Bitcoin, Like Anything New, is Confusing at First
Four years into its popular adoption, even a well-regarded economist like Paul Krugman thought little of the Internet’s potential, predicting, “The growth of the Internet will slow drastically,” he wrote, “most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.”
It’s fair to look back and acknowledge not everyone fully appreciates a technology at the time of its inception or early years.The same is true for Bitcoin, or will be.
Mainstream accounts of Bitcoin range from terrifying criminal portrayals to a speculative mania rarely seen. While some of that is for sure going-on, the vast majority of Bitcoiners are people interested in a reliable payment system and a money that holds its value (or better).
Leave the hype behind, both good and bad, and instead consider the basics of Bitcoin as a network and bitcoin as a money.