How I Introduced My Younger Sister To Bitcoin

This is an sentiment editorial by Santiago Varela, a bitcoin miner and writer from Mexico City.

My sister turned 18 years aged successful the opening of 2023 and I gave her a precise antithetic acquisition during this vacation season. Because I emotion her, I genuinely judge that the champion acquisition I tin springiness her is the orangish pill.

It each started with a missive that I wrote for her explaining the acquisition I was astir to springiness her. Then, I handed her a transcript of “The Bitcoin Standard” by Saifedean Ammous and a hardware wallet. However, that was conscionable the opening of a agelong process that we had to spell done unneurotic if I truly wanted to orangish pill her.

Of course, I was good alert that her archetypal absorption to my astonishment wasn't going to see the emblematic look of an 18-year-old miss opening her presents connected a joyful Christmas morning. At first, she seemed much confused than excited. I person nary uncertainty that she was expecting immoderate bully brace of shoes oregon a chill gadget. I'm atrocious sis, but that's however we maximalists roll.

In the birthday/holiday letter, I pointed retired 3 reasons wherefore I was giving her this circumstantial gift:

1. I privation to acceptable her connected the way to fiscal freedom
2. I privation her to beryllium a sovereign pistillate successful a fiat satellite wherever dishonest relationships person been normalized
3. As a precocious schoolhouse elder who doesn't cognize what she wants to survey successful college, she could payment from Bitcoin which mightiness springiness her immoderate ideas for what she wants to do

The agelong process of orangish pilling my sister began with a punctuation from the prologue of “The Bitcoin Standard,” which I see the cleanable starting point. I asked her to work this punctuation implicit and implicit again earlier opening the orange-pilling journey:

“This publication does not connection concern advice, but aims astatine helping elucidate the economical properties of the web and its operation, to supply readers an informed knowing of bitcoin earlier deciding whether they privation to usage it. Only with specified an understanding, and lone aft extended and thorough probe into the applicable operational aspects of owning and storing bitcoins, should anyone see holding worth successful bitcoin. While bitcoin´s emergence successful marketplace worth whitethorn marque it look similar a no-brainer arsenic an investment, a person look astatine the myriad hacks, attacks, scams, and information failures that person outgo radical their bitcoins provides a sobering informing to anyone who thinks that owning bitcoins provides a guaranteed profit. Should you travel retired of speechmaking this publication reasoning that the bitcoin currency is thing worthy owning, your archetypal concern should not beryllium successful buying bitcoins, but successful clip spent knowing however to buy, store, and ain bitcoins securely. It is the inherent quality of bitcoin that specified cognition cannot beryllium delegated oregon outsourced. There is nary alternate to idiosyncratic work for anyone funny successful utilizing this network, and that is the existent concern that needs to beryllium made to get into bitcoin.”

In the letter, I told her that I would assistance her acceptable up the hardware wallet and I would nonstop her a small spot of bitcoin. To begin, I sent her $10 worthy of bitcoin. But then, to marque definite that she invested clip into acquiring the basic, indispensable cognition and to marque her recognize the proof-of-work philosophy, I promised that I would nonstop her $100 worthy of bitcoin for each section of the publication that she read. Therefore, I prepared a quiz for each section to verify that she truly work carefully.

However, arsenic idiosyncratic who is heavy down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, I knew that making her work the publication to stack sats connected her hardware wallet wasn't enough. That was nothing, we were conscionable getting started. So, what was adjacent successful the orange-pilling journey? Every clip that I crossed by immoderate opportunity, I tried to person that infinitesimal into a small Bitcoin lesson.

For example, determination was specified an accidental aft my sister was assigned a task successful her precocious schoolhouse doctrine class. Knowing that I americium a large instrumentality of philosophy, she came to inquire maine for help. The task consisted of having a speech with 1 of your household members but utilizing the celebrated Socratic method for the conversation. If you don't cognize what that is, the Socratic method (named aft Socrates) is “a signifier of cooperative argumentative dialog betwixt individuals, based connected asking and answering questions to stimulate captious reasoning and to gully retired ideas and underlying presuppositions.”

Obviously, we had a dialog astir Bitcoin and wealth utilizing the Socratic method.

Another happening I did successful this orange-pilling travel was to amusement her a rabbit spread wrong of the Bitcoin rabbit hole: bitcoin mining and energy. I emotion bitcoin mining and the vigor aspects of Bitcoin. In fact, I emotion it truthful overmuch that we person an ASIC successful our garage. It wasn't truly hard to marque her grasp however passionate I americium astir location mining. Believe it oregon not, she had ne'er adjacent seen my ASIC (she had lone heard the “brrrrrr”). Consequently, I took her to the store and she got immoderate hands-on experience. I besides person my Bitcoin and Lightning nodes successful the garage. That was a batch of amusive due to the fact that with tools similar Mempool.Space and LnVisualizer I was capable to assistance her spot the tangible broadside of Bitcoin. This is erstwhile I truly felt that it each began to travel together.

As you each apt know, cognition astir Bitcoin can’t beryllium delegated oregon outsourced. When it comes to Bitcoin, determination is nary alternate to idiosyncratic responsibility. Although I’ve told her that I’d emotion to assistance her with anything, I can’t usher her down the rabbit spread forever. You person to spell down the Bitcoin rabbit spread by yourself. I guided her for a agelong clip but the infinitesimal for her to embark connected the travel for herself is here. Like Oscar Wilde erstwhile said: “Education is an admirable thing. But it is good to retrieve from clip to clip that thing that is worthy knowing tin beryllium taught.”

So, I began treating her similar immoderate different Bitcoin pleb retired determination and fto her spell down the rabbit spread by herself. The lone happening I did was to nonstop her a clump of resources (articles, podcasts, videos, books, etc.) and fto her spell her ain way. At the aforesaid time, I realized that I could bash this with different kids that are astir the aforesaid property arsenic my sister. Even better, I realized that my sister could assistance maine with this and present her digital-native friends to Bitcoin because, if you attraction astir Bitcoin, you should onboard radical individually.

Accordingly, I’ve decided to crook our store into a small Bitcoin academy. Although my sister was the guinea pig for this experimentation (and, arsenic I americium writing, she is the lone pupil that has attended Bitcoin academy), I person to springiness a large outcry retired to different Bitcoiners astir the satellite who person shared acquisition contented for anyone to use. For example, Mi Primer Bitcoin (from El Salvador) has an astonishing Bitcoin diploma workbook that anyone tin download for free. I person nary uncertainty that initiatives similar theirs oregon similar Escuelita Bitcoin successful Uruguay are what we request if we privation a aboriginal with sovereign individuals. We request to teach the young.

Hopefully, this inspires different Bitcoiners astir the satellite to present their younger siblings to Bitcoin. I was inspired by initiatives similar the ones mentioned supra and by stories similar the Denver mediate schoolers who became Bitcoin entrepreneurs. With a small spot of luck, the adjacent clip I constitute an nonfiction for Bitcoin Magazine, it’ll beryllium astir Mexico City mediate schoolers who became Bitcoin entrepreneurs. For now, enactment humble and stack sats my friends.

This is simply a impermanent station by Santiago Varela. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.