The Bitcoin revolution has come a phenomenal way since the creation of Bitcoin in late 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. More than 125 million users own Bitcoin at the time of writing. This is incredible, but equally incredible is the fact that we are only at the beginning of this monetary revolution.

Just over 1% of the world's population owns Bitcoin. And of that 1%, probably less than a third understand why Bitcoin is there and how it works.

This is where we realize how far we have to go for the Bitcoin revolution to fully succeed in its mission: to give as many people as possible an alternative to the current monetary and financial system. An alternative made for the people and supported by the people.

To truly embrace the Bitcoin revolution, people from the general public will have to get rid of 8 misconceptions that I detail in this article.

“Bitcoin has no intrinsic value”

Opponents of Bitcoin often put forward this argument. For them, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. This argument is irrelevant if you go back to the definition of the subjective theory of value:

“The value of a good is not determined by any inherent property of the good, nor by the amount of labor necessary to produce the good, but instead value is determined by the importance an acting individual places on a good for the achievement of his desired ends.”

If you understand this theory, then you will realize that the US dollar or any other fiat currency has no intrinsic value. These fiat currencies have value simply because the general public buys into this idea. If the general public buys into this idea, it is simply because the governments are there to give them that guarantee.

With over 125 million users, Bitcoin also gives you solid guarantees. Bitcoin is now an official currency in one country, El Salvador.

As the number of Bitcoin users increases, the value of Bitcoin will grow, because trust in what it represents will increase. It is as simple as that. The value of Bitcoin is given by its users, whose numbers are growing all the time.

Unlike fiat currencies, no one is forcing you to accept that Bitcoin has value. It is up to each user to decide whether or not they agree that Bitcoin is valuable. Everyone is free in the Bitcoin system.

“Bitcoin is far too complicated for the general public to adopt”

When you're a Bitcoiner like me and a developer at that, you're excited about the technological prowess represented by the system behind Bitcoin. De facto, you tend to talk too much about the magical assembly of technologies that Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin.

This will put off the general public who will have the impression that Bitcoin is too complicated to use.

In reality, using the Bitcoin network is no more complicated than using the Internet. When you use the Internet, you don't need to know the details of HTTP or TCP/IP. Web developers may be excited to tell you about these technologies, but you don't listen to them and just use the Internet because it makes your life better.

With Bitcoin, it will be the same. The user experience will continue to improve, but the users who embrace Bitcoin will not be looking for what's underneath. They will simply use Bitcoin because it is the native money of the Internet. Period.

“Bitcoin is too slow to be a widespread means of payment in everyday life”

Some acknowledge the value of Bitcoin, but explain that it can never be more than a store of value. This is the main role it plays today and it makes sense if you look at the 3 main phases of Bitcoin's mass adoption.

You have to see the Bitcoin blockchain as a central bank in which security is more important than the speed of transactions.

For the use of Bitcoin in everyday life, we will rely on layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network. This is how Bitcoin has been adopted for everyday payments in El Salvador. The Lightning Network allows for instantaneous transactions without fees.

From time to time, open channels with the main Bitcoin network will be closed. This does not require a high transaction speed.

The day you understand how a standard Bitcoin works, then you will never again say that you can't imagine buying your morning coffee by paying for it in Bitcoin. It is already easily done in El Salvador, and it will be done elsewhere in the future.

“I don’t have a problem with the current system. I don't need to leave the current monetary and financial system”

The current monetary and financial system de facto excludes hundreds of millions of people around the world. From African countries to South American countries to Southeast Asia. For these people, Bitcoin is already a plan A that gives them access to basic banking services.

In the Western world, the injustice of the current system is less obvious to the general public, as it is less immediately damaging.

However, you should open your eyes to the many problems with the current system, both financial and banking. The banking system is opaque, which allows banks to manipulate the system every year. Since 2000, banks around the world have accumulated over $330 billion in fines for this bad behavior.

This behavior is done at the expense of the people. So you and I.

You can no longer accept this. Bitcoin is about taking back the fruits of your labor by facilitating your transactions. No more middlemen. You run your node on the network and you can send money to whoever you want whenever you want without being unfairly taxed with far too high fees.

In El Salvador alone, Western Union earns more than $400 million in transaction fees each year. For an economically small country like El Salvador, Bitcoin is already making a huge difference in this respect alone.

