> I am kind of embarrassed to admit that after all these years, I still don't understand Bitcoin. Not the underlying software and algorithms - but the concept, the system.

You don't have to be embarrassed. Surprisingly 99.9% of the people doesn't know how our monetary/banking system works (creating money out of thin air) but that doesn't prevent them from using $ or €...

Henry Ford once said: "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning"