Topic: ANN: 100mBTC (0.1 BTC) physical coins + 5 free coins naming competition - page 3. (Read 11367 times)

Name suggestions:

decimus
decima
decimum

They all are ways to say "tenth" in Latin, since these are a tenth of a bitcoin. I think decimus sounds best.

Cryptoken! Cryptokens in plural
Great initiative, I would definitely be interested as casascius have become quite expensive..
Also, where are you situated? US or EU?

I like Cryteq!  Way better then Cryhard =)  lol.  P4man you should make a pre-order list.  I'd love to order a few handfuls from you...just what I need to pass around to friends and family!  It's perfect

Crickets
Cryptics

Crytec or Cryteq sounds cool!

I was going to say, one day they ought to erect a statue for you, but instead as a tribute, maybe I should mint coins with your face on them instead .


Its another reason Im going for small denominations. Depending on final cost and pricing, if I were to steal all the unredeemed coins at some point in the future, I could probably not even double my revenue and its not exactly going to be enough to pay for a one way ticket to an exotic island. What I could potentially gain is a pretty low incentive, particularly compared to the 100BTC bars and the like that you are selling.
If you were to steal the bitcoins you have sold you could probably buy the island by now .

.

I mostly agree.
Im not entirely sure yet if or how I will handle this as a legal business, but plenty of people here already know who I am and were to find me.  
As for my trustworthiness; that will be for customers to judge and weigh against the incentive I would have for ripping them off. I know you are speaking in general terms, but for the record, my first batch will be 1000 coins of 0.1 BTC. Assuming I actually manage to sell them all, subtract any redeemed coins and whats left is a very complicated, expensive and risky way to try to con people out of ~50 BTC. I can think of easier ways.


Feel free to offer. I can always say no .

I am totally cool with this, I encourage competition, and hope this works out well.  I will also be happy to order some.  I honestly wished this happened a long time ago.  While flattered to be the only person producing physical bitcoins, it's not the way I think things "should" be.  Someone who can do a better job of this, should do a better job of it.

Keep in mind that my ulterior motive in producing them in the first place was to promote Bitcoin.  Their creation was motivated by my awareness that people need something physical to be able to talk about Bitcoin to those needing a shiny thing to hold, and that my creating them was going to have a direct impact on the number of Bitcoin conversations happening around the world.  That need hasn't changed, and making a pretty 100mBTC coin given today's rates is a clear example of being attentive to the needs of the market and the potential user base of the coins.

Likewise, welcoming competition is consistent with my original stated goals.  The fact that I have earned a well seeded reputation that results in people being willing to pay the amounts they pay for my original coins is plenty rewarding for me.  I do not need to be the only one making these.

I have one bias I'd like everybody to be aware of, and this concerns both new creators of coins, as well as those who buy the coins.  I am biased in favor of people creating coins who have a good track record of being in business IRL and who maintain a net worth approaching or exceeding the value of the promises they might issue.  A promise not to steal your bitcoins is a promise that can be broken.

What you don't want is a situation where someone is tempted by the opportunity to run and disappear with other people's money.  Depending on which prevailing story you believe, people grossly underestimated this risk with Bitcoinica when deciding to send large amounts of money overseas to a 17-year-old for safekeeping.  The community needs to have learned its lesson by now.  A reasonable policy is to demand 2-factor on all physical coins above a value you could afford to lose if the person who made the item defaults on the trust you have placed in him.

The only challenge I have to those producing physical bitcoins like mine, is that I demand that they prove themselves capable of producing coins securely, properly, avoiding risks of hacking and key compromise, as well as proving themselves worthy of the community's trust.  Meanwhile, I insist that the community not lose sight of the importance of this.  I will really, really, really be bummed the day some future producer of physical bitcoins tarnishes the whole concept by ripping off his customers (or even the day people find unredeemable coins due to production errors), and so I favor accountability and I favor producers having a major sort of skin in the game.

To everyone buying physical bitcoins, please remember that you should always be able to name ONE individual who is responsible for the coins you buy, whose ass is willing to be kicked, and you should be able to assure yourself you'll be able to find him/her if you need to, and that person needs to be able to afford reasonable mistakes, as well as to be sued.  You do not want to hear "sorry I screwed up, but I'm broke, so your loss", nor do you want to hear your attorney say "I'm very sorry for your loss, but you can't get blood out of a stone".

That said... I hope this turns out well!  I would offer naming suggestions, but I think any suggestion I offered would be prejudiced just by me having offered it.  I might offer thumbs ups, thumbs downs, or my comments on other names I see though.  Casascius is a word I simply made up.  I have filed for trademark status on it (my attorney accepts bitcoin!)

Perhaps a way to work it would be to sell the coins but have the buyer load the bitcoins.

Not sure how that would work though. Maybe you would have to keep hold of the coins until the buyer loaded them. But then if the buyer refused to load them, there would be some dispute. Then the buyer might initiate a reversal with Paypal. That would leave you with the coins but if that happens a few times, Paypal might decide to cut you off.