Satoshi Nakamoto had this in mind when he invented Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin will be overtaken by other cryptocurrencies in the future”

In the world of cryptocurrencies, there is an old theory that Bitcoin will be outdated sooner or later because of its outdated technology. Those who say this are only trying to promote their cryptocurrency projects.

Bitcoin's technology is not old, it is robust and durable. It has hardly changed since Bitcoin's inception for the simple reason that it doesn't have to change.

Bitcoin is perfect with its current consensus system based on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. This allows Bitcoin to be a decentralized system accessible to all. Those who talk about the interest of a switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) for Bitcoin in the future still haven't understood that it is precisely to guard against this flawed system that Bitcoin was created.

The USD system is an implementation of the Proof-of-Stake. This is the best proof that this system cannot work for the good of the majority.

What Bitcoin offers, no other cryptocurrency will be able to offer. Digital scarcity is a unique invention that has already happened with Bitcoin. All self-proclaimed replacements for Bitcoin are pale copies that will fail sooner or later.

The move towards Proof-of-Stake (PoS) for Bitcoin in the future still hasn't figured out that Bitcoin was created to protect itself from this flawed system.

“Countries will ban Bitcoin which will make it worthless”

China has banned Bitcoin for the 150th time or so in September 2021. I'm kidding here, but with China continually announcing a ban on Bitcoin for several years, I have to admit it's confusing.

In the end, you shouldn't be surprised to see China banning Bitcoin. It is even an honor for Bitcoin to be banned by China. Bitcoin promotes values that are the opposite of those of the Chinese Communist Party. Bitcoin simply means freedom.

Nevertheless, you will see that the Chinese authorities will not be able to completely prevent the Chinese from using the Bitcoin system.

Bitcoin's decentralization and the fact that it has no leader make it antifragile. No one can stop the Bitcoin system, which has had an uptime of 99.99% since its creation. Bitcoin is now unstoppable.

Countries that attack Bitcoin like China will shoot themselves in the foot because other countries will seize the opportunity to take advantage of it. This is already happening since May 2021 with the great exodus of Bitcoin mining from China to North America.

So don't worry. Your Bitcoin will continue to have value no matter what.

“Bitcoin is an ecological disaster”

Opponents of Bitcoin love to use the environmental theme to attack Bitcoin. To hear them tell it, Bitcoin would be an ecological disaster. Its high electricity consumption is a barrier to mass adoption by the general public.

These opponents forget to mention that the ESG score of Bitcoin is already very high:

• Environmental: The share of renewable energy in the electricity used by Bitcoin has now exceeded 50% to reach 56%.

• Social: Bitcoin guarantees all its users 5 fundamental human rights.

• Governance: Transparent, Open, Permissionless.

The electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network has to be put in perspective with the value it brings to its users, but also with the amount of money that its decentralized network secures.

If you do this, then you will see that Bitcoin's electricity consumption is justified, but also that the ecological disaster predicted for the future cannot be blamed on Bitcoin.

“I’m late to the party to take full advantage of the Bitcoin revolution”

Since the mid-2010s, everyone feels that they are too late to the party when they buy Bitcoin for the first time. Yet the price of Bitcoin continues to rise over time. Bitcoin is a NgU (Numbers go Up) technology.

The important thing is to understand why Bitcoin is important. Once you have made this intellectual effort, then you will have confidence in its revolution. This confidence will allow you to be patient in becoming a Bitcoin HODLer no matter what.

If you get to that point, then you will eventually be rewarded by the Bitcoin revolution. It is only a matter of time.

In my opinion, the perfect time to buy Bitcoin is always now. Provided, of course, that you have understood why Bitcoin is important. It is up to you to make the right choice for your future regarding money.

Final Thoughts

The success of Bitcoin is already phenomenal. The system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto has convinced more than 125 million users since its creation. Its price even reached an ATH of almost $65K in April 2021. Yet all this is only the beginning of what lies ahead for Bitcoin.

A significant acceleration in Bitcoin adoption will occur over the next decade. To get on the right bandwagon and be among those who will benefit fully, you need to get rid of the misconceptions that Bitcoin's opponents keep spreading.

In this article, I've taken down the top 8 most common misconceptions. If you see any others, please feel free to use the comments to point them out to me.

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