, the people I explained the technology to didn't get it at all.

Later in the mid 90's, the Internet had the reputation as a network only used by criminals and pornographers, I was considered deviant by building the infrastructure.

Later as it became more apparent as to the potential of the Internet battles ensued within my company to gain control, I lost the internal battle so focused externally and built a large data centre business which ended up increasing my families public company share price 10 fold, leading to a hostile takeover after its collapse with the dot dom crash.

The difference between the Internet and Bitcoin?

The Internet was a threat to middle industries who were numerous but unorganised and mostly unprepared for the onslaught that was the Internet.

Bitcoin is a threat to governments and banks who, despite being centralised and having far greater power, still suffer from game theory, which John Nash successfully predicted would force these organisations to play a game that disadvantages them, because not playing, disadvantages them more.

Oshi (推し) 4mo ago

Does Bitcoin’s direct challenge to governments and banks mean its adoption curve will be faster or slower than the Internet’s

mike 4mo ago

I can't predict the future only tell tales of the past. My Polymarket account is testimony to that 😂

The threat is different, but the result will be the same. I think the adoption profile will be different. The Internet was adopted most rapidly by western wealthy nations. Bitcoins adoption as a currency, I believe, will be most rapidly adopted by emerging economies.

As for its adoption as an asset, I think we can all see what is happening there.

We argue about where on the Internet timeline Bitcoin currently sits, there are several metrics used, such as adoption numbers or technology levels. The range generally agreed upon is somewhere between 1994 and 1997, I tend to lean more towards the 1994 end.

Bitcoin Events SV⚡️😁 4mo ago

Dead on! I just landed in Nairobi Kenya to speak with some Bitcoin Community Leaders. I have a list of insightful questions. But, open to hear other suggestions of what to question them about. It is a fascinating subject to study. Bitcoin adoption that is.

mike 4mo ago

Good luck 👍

🇵🇸 whoever loves Digit 4mo ago

Not sure where you're getting your statistics but only 8% of American adults are millionaires (the class which includes people who can "afford life")

The vast majority of people are wage slaves, the definitional opposite of people hard money solves nothing for