Most people do not see the usefulness of it. Visa/bank cards/payment apps work well enough for them. Places like Steak and Shake can start accepting bitcoin and that's fun, but after the initial burst of activity, I'd wager they have very very low numbers of bitcoin transactions. Ideological adoption is only gonna get us so far.

I'm hopeful that some payments use-cases are emerging that are so obviously the easiest way to do a thing that people start using bitcoin without actually caring that they are using bitcoin.

People who run webstores might like it because no charge-backs, no fees, and no borders, but you still have to run something like BTC Payserver and your own node and maybe manage channels...but they still need to be pretty motivated to get it done.

People who have OnlyFans and have a hard time keeping tradfi accounts open might like it because they are in a sector that banking really doesn't like, but how many of their fans are able and willing to pay in bitcoin?

AI stuff is also promising because it's really frustrating to get into a subscription when all you want to do is use the product for a specific project. And then there's agents that might need the ability to spend money themselves. Bitcoin is well suited for this.

I'm sure there are more such cases. But I doubt adoption at the local coffee shop as anything more than a publicity stunt for a long while yet.

And for the wider world, the thing that brings bitcoin to mind is number go up. They don't think they need it and most people are never going to spend very much time learning why they do need it. But when the price goes up, they FOMO.

I know it is stupid, but to get people interested in Bitcoin, you have to tell them that they should not look into it! They need to avoid Bitcoin at all costs!

I wish it was otherwise, but I don't make the rules. 80% of the time it works all the time. Reverse psychology is a bitch.

The fact that they only associate money with spending is the main psyop of fiat currency.

Most people in 1st world countries have no clue about bitcoin as a payment method, they'll just say 'my credit card works just fine!'

They may have heard about it as a store of value, but that will be it.

They're not watching Joe Nakomoto, they're not looking at m2 and inflation charts

btc is very much a case of when the student is ready, the teacher appears

I don't know how old you are, but if you were born in the 80s like me, you might remember the internet in the early to mid 90s. I'm seeing a lot of similarities with the bitcoin network in terms of adoption. A lot of question, doubt, and thinking it's all hype, all scam, especially after the dot com bubble. But then, look at the internet now.

In the end, if it's a good idea, if it's a superior idea, people will adopt it, because they want what's best for themselves. If you've experienced the slowness, control, censorship, and just the pain of using the fiat banking system, you will appreciate bitcoin so much more. Or if you're unbanked like nearly 30% of the population on this earth, you will probably also find bitcoin very useful.

Like Saylor says, "bitcoin is on a need to know basis". Many people in the States have access to a usable banking system and access to investments to maintain their wealth, so they don't need to know about bitcoin. But eventually, everyone turns to bitcoin. Like the sayings go, "We are still early." "Gradually then suddenly." "You get bitcoin at the price you deserve."

"An idea whose time has come is unstoppable." Your friends will turn to bitcoin when they feel the need for it. Just make it known that they can come talk to you and ask for advice / seek education when that need arises. Meanwhile, "stay humble and stack sats" my friend.

Most people don't need it until they need it.

What exactly the catalyst will be, especially in the developed world, that's still a million-sats question to me...

You don't need to convince anyone not in the domain.

the solution is to get better friends

people who won't spend enough time to at least briefly understand something you're passionate about and just wave it off also don't really value you or your judgement. So wasting your time on them is pointless.

Its up to each individual person to do the "work" to learn (or unlearn) about money. The more you understand BTC, the more BTC you tend to own.

I think we're in the same universe... just two different kinds of people live in it. We live in the "future" simply because we like to learn about new tech and have adopted BTC before most people have even tried it.

Others would rather adopt new tech later on, after all the difficulties have been smoothed out, or they'll only change behaviors when there is no other option left.

You can't force a late-majority kind of person into becoming an early-adopter. Its just their nature, like our nature is to be early. Embrace your nature and others'.

Not that bizarre if you understand business and the desire to hold better money. Businesses want to make things for rich people because rich people tend to pay more. However, people who are "Bitcoin Rich" are more likely to understand that BTC is better money, and therefore they are less likely to want to spend it if there is inferior money left to spend. Its the same reason you can't find many places to "spend" stocks, real estate, fine art, and other assets.

Good! LN is pretty complicated. Its probably best if people don't know it exists. Do most internet users know TCP/IP exists? Probably not, they just use a domain name or email address and it just works! That's the role LN should have IMO.

This should be a hint... stop talking about bitcoin and start asking them about their ideas of money.

Do they feel inflation? Where do they think inflation comes from? Do they like the USD? Do they think we should go back to gold standard?

Ask questions, resist the urge to give answers right away. Once you understand where they stand, you can start to nudge them toward learning about BTC on their own time.

There are enough resources to learn about BTC once someone is curious enough to WANT to learn about it.

People won't remember the words you said, they only remember how you made them feel.

