How To Explain Crypto to Friends and Family - Crypto Whiteboard 101

Picture this, you're sitting down for Christmas dinner and Aunt Sally is fussing a little Susie for kicking her feet under the table and telling her that she will not be getting any dessert till she finishes the green beans that your grandmother cooked. To your right, Uncle Frederick is off on a political tangent, and you are just sitting there between them picking at some cranberry sauce that you really don't want to eat trying to stay out of the middle of it. You're trying to keep a low profile when out-of-the-blue Grandpa Jedediah looks straight at you and asks what you are doing these days with your career. Your mind goes blank because you did not prepare for this. Sure, you can explain the intricacies of proof of stake vs proof of work, but how do you explain to Grandpa Jedidiah what cryptocurrency, why it matters, and why you have made it your full-time job?

In my opinion, explaining cryptocurrency to people that have never heard of it before is much more difficult than explaining complex technical details to crypto veterans, so in this post, I wanted to share one of my favorite ways of explaining cryptocurrency to friends and family who have a genuine interest but may not have a technical background in the subject.

"Cryptocurrency is a modern type of money for the 21st century that brings the benefits of cash to the internet era. It promotes fairness, equality, and empowers people to take control of their financial future. "

Although it's not a perfect definition, I think it strikes a reasonable balance between being complete, hitting most, but not all, of the key points, while also not being so lengthy and dull as to put someone to sleep. Further, I think that by using a variety of terms such as fairness, equality, and financial empowerment, this definition resonates with a wide variety of people regardless of what their specific interests are.

Of course, this is simply one definition of cryptocurrency, and I'd be interested to know what definitions that you use. What's the language that you use when explaining cryptocurrency to someone completely new to the subject?

As always, thanks for reading, and nothing is financial advice