I'm pretty sure 99% of us on Steemit know what cryptocurrency is and the value that it has. However, the people that live around me are a whole different story.
Most of the people in my town have known of the existence of Bitcoin, but that's about it. With the recent attention on it, they don't view it as a currency anymore. The people I live with know view it as a stock.
Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about cryptocurrency knows how inaccurate that is. Yes, there is an up and down value of Bitcoin, and yes you can buy it, wait a while, sell, and rinse and repeat. However, that's not the whole story. No one where I live understands the technology behind Bitcoin, or even how it works.
Many people I talk to use the word virtual instead of digital to explain what a crypto is. When I explain to them the difference, they still say, "so it's not real? Why would you buy or trade something that isn't real?" The best part is when I try to explain things like security to them, they still say it's not real.
My dad is another person who has said some of the stupidest things. He tried to explain mining to someone one time, and said that people collect little pieces of Bitcoin, and once they have a full Bitcoin, then they get to use it because it works once it's built. I didn't even try that time when he asked if he was right, I just said no.
I think that ignorance to understand new technology, whether it will be the future or not, seriously hurts society. If people don't know how stuff works, they can easily be manipulated, or simply can't help the technology grow. I personally feel that if crypto was explained how it actually is, and not like a stock, then it would be understood better and the power behind it will be realized by a lot more people.
What do you think?