STAGE 2 · UNDERSTAND BITCOINLEVEL · Beginner10 LESSONSABOUT 53 MINBITCOIN FUNDAMENTALS
FUD stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt. Some of it is lazy; some of it is a real question wearing a hostile tone. This course takes the ten most common objections seriously, gives the best answer available, and is honest where the answer is "we do not know yet". Ten lessons, about an hour.
BY THE END OF THIS COURSE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO
- State each objection in its strongest form
- Answer it with numbers and sources
- Say what is genuinely uncertain, and what is not
- Keep your composure at dinner
Every lesson ends with a quiz or a challenge; the course is complete when each lesson is.
0 of 10 lessonsStart the course →
LESSONS
01"Bitcoin wastes energy"Bitcoin uses about half a percent of global electricity, much of it stranded or renewable. The energy is what makes the ledger expensive to rewrite.▶ 2✓ quiz7 MIN✓02"Bitcoin is for criminals"Illicit use is a tiny fraction of bitcoin activity, and the public ledger makes it a poor tool for crime. Cash dominates.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓03"It's a Ponzi scheme / greater fool"A Ponzi needs an operator, promised returns and hidden books. Bitcoin has none, pays no one, and has survived every collapse in inflows.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓04"It has no intrinsic value"Nothing has intrinsic value; value is what people assign. Bitcoin's value rests on scarcity, usefulness as money and security, like gold's but more so.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓05"It's too expensive / I'm too late"Under 5% of people own bitcoin, and it is divisible into sats. "Too late" has been said at every price so far.▶ 1✓ quiz4 MIN✓06"It's too volatile to be money"Volatility is what adoption from zero looks like when supply cannot respond. It has fallen over time, and it is a feature of the journey, not the destination.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓07"Quantum computers will break it"A large quantum computer could threaten signatures, not hashing. Upgrades exist, and the risk applies to all of modern cryptography, banks included.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓08"Governments will ban it"Governments can ban exchanges and banks, not the network. Every national ban so far has pushed activity peer-to-peer. The trend is toward regulation, reserves and ETFs.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓09"It's too slow and can't scale"The base layer is slow by design so anyone can verify it. Payments scale on layers above it, as every money system has.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓10"It's propped up by Tether and whales"Tether is a company IOU and a real counterparty risk. It is one source of demand among many, and bitcoin's own ledger cannot be printed.▶ 1✓ quiz5 MIN✓