Don't write about Bitcoin

This is an article for journalists. As Bitcoin moves into the mainstream, your editors will ask you to write articles. We get that you have bills to pay and mouths to feed. But can we ask you to take a moment to read these tips? If you can’t follow them, then please don't write about Bitcoin.

Use the correct terminology.

Accepted practice is to use Bitcoin (singular with an upper case letter B) to label the protocol, software, and community, and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

Bitcoin is not the first of many. There is Bitcoin and everything else.

Bitcoin is not crypto. Crypto is not Bitcoin. In the beginning, there was only Bitcoin. Then, others came along and decided that they could improve on it. So, there is Bitcoin and everything else that you can put in the crypto bucket. We believe that most of these projects will fail because they don’t meet the most basic criteria—they are not decentralised. This means the founders can change the code or be forced to change the code. You may form a different view, but it's crucial that you grasp the fundamentals.

Bitcoin is not blockchain.

This is going to sound strange coming from us. Blockchain is a terrible technical solution. You would be far better off with a simple database, even an Excel spreadsheet on a laptop. Making thousands of copies of a ledger is very complex and inefficient. Except when it comes to money, and Bitcoin is money. Having one person or entity controlling the ledger is a very bad idea. There is too much temptation to manipulate it. It’s a single point of failure.   It’s the root cause of inflation.

Bitcoin works because it combines multiple core technologies. The sum is greater than the parts. Crypto companies will say that they have made the blockchain faster, more energy efficient, or more fit for purpose for their use case. Blockchain is just one of the core components. We won’t go into the remainder. It's better that you learn than we tell you.  Here are some phrases you can Google with Bitcoin as a prefix:
Decentralisation, Cryptographic Security, Fixed Supply, Transparency and Immutability, Peer-to-Peer Network, Consensus Mechanism, Open Source Protocol, Halving Events, Difficulty Adjustment.

Bitcoin cannot be replaced.

When software is created, it normally goes through different phases. Prior to going live, it is in beta. A beta application is one that is known to have bugs and problems. People use it because they want to try it out. Bitcoin is the only live production technology. Everything else you read and hear about is still in beta. Bitcoin works without any central authority. Every ten minutes, Bitcoin updates with nobody in control.  The Bitcoin network is the largest computer work on (and off) the planet.

There is no need for second-best money. No competitor will ever overtake Bitcoin. The proof? Virtually every competitor is a copy of the Bitcoin code with some tweaks. 

Avoid derogative terms

Using the phrase Crypto fanatics is not journalism.  Do you call the Bank of England fiat fanatics?

Don’t write about a subject that you don’t understand.

If you haven't read the Bitcoin Whitepaper, you aren't qualified to write on the subject. Period. It's nine pages long, including a half-page abstract and a page of references, and is mostly written in plain English. 

While nobody expects a journalist to have 10,000 hours of knowledge, it would be reasonable to expect that if writing about a subject, you have at least 100 hours. People will read what you write and be influenced by what you say. Here are some ways to get started.

If you read at least one of The Fiat Standard, The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedeen Ammous or Broken Money by Lyn Alden, you will have an overall context, so you will be able to ask the right questions.

If that’s too much effort, then we recommend The Revolution of Money, a recent introduction by Sam and Ben Baker. It’s brilliant.

And if you want a simple understanding of how Bitcoin works, nobody writes better than Gigi in 21 Lessons. Each lesson is, on average, half a page long. It’s an astonishing piece of work. Make the time.

Avoid using out-of-date debunked arguments.

There was a time when you could get away with writing that Bitcoin is only for criminals or that it uses more electricity than – take your pick of country. If a criminal has a choice between using a public ledger where every transaction is visible to law enforcement or the opaque fiat system, it’s pretty obvious which is better for them. 

If you care about climate change then you will take the time to see all of the innovative ways that Bitcoin is supporting renewable energy around the world. We go one step further and assert that reversing climate change without Bitcoin is impossible.

There are no Bitcoin experts.

Anyone who says they are an expert is deluding themselves and you. Bitcoin is the first and only digital asset and the first new asset class in centuries. None of us can possibly comprehend how it will play out.

If you do basic research, then you can immediately spot rookie errors. For example, here is an article by Elliot Gulliver-Needham in City AM entitled Why Donald Trump’s bitcoin reserve wouldn’t work in the UK. Well, that’s an interesting title. It implies that it would work in the US. So if it will work in the world’s most powerful country, with the world’s most important currency, then please explain why it isn’t valuable for the UK. In the article, he quotes Yearsley "While some have argued that the Bank of England keeps reserves of gold, which is also not used to trade with anyone, Yearsley noted that gold is tradeable “virtually anywhere in the world, whereas bitcoin isn’t.""

This is so laughably wrong that you would not include it in a properly written article except as an example of how many investors, economists, and journalists have not done even the most basic research. Bitcoin is the only money that is available 24 x 7 x 365 globally. This expert is like a fax machine owner deriding email.

Understand context

The Bitcoin community has long discussed the idea that Bitcoin could become a reserve asset. However, the fact that two out of the three US presidential candidates have endorsed this idea is a seismic change. 2 presidential candidates and 10 US Senators attended the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville this year. Follow the money. Discover why this is happening and why it is happening now. If you can't or won't next time your editors ask you to write an article on Bitcoin, respectfully suggest another topic.

Conclusion

We won’t attack you personally— we are British, after all, and that’s not cricket. We don’t want to embarrass you, but if you write garbage because you are too opinionated, or time-poor, we will expose and challenge the flaws in your arguments.

We understand your scepticism—every single person who now sees the value of Bitcoin starts out sceptical. We also understand that your editors have political slants that they will expect you to follow. Bitcoin challenges the status quo. Write objectively, and we welcome the debate.

Finally, a warning. Everyone with an open mind who spends at least a hundred hours reading and learning about Bitcoin ends up excited by its potential. You can’t change Bitcoin; it might change you.