As Bitcoin garners mainstream recognition, more and more celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon – from Ashton Kutcher to 50 Cent to Katy Perry, quite a few A-list celebrities are starting to share their experience with cryptocurrencies with their audience. Ellen DeGeneres, host of the Ellen DeGeneres show, is the latest celebrity to weigh in on this subject.
If you want to know what bitcoin is, I learned about it. A bit. pic.twitter.com/txICiTXYgi
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) February 15, 2018
During a segment of her NBC talk show, which aired on Thursday, DeGeneres attempted to explain what Bitcoin is to her 3 million viewers. “Nobody knows how it works,” DeGeneres joked. “Everybody is talking about Bitcoin, but nobody understands it – its’ like a confusing plot twist in a movie and all your friends are acting like they know what’s going on and you’re like ‘Yeah, I do too.’”
DeGeneres then proceeded to take a jab at Bitcoin’s infamous volatility. “All I know is that Bitcoin is either worth $20,000 or nothing,” she concluded.
In order to help her audience – which, according to Hollywood Reporter, has a demographic of women from ages 25 to 54 – understand what Bitcoin is, DeGeneres used a rather unconventional analogy.
“Pretend like Bitcoin is a goat. Now, it’s adorable, right, and you wanna pick it up and pet it, but you can’t, because it’s not there. It doesn’t exist except for on that ‘internet’ right there, just like Bitcoin is digital currency.”
DeGeneres then proceeded to explain how Bitcoins and other digital currencies are stored.
“You keep it (Bitcoin) in a digital wallet. These digital wallets can be apps on your phone or tiny hard drives like this (shows a picture of a Ledger Nano), which is a really good idea because who wouldn’t feel safe with their life savings on a piece of plastic that could go into the washing machine.”
Nevertheless, DeGeneres also stated – perhaps jokingly – that she is not planning on buying into Bitcoin any time soon.
“Say you own one Bitcoin, and you bought it when it was worth $10,000 — and then for some reason Bitcoin becomes worth $20,000 — you just doubled your money. Personally, I’d rather own a baby goat.”
Although the talk show host might not be a fan of Bitcoin, such widespread exposure for cryptocurrency is definitely helpful for adoption rates. “Ellen DeGeneres” has been a household name for American citizens for over a decade now, thus her involvement in the world of digital currencies will definitely prompt people who had no idea what these “intangible coins” are to start researching about it.
Featured Image Source: GH
