Andreas Antonopoulos took on the challenge of explaining Bitcoin to your mother in a recent Q&A session that went public July 19.
‘Just Like Email’
The celebrated cryptocurrency educator and lecturer took pause for thought before beginning the deceptively simple task of summing up Bitcoin and altcoins in ‘normal person’ language.
His response came following a viewer request for a video which would “exist for her mom and everyone like her who wants to understand the basics.”
“Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are a form of money invented recently and introduced on the internet,” Antonopoulos began.
This is a form of money that only exists in a digital form and it can be sent and received just like an email.
Mum Doesn’t Care About The Banks (Yet)
Bitcoin is making its way into a fresh round of headlines this week after prices surged by almost one third over the past month to hit $8000 July 24.
According to recent surveys seen by Bitcoinist, despite prices of most cryptocurrencies being significantly lower than they were even six months ago, many prospective consumers either feel it is too late to buy or think doing so is too complicated. As other commentators have noted, meanwhile, the level of understand of just what a cryptocurrency is compared to traditional forms of money remains palpably low.
Antonopoulos, who has dedicated the majority of his time to changing that status quo, thus had his work cut out.
“The advantage of this is that in many countries, people have limited access to traditional financial institutions,” he continued on the email analogy.
But even in developed countries, traditional financial instruments like credit cards and checks and paper money are not suitable for our digital lifestyle.
Continuing on to discuss the limited technological readiness of cryptocurrencies in terms of user interface and other aspects, Antonopoulos’ response was notable for its lack of ‘political’ content.
While often referring to the scourge of the banks in his lectures, his explanation of Bitcoin for mums made no reference to bankers’ greed, government money-printing monopolies or decentralized cryptocurrency’s ethical implications.
Concluding, he instead emphasized its status as a technological leap forward:
…Eventually, it’s going to be easy to use for everyone, and then we’ll have to try to explain to our children and our descendants what the hell we were thinking with these plastic cards and this linseed-and-cotton money that was covered in germs, and they will not understand what we’re talking about.
What do you think about Andreas Antonopoulos’ explanation of cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, Bitcoinist archives