Edit: Plus this means the buyer needs bitcoins in the first place, negating a lot of the advantage of what you're trying to do. Nevermind.

Gonna list two other names I like, just so its on record:

Cytoc
Crytoc

(dropped some letters from cryptographic currency)

And one more:

Bling

Hardcoin isnt bad. Duly noted.


Im not convinced of that. Most people posting here, yes, but I think there is a sizable market for ebayers who just want to buy with paypal without going through the hassle of setting up wallet or using exchanges. Its more or less what Im betting on anyway as I doubt I will get the necessary volume from this forum or bitmit alone.


Thats an idea.
But perhaps I have a better one; what if I were to make paypal purchased, not preloaded coins distinguishable from preloaded ones? I will check with my supplier regarding cost, but I know he is able to print (/laser) colored text on top of the hologram, which is typically used for serial numbers or to customize off the shelve designs. So I could add "preloaded, value guaranteed if unopened" on one batch and  "check public key before accepting" or something like that on another batch.  Would that work? If the cost is too steep I might just use lightly colored paper for the pub key to distinguish them, though obviously Id prefer it to be more clear.

I like the name hardcoin too.

Also, theres really no need to take paypal. Most people who would want the physical coins would already have some crypto currency.

Alternately, if you wanted, you might be able to work with bitinstant, and receive cash transfers through moneygram for orders over a certain amount. Then you get the funds almost immediately, and they can't be reversed.

I like the name hardcoin.

Sure. It's just my opinion and I stand by it. But I'm just one person so it would be nice if others weighed in. And, in the end, it's your decision anyway.

FWIW, I haven't checked my Casascius coin other than that the hologram was intact. Perhaps that's just me being naive though.

I cant think of too many scenarios right now where that wouldnt be the case. Lets be honest, these coins are rarely if ever used to buy something (offline). They are used to store bitcoins offline, as presents, as collectible, or as a way to obtain bitcoins using paypal, but not as currency.


Yeah I can see that, but the trust issue already exists anyway, after all, the buyer has to trust me. So who is going to buy second hand coins and not quickly check the pub key? If its an online sale, thats typically already done for casascius coins too. Just demand a picture with the key and check its value, and/or use escrow (you might as well receive an open coin too). If its an offline sale, well, you would know that person.

Moreover, Im not sure how easy it would be to do a charge back if I send the coins with registered mail. And if I got my money, there is no reason I wouldnt back the coin regardless of who owns it.


I dont think that outweighs the downsides of sending only preloaded coins, and therefore being practically unable to sell them for paypal. As a buyer you already have to worry about me anyway. If you dont want to worry about anything or anyone else; either buy them from me, or check the pub key.

Anyway, I may change my mind on this if this is a wider concern, its just that I expect ebay to be a pretty big market for this and given the relatively small denomination, its not going to be a very profitable scam. Ill think twice before accepting large orders for paypal.

If I can easily check the value of the public key, I can probably also easily use my wallet to pay. The scam I'm thinking of is this: Someone orders your coins, reverses the paypal then spends the empty coins as if they were fully charged. Unless someone checks the public key on the spot, they likely end up with an empty coin, potentially damaging your brand.

As to you standing behind the coin, I don't have much issue with you having had access to the private key but even with the best of intentions, I'm not sure how I'd feel about you standing behind them. Shit happens.

The simplest way to state the issue is that if I am handed a coin and the hologram is intact, I should feel 100% confident that I am holding a wallet that contains 0.1 bitcoin. If I have to worry about checking public keys or paypal abuse or whether you are still in business/alive, the value and point of the coins is diminished IMO.

Thinking about it, I think this may be a point Casascius hisself made to me when I made a similar suggestion to what your plan is.

Depends what the perception would be when you look at the coin, between 'Phys' or 'Fizz', i guess.

Whats wrong with fizz coin? I actually like that.

As you mention; you can check the value easily using the pub key. I also dont see why someone would pay full price and not claim his bitcoins. The only reason I can think off is fraud, like claiming the coins were lost in the mail, but if I send by registered mail thats going to be pointless. If I simply never receive any reply, I might also just charge the coin after the paypal charge back period has expired.

Lastly, if for some reason other than fraud someone would end up owning a genuine coin thats unopened but without bitcoin value, or one that is open but on which address there never has been stored any bitcoins, it stands to reason I will back its value.

Name suggestion: Decypher or Decipher. From Deci for 1/10th and cypher for the crypto aspect.

And don't worry about Casascius. Competition is good. He'll be fine.

Im not sure I see it as challenging casascius. Im aiming for the small denominations which he seems to be avoiding. If casascus was still selling <20 euro/dollar coins I wouldnt have started this, and just ordered them from him. Similarly I have no plans to produce any of the big denomination gold/silver coins and bars that he sells. I just want something again that looks neat, yet is cheap enough so people can give it away without thinking too hard about it.

And the more i say it out loud, the more i like it.....
 
"Ere Dave, you gotta couple of Phys, mate?" or "Thank you sir, thats 2 Physcoin change. Have a nice day".


Edit: How about 'Crypts' ?