You Simply Haven't Done the Work
If someone is learning to speak Spanish, they don’t start having conversations after their first day of studying. It may take a year to get to a basic level of understanding.
The same applies for Bitcoin. The learning curve can get steep depending on how far you want to take it. Like learning a language, it takes time.
It’s evident when talking to those who have put in the time. You can tell they’ve consumed days worth of podcasts, read books, debated on Twitter, and watched their fair share of Simply Bitcoin.
It’s equally apparent when talking to those who haven’t done the work. Whether they are beginning their journey or their ego is in the way, many signs that show they have work to do.
The following are common examples of things people say who don’t understand Bitcoin:
They say “crypto” instead on Bitcoin
Those with the understanding of how decentralization works, understand that Bitcoin is different from the rest because of it’s security, accessibility, and censorship resistant properties. Bitcoin has nothing to do with the other speculative cryptos usually made for the sole reason of enriching their founders.
They think Blockchain is the innovation
“Blockchain not Bitcoin” is something someone would say who doesn’t understand databases, scaling applications, counterparty risk, and the economic incentives behind a token. If you hear someone say “house titles on the blockchain”...run for your life.
They haven’t self-custodied
Believe it or not, many talking heads that get airtime to voice their opinion on Bitcoin have no idea that it can be withdrawn from exchanges and taken into self custody. They have no idea the protocol can be interacted with independent of 3rd parties.
They think Bitcoin is a product
They’ll make dumb comparisons like Bitcoin being Myspace. Or they’ll say things like “Bitcoin is Uber and Ethereum is Lyft”. Foolish. Bitcoin is a resilient network.
They think Bitcoin can be stopped
Saying Bitcoin can be stopped is like trying to stop people from speaking English. They think a government’s laws have the ability to stop Bitcoin. They say stupid things like “What if the government turns off the electricity?”.
They focus on users
Someone on the internet rubbed them the wrong way and now they think Bitcoin users are “toxic”. Bitcoin is a neutral technology. The persona of its users are irrelevant. Imagine saying people who use US Dollar are mean.
They think Bitcoin wastes energy
These people have no idea how energy production works or how much energy is “wasted” pushing FIAT as money. This pod by Guy Swan and Brandon Quittem covers Bitcoin’s energy use.
They think they are late to Bitcoin
They don’t realize we are extremely early as far as adoption and innovation goes. They think they are late because they heard of it in the past and the dollar price was cheaper. You’re not late.
If you hear one of these classic newbie critiques, just know you have the upper hand on asymmetrical life changing information.
There’s load of other examples that show people simply haven’t done the work.
Comment below other examples of a misinformed no-coiner.
Stack hard plebs.