Quote from: cisary on April 21, 2015, 10:10:44 PM

Of course I would introduce Bitcoin to them.. actually I did and here is how:

With friends it was quite easy because I was (and still am btw) big fan of crypto in general not to mention that mining was my hobby and they knew it about me. From time to time they asked what's new and I liked to talk about what's going on. They didn't understand any technical aspect of Bitcoin though. If they didn't care I simply changed the topic of discussion and that's it.
I think they are too lazy to learn and find out what blockchain is and how it works by themselves. Not to mention that most of them don't care about politics/ central banking/ creation and distribution of money in general.. They like their credit cards and that's all - I accept it. It is important not to force them and sometimes let them think that I'm just crazy and laugh with them Cheesy

Bitcoin itself won't save the world for sure. But for me, it's not just about BTC/USD price and greed and I still think it's game changer. The first thing I usually tell them is that it's process and if they want to be involved they should be patient, careful and most important thing: not to expect miracles. I recommend them to use it as currency - buy and sell things/ services, learn how (and where) to trade it and simply enjoy having this "digital cash" as I like to call Bitcoin sometimes, by trying different wallets/ web services just for fun.

With colleagues - programmers it was surprisingly hard but I wanted them to be curious at least so few times I mentioned Bitcoin and when they asked about some technical details I was ready to discuss them. However some of them still don't get it at all and I honestly don't know why. Some of them think that mining is waste of electricity or that Bitcoin is just a tool for cyber criminals and/or drug addicts, noting more. I respect their opinions. Maybe when Bitcoin will be more adopted they will change them. I'm looking forward to this by the way, maybe it won't be Bitcoin (I think it will though) but it will be some other crypto currency. Decentralization is necessary and secure global crypto currency is the future no matter what imho.

With (close) family it was quite different story: I gave them small amounts of Bitcoin on paper wallets together with their christmas presents and told them that if they want to spend it they should learn how

As soon as they will want to buy something with their coins I am ready to help. At first I was sad because to my surprise they didn't care even with their own paper wallets it their hands. They thought that it's just some sort of fancy certificate but now when they see that I'm still interested in crypto they became curious and want to learn more and more. We discuss crypto (not technical aspects, mostly news..) and the most important thing: now they use their paper wallets as "piggy banks" - They give me cash and I fund their wallets with BTC - small amounts of course. They don't want to install classic wallets or use online services at all because they are worried about security - This is simply because I told them some (scary) stories about mt gox/ stolen coins/ backdoors/ scams/ ponzi schemes/ hacking etc. They still think that real money should be stored in the bank but now when they (to some degree) understand how safe their paper wallets (created and printed offline with live-cd linux of course..) really are they like them.

So my advice is: Describe Bitcoin as digital cash, tell them about secure paper wallets (or cold storage in general..) Mention open source, small/no fees and decentralization (or simply tell them that it's just like torrents but for banking) Maybe they will get it right when you show them directly how easy to use Bitcoin really is. Sometimes it's even important to mention that alternative to central banking is necessary and that they can use this "money of the future" right now if they want. Sorry for my poor english - it's not my native language.

Wow! That was a very detailed post! Don't worry, I understood your post just fine. Your English isn't poor at all.

Thanks for mentioning the word 'future'. I think it might be one of the key words in defining Bitcoin, other than decentralized, open source, cryptocurrency and that stuff. I totally forgot about how Bitcoin is the future of how sending money to and from one another.