If you’re reading this it’s likely you’re already stacking sats, so congratulations on being an early adopter of magic internet money.

If word has somehow gotten around to your family, friends or colleagues then you can expect some of them to ask you to explain what it is, especially as the orange coin hits headlines with new all time highs. In preparation for the next bull run it may be worth taking a moment to consider how you’ll respond when asked the B question.

The financial future of people you care about may be heavily influenced by your response.

In considering your approach it may be helpful to reflect on the path that brought you to your current understanding. Did you slowly wade in from shallow waters or did you jump straight into the deep end? What was the hook that pulled you in? What content did you discover along the way? What do you wish you had done differently? Did you go shitcoining and lose some Bitcoin? Your unique experience is a store of value that can be shared with others who reach out for advice.

But where do you begin?

The B question is not an easy question to answer. You could try setting up your nocoiner with a wallet and sending them a bit of Bitcoin. This tends to be a good strategy for getting people interested, but it doesn’t always work. If they don’t find a reason to care then there’s a good chance they’ll lose their starter stack. You could add in your best rant on how Bitcoin fixes everything, but maybe you’re not ready to let them see you go full orange pill. Or maybe you don’t want to get mistaken for a financial advisor and blamed when weak hands drop corn on a dip.

You could also recommend reading the white paper or any of a number of different books, articles, explainer videos or podcasts created for beginners. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to send out a few links only to have the person on the receiving end tell you months later that they were overwhelmed and didn’t really get into it. In such a case it would be safe to say they got bored or turned off and didn’t find a hook strong enough to hold their curiosity. At this point you wouldn’t be blamed for calling it a day. But if you truly care about this nocoiner and suspect that they’re over-allocating their holdings in fiat, it may be worth considering other options to help them avoid going down with the ship.

Understanding why Bitcoin matters right now requires a critical, honest view of our current financial system.

This can be extremely difficult and painful for some to grasp, especially if their own accomplishments and self worth are tied to the illusions created by fiat culture. It’s not uncommon for people to build psychological barriers around the false promises of unsound money because their world view depends on its preservation. The consequences of unbridled money printing may be too painful to accept, especially in addition to the fear and division propagated by the media on a daily basis. It’s no surprise that by the time most people punch out and glance over the day’s headlines they’re ready for an escape. Another dollar bill then Netflix and chill is a reliable pattern for good reason.

Three years ago I worked through these same thoughts when asked to explain Bitcoin to some friends and family. My conclusions lead me to explore the relationship between Bitcoin and film. I discovered a number of quality Bitcoin themed documentary films, but nothing in a feature length fiction format that touched on the Bitcoin ethos. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that a narrative feature film would have a great deal of potential to introduce Bitcoin concepts to people who craved the sort of escape that only cinematic storytelling can provide. Not as an agenda driven propaganda piece, but as the foundation of a story world that would allow the audience to draw their own conclusions.

I then committed to using my background in filmmaking to create such a movie.

After tossing around a few scenarios I came up with an idea for a story featuring a young economics professor of the Keynesian persuasion. This professor, named Ken, receives a request triggered by a dead man’s switch set up by a colleague and friend who had mysteriously disappeared months earlier. Although philosophically opposed, Ken takes on the task of personally delivering a set of Bitcoin hardware wallets to his colleague’s chosen heirs. Along the way he attempts to find clues that could solve the mystery of his friend’s disappearance and is forced to question the things he thought he knew so well. The challenge of approaching Bitcoin through the eyes of a skeptic was especially appealing to me and inspired me to commit to the idea.

Upon completion of the first draft of the script I attended the Unconfiscatable conference in Las Vegas to see if I could stir up some interest. It was there that I met Daniel Mross, the producer and star of my favorite Bitcoin documentary film, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin. I told him about the project and we quickly figured out that not only did our ideas align, but also our pasts. We were both raised in Pittsburgh, studied at Virginia Tech, and were DJs with mutual friends through the local electronic music scene. Strangely we had never met until the conference. A few weeks later Daniel joined the film as an executive producer and we’ve been collaborating ever since.

Over the following months Daniel and I refined the script. I would write new drafts and Daniel would provide a second pair of eyes that had witnessed first hand much more of Bitcoin’s history than mine. The most challenging part of the process was striking the right balance between the story and Bitcoin related content. At first we went a little overboard with expository dialogue about the technical workings of Bitcoin. These details, although important to gaining an in-depth understanding of Bitcoin, ultimately felt forced and unrelated to the plot. It gradually became clear that it was going to be impossible to hold an audience’s attention with all of the information about Bitcoin that we were attempting to cram into the film. So we did something that was extremely difficult at the time. We let go of the reins and allowed the story take over, freeing ourselves from the curriculum that we had burdened onto the script. Once we did that, the pieces fell into place. The script evolved from an experience similar to being cornered by an extroverted Bitcoiner at a party to the experience of being lost in an entertaining mystery about a man attempting to carry out the will of his missing friend, without telling you how you should feel about Bitcoin.

The iterative script writing process that encouraged us to let go and allow the story to take over has its parallels in how we share Bitcoin with those who look to us for advice. Instead of telling people what we think they should know about Bitcoin, perhaps it’s better to let go of our agendas and allow the story of the moment to take over.

Maybe the best answer to the question, “What is Bitcoin?” is, “What would you like to know?”

We’re currently midway through our journey towards completing this Bitcoin influenced narrative feature film entitled The Bitcoin Executor. We’ve recently finished shooting and editing the first seven minutes of the film that we’re using as a “proof of work” to generate more interest and support. The stills in this article are taken straight from the clip which was shot in New York City and features an original score by the renowned musical duo Plaid. Despite the pandemic, production is moving forward thanks to the help of other Bitcoiners that believe in this project.

If you like the sound of what we’re doing, we would welcome your support. For more information about the project or to get in touch visit: thebitcoinexecutor.com.