Explain Bitcoin to me in words of single syllable

There is so much I don’t understand about the new technologies. I’m sure I’m not alone. But I’m almost managing with the help of my colleagues at work, my family, and yes, my students. However, having lived through the effects of the financial ‘sub-prime’ financial crisis of 2007-2009, I must admit to some unease over the current high profile and prominence of “currency mining”, ‘blockchain’ and ‘bitcoin’. Now first, I’m no expert in either finance, foreign exchange transactions, cryptocurrencies or digital currencies. I’m not a ‘hide my money in a cookie jar,’ or ‘under the mattress’ kind of guy either, but I really do fear the intrusion of ‘unreal’ influences in my life, and all our lives. So, what makes me so uneasy? For a start, Satoshi Nakamoto is the ‘person’ attributed to the invention of ‘Bitcoin,’ but as yet ‘his’ identity has not been proven, or revealed in such a manner as to allay concerns. Nakamoto has not even been unveiled as an individual, or a group, is he a real person, or is he simply someone’s idea of a massive joke? Some joke if it is, as ‘his’ value was assessed just last month, based on ‘his’ ownership of one million bitcoins, at around ten billion dollars. Are we so gullible, so soon after the sub-prime fiasco, as to go down the road of trusting another faceless entity? Shouldn’t we be concerned that ‘Nakamoto’ is referred to as the inventor of bitcoin? How do you invent a currency when you don’t have anything as collateral? All currencies around the world take prominence and value, based upon their assets and liabilities, and are measured against all other countries, and currencies on exactly the same basis, and upon the same financial parameters, so why are the rating agencies like Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch’s not all over this concept, because at the moment, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Is the primary marketing tool really, “It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on?” Really? Is it only a play on greed, and trying to make us all feel that we are missing out on something that others will get, or have, just because we are too dumb to trust, or know, this mysterious entity? Really, I guess I shouldn’t worry too much, as if people have enough spare cash to invest in this sort of thing, then they are speculators who probably also have it to lose, but my greatest concern is that the global banking institutions, if they haven’t already, will invest their funds, which are actually my, your, and our funds, into this illusion. Warren Buffet, the wealthiest of the world’s wealth managers, said, “Of our $49 billion, we haven’t moved any to bitcoin.” Surely that says something, and is a note of caution? Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin capitalists such as Sir Richard Branson, Al Gore, and Bill Gates are fans of the concept. Ordinary people, well, at least in the circles I move aren’t trusting enough yet to give over their hard-earned cash to a myth, a fantasy, a puff of smoke and the illusion of mirrors. Currency mining or crypto-currency mining may well be phrases that all societies become comfortable with in the future, because as one fan said, “Bitcoin is to finance and banking today, what the Internet was before browsing and e-mailing.” Maybe I am just a dinosaur? But Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Alan Turing and their ilk, were real, and genuine people, with all of their foibles and failings, while ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ and his coin remain for now, as real as the Tooth Fairy! Ray Petersen petersen_ray@hotmail.com