Forget the get-rich-quick stuff (forget what KimNam is selling, and yunkie is buying).

It's a circus.

When a person gains a shitload of cash by stumbling into it more-or-less accidentally (and for nothing), that is not financial freedom. That's dumb luck. Right time, right place, jackpot, good for them.

When a person gains a new useful ability with their finances -- when they're suddenly able to do something with their money that they couldn't do before -- that is financial freedom. And that's not dumb luck. In fact, there's a whitepaper which states exactly the kind of financial freedom Bitcoin is designed to give to people; exactly the kind of financial limitations Bitcoin is designed to overcome.

It's in the very first sentence of the Abstract, and the very first paragraph of the Introduction. Szabotoshi Nickamoto, it would seem, conceived of Bitcoin with the second kind of financial freedom in mind. (See OP for details).

What are everyone's thoughts (or votes) on what to write next?
A solid explanation of wallets/keys makes sense, but after that?

(Edit: the confusion around intrinsic value seems to come up a lot in offline discussion...)

Good! Thank you. Spread it around!

Yes, although I would add this pathway too:
Tipping point in understanding --> Growth in development --> Tipping point in slickness --> Growth in adoption.

Good development follows good understanding (of what we're really developing).

Yes, try this: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=700054.0
It's proving pretty effective so far.

You're not wrong.

Ha, they might be right!
Just tell them what the real magic is. Point them to this post and see if it works.

Edit: I think this belongs here...

Good! Thank you.

I wrote a beginner's guide to Bitcoin. It goes right for the bit that really matters -- the real meat-and-potatoes that all the other nonsense happens around. If you can't get things quite straight in your head, this intro will help.

It starts like this:

Forget everything you've heard. Bitcoin is complicated like magic is complicated. It's not. But things are told to you in an obscure way, amidst a lot of distracting nonsense, which leaves you bewildered.

[...]

...and continues here: http://medium.com/@majc/the-real-magic-of-bitcoin-82476c2fb40b

Dear BT,

I've written an introduction to the meat-and-potatoes of Bitcoin.
It's proving to be pretty effective in creating "oooooh - I get it!" moments. Please tell me what you think, and please test it however and on whoever you like.

It's called The Real Magic of Bitcoin and it starts like this:

------------------------------------------------------------

http://stillgoing.net/majc/images/bitcoin_hat.png Forget everything you've heard. Bitcoin is complicated like magic is complicated. It's not. But things are told to you in an obscure way, amidst a lot of distracting nonsense, which leaves you bewildered. The magician does it on purpose, of course, whereas Bitcoin just isn't explained very well, and the theatrics which happen around it are highly magnetic.

So where's the sleight of hand – what are we missing?

Where we really need to look, first and core-most, is here: When you hand over a quarter to someone in the street, the coin moves from one person to another, and everyone keeps walking. Bitcoin doesn't work that way. You do not “transfer one bitcoin” from one person to another. Bitcoins don't move.

What happens instead?

When you transact in bitcoin, what moves from one person to another – what changes hands – is ownership of the bitcoin. You sign over your ownership of one bitcoin to someone else, the bitcoin stays put, and everyone keeps walking. Do you see how that's different? The money in this situation – the agreed, accepted store of value that people exchange – is bitcoin-ownership, not the bitcoin itself.

Nifty trick? Yes. Complicated? No.

It's a subtle shift in technique which achieves exactly the same result: “This doesn't belong to me any more, it belongs to you”. And, like a magic trick, subtle shifts in technique can make otherwise impossible things possible.

The Bitcoin way of making transactions – with its subtly different technique – opens up some very important new possibilities (and it also improves on many old ones). And that is Bitcoin's value. That is why Bitcoin means something. That is why Bitcoin is worth something.

We'll get to what the newly-possible things are in a minute, and why they matter, but when you see some pretty smart people getting so pumped about bitcoin, these technological advances are the reason. They are the real magic of bitcoin.

And they regularly get lost amidst a lot of distracting nonsense.

http://stillgoing.net/majc/images/glider_trans.png

First, a little bit more of how it works…

Take a second to see the difference in technique clearly (between the quarter and the bitcoin), because from here we're properly set up to understand Bitcoin. From here, what might seem tricky actually starts making sense. Like the public, mega-shared ledger, for example.

When you sign over your ownership of one bitcoin to someone else, this internet-wide ledger is where you sign.

[...]

continues here: http://stillgoing.net/majc/2014/07/the-real-magic-of-bitcoin/.

------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you to everyone who reads it.
Let me know if it works.

buildr is probably the man you're looking for.

This was in the main forum literally the day before you posted here (exactly the same idea, in development):
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=492053.0

Bank withdrawals in Ukraine have just been limited to ~$100 a day...
[Zerohedge, Wall Street Journal]

This seems like a good opportunity for bitcoin to bring some genuine help to people, and at the same time get some badly needed positive press just days after the Fattest Financial Fuckup so far in '14.

Any developments?

Can you clarify "someone with btc"?

So basically I signup like this, and then people can send btc to my alias...
Is my alias tied to my phone number?

How does it work?

e.g. I'm a Ukrainian on the street with a Nokia 3210...
Now what?