What was Bitcoin’s price when you first heard about it? $100,000? $60,000? $20,000? Maybe it was years ago, and you even caught a whiff of crypto before it first went mainstream. Me? The first time I came in touch with Bitcoin, the price was $100—but I never found that out to begin with.
It was the spring of 2013, and my favorite blogger at the time, James Altucher, decided to sell his new book, Choose Yourself, ahead of time to people who bought it with Bitcoin. I still remember the landing page. I remember seeing the QR code pop up, not understanding what an address was, where I should get “0.1 BTC,” or how any of this would work.
“Is this like PayPal?” I thought. “Way too complicated.” For both better and worse, however, James offered alternatives: “For all other currencies, pre-order on Amazon,” the page read. “Ah, what’s the rub? I can wait a few extra days.” I pressed the button, checked out, and that was that. In hindsight, it was an expensive moment of comfort.
The next time I stumbled upon Bitcoin, the price was $2,000. It was July, 2017. This time, I started paying attention. I bought my first 0.1 BTC. I was a college student with enough time on my hands, and I really fell down the rabbit hole. I participated in my first ICO—initial coin offering—a few days later, and I’ve been a crypto investor ever since.
So: What was Bitcoin’s price when you first heard about it? The reason I told you this story and asked you this question is also the first lesson of Bitcoin for Beginners: Price pulls people in. From an investing standpoint, sure, but also because it’s usually the first thing that comes up when you talk about an asset. And as soon as you have a price, you start having feelings. Opinions. You start to engage.
To someone who first found Bitcoin at $1,000, the price sitting at $100,000 feels unbelievable despite being real. But if you’ve never heard about it or routinely invest millions of dollars for your clients, $100,000 could seem cheap. You might feel skeptical, curious, or anxious about potentially missing a great opportunity. Perhaps all three at the same time. That’s how I felt in 2017, and that’s why, once I had made some sense of those feelings and what was going on in the crypto industry, I wrote Bitcoin for Beginners.
At the time, I was doing a Master’s degree in Management & Technology at the Technical University of Munich. My undergrad was also a mix of business and engineering. I still remember what the teachers told us early on: “You’ll be the people translating what’s happening at the edge of technological development for the rest of the world.” “This is exactly what my studies have prepared me for,” I thought.
The goal of Bitcoin for Beginners is twofold:
- Help you resolve the mixed bag of emotions you feel after first encountering this technology.
- Show you what, if anything, makes blockchain interesting, relevant, and worth learning more about.
We’ll do that by answering a series of questions. Questions like…
- Why should you care about cryptocurrencies?
- How will they impact our lives and society?
- What compels people to invest into them?
- How does the underlying technology work?
- What’s hype, and what is here to stay?
- Where will the road lead in the next few years?
…and many more. Because no matter how your initial reaction makes you feel, one thing is for sure: The price is far from the only thing that’s fascinating about Bitcoin.
If you want to find answers to these questions and make sense of crypto, Bitcoin for Beginners is for you. Each installment in this 10-part series can stand on its own, but I still recommend reading in order. This way, you’ll build your understanding step by step.
Use the table of contents below to start. You’ll also see it in the introduction of each piece in the series so you can always find your way around. Let’s begin.
Bitcoin for Beginners
1. Why Should You Care About Bitcoin?
2. 7 Ways Bitcoin Will Make You Rethink Money Forever
3. How Does Bitcoin Work?
4. Why Is Everyone Investing in Bitcoin?
5. Why Market Predictions Are Almost Always Wrong
6. Where Is Bitcoin in the History of the World’s Greatest Bubbles?
7. 7 Big Obstacles to Mass Adoption of Blockchain Technology
8. 3 Potential Paths Cryptocurrency Regulations Could Take (and Which One’s Most Likely)
9. The 15 Best Resources To Learn More About Bitcoin
10. Granny’s Bitcoin Cheat Sheet