OK, so i'm an everyday guy, i know some stuff and i don't know a lot more stuff. I'm not a network engineer or systems analyst. I don't speak jargon and all the tech talk that you guys take for granted as plain English, annoys the pish out of me and makes me switch off. (Nobody likes being made to feel stupid do they?)
The first example of a paragraph that makes me switch off, is from Bitcoin.org FAQ page.
"What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money. It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet. Bitcoin can also be seen as the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence."
So, to most people, when they think of Bitcoin, they think of bitcoin - the currency. It wasn't until a great while later that i realised the significance of the capital letter. Bitcoin is the system, the exchange, the network whatever you want to call it. bitcoin, with a lower case b, is the currency. Its so confusing, they even use the wrong Bitcoin in the FAQ. "From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet." Pretty sure that should be a lowercase b.
Now me personally, i couldn't give a toss about the network, the capital B Bitcoin. It might be interesting to most, it might be the backbone of the future of the internet. I just don't care. It doesn't interest me.
Every week i fill my bike up with petrol, its a vital component of the vehicle that makes it go. Couldn't give a crap how petrol is made or how it gets to the pump.
I drive my bike on roads, every day. Couldn't give a crap how roads came to being the way they are now. They are the backbone of the logistics network of almost every country. Without them, how would your dunkin donuts get to the store?
The easiest way i can think of to describe a crypto currency, is to say. Its like god, nobody can see it, but they tell you it exists. There are loads of different ones to choose from, but nobody knows which is the right one. To the wrong person, they are worth nothing, ignored, shunned, and demonised. But to the right person, they are worth your soul. (maybe taking it a bit far but hey.)
In all seriousness now though. Crypto-currencies, in my view, are objects. Digital objects, but objects nonetheless. If you buy an object, whether its a priceless work of art, or a foot stool from your local charity shop. Over time, the price of that object will go up or down depending on how much people want it. (or how trendy it is.) This is how they work. If a lot of people want them, but not many people are selling them, the price will go up (the sellers are in control of the price). If a less people want them and a lot of people are selling them, the price will go down (the buyers are in control of the price)
This may be completely wrong, but this is my theory and view on the subject. And seeing as nobody will just use normal terminology to explain it, and even the Bitcoin (or is that bitcoin) website can't get it right, then i shall continue to think this way, and crypto-currency shall remain locked out of an entire market that just wish someone would remove the technical manual from their mouth and remember that not everyone is a "tech-head".
Thank you for listening. (or should that be Listening?)
