HOW TO WIN AN ARGUMENT ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY
My experience with Bitcoin has mostly been positive. When I hear the age old argument of "those are just numbers, they hold no real value" I just shrug it off and tell that person to open their bank account and look at numbers as meaningful as Bitcoin. And after some time of dealing with this crap, I decided that it was time to share my knowledge with the internet. So here you go. The most used/over used arguments why Bitcoin is worthless and how to counter them without calling your adversary a twat:
1. It can be barely used for anything!
Well for one, if I had enough bitcoin, I could buy a Tesla and just zooooooom right by you and not deal with your outdated views, but here we are. I can buy electronics, jewelry, kitchen utensils, computer parts and even, in some cases, a mansion. All of that without a bank or any other type of middle man. Go figure that one out. I can even go to a Bitcoin ATM and withdraw my Bitcoin in the currency of the country I am in, without having to really watch the exchange rates, without having to talk to a clerk whose language I barely speak. So let us start this conversation again when I arrive in Britain and just have to wait a few minutes to get some pounds while you go talk to someone in the exchange.
2. My credit card is better anyway.
Then this argument pops up. Cool. To be fair, in some use cases it is actually better. But I have seen places that do not accept cards, but gladly take your bitcoin. And the moment a financial crisis hits, the bank closes and your money vanishes. Bitcoin on the other hand, rises in value, and I can withdraw EVEN MORE MONEY with it.
3. It's all money laundering and drugs and weapons anyway!
I usually buy my drugs with cash (joke), I don't understand what you're getting at. The most popular way to launder money is to get it into the banking system into several accounts in very small amounts over a long stretch of time. Preferably in a country where the banking system is disorganized and corrupt, then getting your uncle with a restaurant in on it, yadda yadda, you get the point. And even though a cryptocurrency can help with that, the money still needs to flow into the banking system to get validated and "laundered" anyway. Weapons and drugs can be bought with bitcoin, but they still must come in parcels through shipping and customs and, I don't know if you've heard of this, bigger packages get checked more often. And an AR-15 barrel in a lonesome package with no return address just might qualify as suspicious.
4. It is decentralized, so it is unstable and has fraud potential.
Insert me going on a full on PowerPoint rampage with three whiteboards looking like a lunatic scheming lizard man with a tinfoil hat telling them how it all works and them getting none of it.
5. It is just numbers. It is worth nothing and will go away in a few months.
Open your bank account. Look at those meaningful numbers! Open your wallet. Numbers on paper and metal platters? SOOOOOOOOO MEANINGFUL!!!! As soon as the economy crashes, they will only be good to shove up your bum anyway. Take that from any way you like :)
So here are the arguments I have encountered the most often. I hope this knowledge will help you some day.
