“Any kid who doesn’t learn something about Bitcoin is missing out,” says Bitcoin advocate Ben De Waal. De Waal explains that his 12-y
“Any kid who doesn’t learn something about Bitcoin is missing out,” says Bitcoin advocate Ben De Waal.
De Waal explains that his 12-year-old daughter Samantha has already convinced “a couple” of her schoolmates and a teacher to hop on the Bitcoin bandwagon, though she’s not attempting to “orange pill the entire school”… yet.
Thanks to her upbringing in a “Bitcoin family” that has largely abandoned fiat currency, Sam is now a Bitcoin ambassador wunderkind nicknamed The Bitcoin Kid.
De Waal himself discovered Bitcoin “around 2010” and dedicated his life to it around 2016 (sadly, after he deleted 200 Bitcoin!). He’s worked in engineering leadership positions at both Swan Bitcoin and Lightning Labs and explains he first introduced Sam to children’s books about Bitcoin when she was just 10 years old.
Just two years after she read her first Bitcoin book, Sam found herself on the grand stage of BTC Prague 2023 in mid-June, delivering a speech about Bitcoin.
Oh, and she had to follow MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor’s presentation, too.
Seems like she nailed it, though – she was “the best” speaker at the conference according to Peter McCormack, the host of the incredibly popular podcast What Bitcoin Did.
It’s her second big conference appearance, following a presentation at Adopting Bitcoin in 2022.
Adults shouldn’t feel too bad, though — kids have a natural advantage when it comes to understanding and learning about Bitcoin.
Scott Sibley, co-author of the children’s book Goodnight Bitcoin, believes this is because kids haven’t really latched onto a specific form of currency yet.
“In many ways, it’s easier for kids to learn about Bitcoin because they don’t have the baggage of thinking it’s new or different.”
Goodnight Bitcoin is an origin tale recounting how Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin and sent the first Bitcoin to Hal Finney.
“Goodnight Bitcoin tells the story of Satoshi and Hal as they attempt to create the impossible: a new money called Bitcoin,” Sibley says.
It brings children through various stages of the “Bitcoin story.”
The book touches on the perception that many had toward Bitcoin when it was first introduced, stating that “many monsters thought it was impossible and very funny.”
Also lightly touching on how the Bitcoin network operates, the book explains, “In 2011, Satoshi slipped away to his hidden shelter. But don’t worry, the helpers have kept the Bitcoin network running.”
Another Bitcoin kid’s book author Graeme Moore (B Is for Bitcoin) believes that kids who are exposed to Bitcoin today will find it easier to form their own opinions about it later in life.
“If it’s a thing that’s been around forever since you were born, then you have a lot more confidence in pursuing it as a legitimate endeavor for a number of years,” Moore says.
This is evident with Sam, who has been exposed to Bitcoin throughout her entire life.
She even accidentally orange-pilled her own school teacher.
“Her teacher said to me, ‘Hey, I learned some basics from your daughter, but you know, what is this [Bitcoin], can you tell me more about this?’” De Waal recalls.
Sam is mainly interested in reading allegory books with a hidden message.
Two of her favorite books so far are Bitcoin Money: A Tale of Bitville Discovering Good Money, a story that explores different types of money and helps kids tackle the “Why Bitcoin?” question, and 99 Bitcoins and an Elephant, a tale of a young girl lost in a huge department store that becomes flush with Bitcoin.
De Waal says that while these books “didn’t necessarily” teach her all the fundamentals about Bitcoin, they “firmed up her knowledge and made it clearer.”
What do children learn from Bitcoin kids’ books?
The real question is: Does introducing kids to Bitcoin early via children’s book help create the next generation of Bitcoiners? And is it education or a form of indoctrination?
While there are no guarantees that simply reading books about Bitcoin to children will lead them to grace the stage at BTC Prague, Bitcoiner parents see benefits to be gained from planting the seed early.
The authors that Magazine speak to believe that getting kids familiar with the word “Bitcoin” and teaching them a few basic concepts is a good base of knowledge for further exploration.
Moore explains that brand-new technologies do not “really take off” until they are “accepted as inevitable.”
“There are kids now who were born in 2009, and they’ve never been alive without blockchain,” Moore says. (Samantha is a good example of this).
“Bitcoin has always existed since they were born, so they assume they will always…
cointelegraph.com