How to Explain Bitcoin to Anyone

There have been numerous attempts at this, but I'm going to give it a shot, anyway. Feel free to pass this around or make suggestions as to how it can be improved.

Thanks to the Internet, 2.1 billion people are now connected to each other, all around the world. As a result, the Internet makes it easier and cheaper to send mail or make phone calls, especially when compared to the old postal and telephone systems.

The system that we depend upon to send money, however, does not yet take advantage of the Internet. It still consists of a closed network of banks and credit card companies that manage those transactions for us, and it is slow, expensive, or both. Isn't it amazing, that in this day and age, we still can't pay our bills on weekends?

PayPal, like your credit card, also uses that same old banking network, and it's the reason why they charge two to three percent, or more, to let you send money through their system.

But if we're all connected to each other by the Internet, why do we still have to go through the slow and expensive banks to send money to each other?

Thankfully, someone invented a system that lets us send money to each other without using banks, and it's called Bitcoin. The Bitcoin network is part of the Internet and it works so well, in fact, that it has transferred hundreds of millions of dollars around the world over the last three years, and not a single mistake has ever been made. It's also the most powerful computer network in the world, because it's made up of all of its users, connected together.

To start using Bitcoin, all you have to do is buy Bitcoins from anyone who already has some. They can be easily exchanged for whichever currency you already use, and once you have Bitcoins, they can be sent to anyone, anywhere, for almost no fee.

Just like the postal service and telephone companies, Bitcoin makes the old ways of banking seem ancient. Best of all, like the Internet, nobody owns the Bitcoin network; it's for everyone to use as they wish.

To get started, just talk to any Bitcoin user; they would be more than happy to help you out. You can also check out weusecoins.com.

Posted in: bitcoin,newbies