If you make them feel like they're being sold something, or educated, that's less ideal than if you make them feel curious and intellectual about the nature of money and value.

Maybe they're right! If you are curious about their reasons, maybe they'll become curious about your reasons for owning BTC.

I don't understand your urge to orange pill. Their ignorance is your opportunity to stack for cheap, why would you try to influence them to frontrun you?

Further, you know people have been kidnapped for their wallets/keys, right? By blabbering about bitcoin everywhere, you are painting a target on yourself.

Minds are rarely changed by reason alone, and systems follow their own inertia. Accept this truth—and keep building, keep waiting, for Bitcoin’s moment to come.

It's this present reality on the ground that makes me think Blackrock and the tradfi cartel stacking in the background is current greatest threat and tragedy to Bitcoin right now. The general public desperately needs to understand it and proliferate it as usable exchanged currency, but the big boys are on their way to hoarding it as reserves and reducing / delaying the MoE application.

I don't see that path tbh. My thought is: the reason to use fiat is because state coercion. With Bitcoin there is no state coercion, thus not everyone will opt in, and it is important for it to remain opt-in: less tyranny, more liberty.

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Bitcoins use as a MoE has been very slyly and successfully OBSTRUCTED by the bankers and governments who benefit from the fiat monetary system which relies upon its MoE dominance. Even most Bitcoiners do not understand this. Yes it is a war of subterfuge where lawfully using Bitcoin as a MoE has been in almost all jurisdictions made effectively impractical. By designating Bitcoin as a speculative commodity liable for CGT using Bitcoin to buy a coffee makes that transaction liable for CGT- so who is going to calculate and pay tax everytime they use Bitcoin for such transactions? Nobody is and so Bitcoin MoE is slyly designated unlawful. Merchants can accept but only conveniently if they use an application which immediately converts the sats prior to them arriving in their fiat bank account as fiat, not sats. So why would merchants accept a payment that very few customers have or even understand and of those few potential customers most would be breaking tax laws to use? Very very few is the answer. The fiat operators have effectively obstructed Bitcoin MoE use without most people, even Bitcoiners understanding/realising.

The masses are missing their chance to front run the elite. Its on them for being sheep. I've come to that realization. I have talked to people till I'm blue in the face about it. Its like a stone wall. Its a waste of time. Bitcoin will win, its just that the masses have always been and will always be followers. They are risk averse. Not in investing but in the space of ideas.

With the government pretending to be pro-bitcoin and ETFs gaining adoption we are seeing the wealthy try to "adopt" bitcoin. They don't really get it either but they realize it is something they should be exposed to. Even if they don't admit it.

I firmly believe those that have done the work will be rewarded for that work and bitcoin will enrich the lives of everyone. It won't make everyone rich, but that's a dumb idea anyway.

Here's the thing I think about when this topic comes up. If bitcoin is at 100k+ with so little understanding of its true utility and worth for mankind. What the heck is actually worth? I don't think anyone really knows. But I can't see it being worth less than it is now. I see it as exponentially more valuable than it is today. 10x is probably way off actually.

For the past 5 years now I've been taking bitcoin seriously. Not just stacking but learning how it works. How the tools work. How to communicate why it works. How to answer questions. How to teach people how to use it. I have very few opportunities to use this knowledge now. But I'm preparing myself to be an uncle Jim. I am for my family and a friend but pretty much everyone else is clueless and fast asleep.

This isn't depressing really. It should be expected. I've written about adjusting our time preference many times. The US is fat and happy. Even today with things not being so great. When people need it, bitcoin will be there if we, the vanguard keep working at it. Using it. Using the tools and preparing.

Remember when I tried to encourage you a few years back to buy some Bitcoin? You would have more than doubled more money now.

@remindme in 14 hours

Bitcoin is a monetary revolution. Like the internet was a revolution for information. Watch this clip about internet and remember that we are not even there. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z2fVTiEOl3U

Reality and the matrix.

This touches on something that I think is the problem with people that expect Bitcoin to be a ubiquitous MoE... It's literal savings technology, yet, the insistence that it be used in the meatspace for coffee to be successful is the Coca-Cola mindset.

Everyone is aware of and uses this pointless cornsyrup water, not because it is useful, but because they spend billions on signage.

Moths to a flame.

Don't give any shit to them.

Let them drown in fiat.

I think that part of the rejection of Bitcoin is due to the bad reputation it has been given. There is a black cloud over it that it is used by jihadist terrorists, criminals and now even drug cartels. Unfortunately, it is the criminals who have given it its first use, and since Bitcoin was born as an "anti-system", that is why it is not given the visibility it deserves.

Change your friends, change the world...

People's attitude towards lifeboats and icebergs was very similar on the Titanic.

I believe it too. We need to think about how we can speed up the transition. Somebody has to come up with a model like Bitcoin Mart that can where things are exclusively bought or sold for Bitcoin. I think this can start from online but tbh there area few which aren't competent against established fiat based merchants.