I find myself getting hooked on niche subjects all the time, whether its craft beer, League of Legends, Vainglory, motion graphics, cartoons or cryptocurrency. For the most part, I tend to follow a familiar pattern of becoming a little obsessed and then diving head first all the way into them. My friends, not so much; we'll typically talk about movies, politics or travel plans. That's not to say that some friends haven't also got into some of the same niche obsessions as I have. Many of my friends are way into craft beer, and it took years, but as the market exploded they got into it more, and the conversation quickly shifted over to brewery talk, what beers have you had, the new breweries in Chicago or which macro brewery just bought out the little guys.
Telling friends or even family about a niche topic is often hard, you have to start at the bottom when you're already six feet deep. I guess it's good that I run a company that does a fantastic job plainly explaining things to others.
Using what I know about the world of craft beer and translating that over to cryptocurrency makes a lot of sense when attempting to explain the crypto space to people. Many people have heard little bits about it but don't understand the topic very well. Since I like to share my obsessions with others, I've come up with the best way I know how to share my knowledge about the space on the off-chance some of my friends want to dive into the crypto world with me. It's always nice to have buddies to geek out with together.
In the early days of me getting into craft beer, I felt like an ambassador, introducing my friends and family to something that I thought was awesome and that they should know about too. When I first started talking to friends about craft beer, I wouldn't go into all the details about why Three Floyds Dark Lord was such a sought-after beer when they hadn't even tried a Stout beyond a Guinness. Educating your friends can take time and can be a delicate balance of showing why you are so enthusiastic about something but also not giving too much information as to turn them off. After sharing craft beer with friends and talking about what to look for in a particular style, and why it was so much better than the macro's, the last thing I would have wanted to see is my friends disregard everything I said and just revert to mindlessly drinking Coors Light.
The key is to know your audience.
Last week I was at a bar, and some friends asked me what I was drinking, I told them that I don't think I'll drink another one or I'll switch to bottles because I think the lines are dirty. They looked at me a bit perplexed; these friends know a bit about beer, but I guess my beer knowledge has gone to another level since I can't just give a simple response anymore. I see this happen to a lot of my friends who work in the film industry; they can have a hard time watching movies just for entertainment, they end up critiquing or picking it apart while their friends just want to enjoy it. It can be intensely annoying to have a conversation with someone who is on a different level of understanding with a topic. Beer snobs can be annoying sometimes, but if someone is intrigued and receptive to learning more, then they are less irritating.
It's best to know your audience, and what level of understanding they have about cryptocurrency, so you aren't talking over their heads or down to them. A lot of people have heard about Bitcoin but aren't aware of the whole world of cryptocurrency, so that's the best place to start with anyone. Assess their interest level and understanding of what it is first; then you can take it up a notch.
I, for one, am always in the mood to talk to someone about cryptocurrency and blockchain, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to get into a debate about how this is going to change the world as the internet did and collapse governments. Even though it is going to change everything and it just might contribute to the fall of governments!
When I first talk with people about Bitcoin, I'll often bring up Ethereum and Litecoin at the beginning of the conversation. It lets them know there is more than just Bitcoin and because those two cryptocurrencies are traded on Coinbase and have been around for a long time it gives them fuel to do their research. Someone is going to find a lot more information online about Litecoin than Tron at the moment.
You can let them know there are thousands of other cryptocurrencies called altcoins doing different things. Watch out if they start to glaze over and just tell them there are lots and you don't even understand them (even if you do). Your goal is to get someone else interested in the space so don't scare them away with too much information.
Keep It Simple Stupid
Now that you've given them a little bit of information about cryptocurrency you can try to explain the blockchain. The blockchain is a buzzword a lot of people have heard of by now. I believe you'll see knowledge of blockchain grow as you did with people's understanding of the internet. Understanding the internet as connected computers is a simple explanation, but we all know it much more as the massive network of communication and the commerce platform that it is today. Nowadays no one would ask you, "What Is The Internet?"
So how do you concisely explain the blockchain like you would tell someone that an IPA is just a beer with more hops? Well, the blockchain is a database that’s validated by the community, rather than a central authority. It's a distributed ledger, recording all the information so no one can manipulate the information. Yes, there is more to it, just remember you're explaining this to a friend likely over drinks and how much are they gonna remember after a few pints?
Now, the question that will always come up when talking cryptocurrency is how much money have you made? Most people know of it as a way to get rich. No matter how much money you've made, even if you got in at the ground floor or you snatched XRP before it exploded to $3, my advice is to tell people that you've made some and you've lost some. Tell them it's like the stock market, some days it's up a lot, and some days it's down a lot, but unless you're a day trader, you're just sitting on it like you would with stocks. Let them know you believe in the technology and you're in it for the long haul.
It's the honest truth for me, and I tell my friends this. I say this is something, I might not understand it all right now, and I could lose all the money I've invested on this gamble. I'm ok with that. If it turns out to be a fad or a bubble, (which I don't think it is) well, then I've learned a lesson, and I was at least investing in emerging technology.
If your friends are looking to get started with buying crypto or just watching the market, then make it easy for them, send them a Coinbase referral link or one to Robinhood. Remind them that you wished you would have listened when someone told you to look into Bitcoin three years ago.
Never hound your friends to invest, it's their money. Just like I'm never really going to harp on any friends that decide to drink a beer that I think sucks. Talking about cryptocurrency and blockchain can lead to some interesting conversations. Many people are looking at how their business can use the blockchain so they might know something you haven't thought about yet.
No matter what, letting your friends know about what your into allows them to come to you with questions if they want to know more. I'll never push my beer likes or dislikes onto a friend, and I would never be mad at them if they didn't get behind a cryptocurrency I was into either. Heck, I'm also fine if they avoided following the space for the last year because it can be pretty stressful.