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Topic: How About this kind of "Physical Bitcoin"? (Read 542 times)

legendary
Activity: 1386
Merit: 1053
Please do not PM me loan requests!
July 20, 2017, 02:32:26 AM
#13
Physical bitcoin has an advantage over paper - it's very expensive to make coins! Anyone can print out a slip with a barcode. Not anybody can afford 5000 custom hologram security stickers. It would be far easier to scam people by manufacturing paper bitcoins than brass or silver struck coins!

Not saying it's impossible. But physical bitcoins have proven to be a pretty legitimate area so far.
legendary
Activity: 1134
Merit: 1010
BTC to the moon is inevitable...
physical bitcoin will always remain as a collectible not something you use to buy stuff (not something to spend).
and why would anyone wants to use paper bitcoin when there is paper cash (fiat)?
who is going to print them? and you know printing an unfakable paper currency is not an easy task and i doubt government is going to allow anyone issuing such things. it may even be illegal!
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
A printable "Paper Bitcoin" that can be exchanged for goods and services would be a great idea?
Imagine people being able to have stack of paper Bitcoin and used them whenever they want.

The Paper coin could use barcode or some security features that can't be faked and can be verified with smartphones before they are accepted or exchanged.
Thas not a bad idea.But we must unerstand that there is no central governing body for bitcoins since it is a decentralized currency and so its practically not possible to print paper bitcoins because there should be some one to give assurance that they would pay in turn for the paper bitcoin.
legendary
Activity: 3080
Merit: 1500
A printable "Paper Bitcoin" that can be exchanged for goods and services would be a great idea?
Imagine people being able to have stack of paper Bitcoin and used them whenever they want.

The Paper coin could use barcode or some security features that can't be faked and can be verified with smartphones before they are accepted or exchanged.

Paper bitcoin can be a disaster for the entire crypto economy because paper money is easy to fake. Scammers will flood the market with fake printed bitcoin and a lot of negative impact will come on to bitcoin. The price will crash because of the fake currencies and the investors will have to face a huge loss.

Also the idea of printed bitcoin doesn't actually goes with the outlook and goal of bitcoin. The goal was to create a decentralized and digital currency so that we can eliminate the need to printed money. SO I don't think printed bitcoin will be a good idea in any way.
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 500
Something like this already exists. It's not made of paper but it has a similar idea as the one described by you.

It's called OpenDime.

"Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one."

Website: https://opendime.com/
Bitcointalk Thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-opendime-v3-now-genuine-verified-bitcoin-credit-stick-in-stock-1452987

Seems to be the most similar thing to what OP is searching for right now, even though it still requires a USB connection, not fully physical but seems to be the closest thing. Opendime is hardware wallet that allows you to spend your Bitcoin via a USB connection. The problem with opendime, it is much more of a one time use thing, other than something that can be reused over and over again.

I think if this idea was implemented into an ICO with the sole goal of making it renewable and relatively fast I think it would be super successful.

This is a new way of thinking, and I like it.
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1030
give me your cryptos
Ever heard of OPENDIME? https://opendime.com

They sell physical usb-like sticks that store only a public key until a special electronic "seal" is broken, which makes the private key readable. Obviously this is relatively inefficient, because it is a one time use product, but it's use case is more for the people who want to securely move their holdings around physically to trade.

legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 2162
Something like this already exists. It's not made of paper but it has a similar idea as the one described by you.

It's called OpenDime.

"Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one."

Website: https://opendime.com/
Bitcointalk Thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-opendime-v3-now-genuine-verified-bitcoin-credit-stick-in-stock-1452987

That's a really interesting implementation, although I'd say it's not entirely physical, since it requires USB connection to some device. If Bitcoin will get really big, it's possible that some centralized entity will be issuing "Bitcoin banknotes", that will be backed by Bitcoins, similar to how currencies were backed by gold in the past. Physical currencies will always exist in some forms, since the digital ones have their limitations, and its unwise to rely on only one form of money.
hero member
Activity: 1232
Merit: 683
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I don't think this will work due to a couple of reasons:

1. It would be a whole new thing added to bitcoin, the price of the coin would affect bitcoin, and also what about the new security threats it could pose. How do we make that physical coin as safe as bitcoin itself, just doesnt seem possible. I think this would be pretty good if done on an ico, not a branch off bitcoin. This idea seems to be pretty good

2. The risk of losing it.

3. What do you need to have to use this coin?
hero member
Activity: 938
Merit: 559
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
The creator of the coin could have got the private key to steal it later.

The only way I could ever imagine this working is like a backwards fractional reserve system - you deposit BTC into a bank and they give you paper money which is backed by BTC at a minimum of 10:1 cash:BTC.  Then you could spend it like ordinary cash.

But that would basically just be removing the reason why BTC exists in the first place - to free you from bankers.  So you might as well just stick to your digital BTC, and if you need to store it offline then use a paper wallet.  It doesn't make much sense to have super clever cash that you can actually spend from.
copper member
Activity: 1050
Merit: 294
Not a good idea, printable bitcoin can make it more complex as it needs some special authorization to print it, if every one would be able to print it then it will become a mess. To verify the paper bitcoin through bar code or whatever will need more extra machines to use it. This system will become more complex and is not easily applicable.
legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 6830
Something like this already exists. It's not made of paper but it has a similar idea as the one described by you.

It's called OpenDime.

"Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one."

Website: https://opendime.com/
Bitcointalk Thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-opendime-v3-now-genuine-verified-bitcoin-credit-stick-in-stock-1452987
sr. member
Activity: 1092
Merit: 254
To my mind, this idea might not become so popular. Printed bitcoin means new expenses, additional difficulties in exchanging and verificating, that also affects one price of this printed coin as well. So it's like a back step. But it's my opinion, it may be just different. May be someone dreams about bitcoin's printed vertion...  Smiley Wink
Ucy
sr. member
Activity: 2730
Merit: 403
Compare rates on different exchanges & swap.
A printable "Paper Bitcoin" that can be exchanged for goods and services would be a great idea?
Imagine people being able to have stack of paper Bitcoin and used them whenever they want.

The Paper coin could use barcode or some security features that can't be faked and can be verified with smartphones before they are accepted or exchanged.
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