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Topic: What about bitcoin containers? - page 3. (Read 4622 times)
Couldn't you just send a private key with an amount assigned via email? QED.
There is an issue with bitcoins, which is that you always need to communicate with someone and recieve an adress before you are able to send them any bitcoins. This is opposed to regular cash where you can leave it somewhere (like under a door mat, or in someones mailbox or wherever depending on the sum and security needed) and have someone pick it up later. In the digital world this would be achieved if we had a standardized way to send someone bitcoins regardless of the way we communicate. We should be able to send bitcoins over e-mail, http, sms, or really any way we want as long as we have some way of sending a message, even if it's just one way communication.
I've seen some ideas to provide this for e-mail through third parties, but I really think such a fundamental service could and should be provided at a more basic level.
There is a way to do this right now though, by creating a new wallet that contains some bitcoins and send it to my friend, but it is really cumbersome at the moment, and intuitively there should be a difference between wallets and spare cash. My idea is to use a new file type, called a bitcoin container with the file ending *.btc. Technically it would be a small wallet with only one key-pair, but once it is opened by a client, the client simply sends the money to the user's wallet and informs the user "X btc added to your wallet."
An example of how neat this could become. Say I want to send my friend some cash, but doesnt have any bitcoin adress of his. Instead, I go into my android btc app that uses the android share api and I press share via e-mail. The android client then creates file.btc, it sends a chosen amount to the new adress, withdraws it from my balance in the app, and enters my e-mail application with the new file attached. So I e-mail my friend who recieves the money and simply opens the file to put it in his own wallet with.
Preferably, you should also be able to protect these containers with a password. That would also provide a fairly easy way to store parts of your own btc outside of the client in a secure manner. Simply create a btc container from the client and choose to save it on a usb drive. If you use an android app you could send it directly to drop box via the share api etc.
Thoughts?
I've seen some ideas to provide this for e-mail through third parties, but I really think such a fundamental service could and should be provided at a more basic level.
There is a way to do this right now though, by creating a new wallet that contains some bitcoins and send it to my friend, but it is really cumbersome at the moment, and intuitively there should be a difference between wallets and spare cash. My idea is to use a new file type, called a bitcoin container with the file ending *.btc. Technically it would be a small wallet with only one key-pair, but once it is opened by a client, the client simply sends the money to the user's wallet and informs the user "X btc added to your wallet."
An example of how neat this could become. Say I want to send my friend some cash, but doesnt have any bitcoin adress of his. Instead, I go into my android btc app that uses the android share api and I press share via e-mail. The android client then creates file.btc, it sends a chosen amount to the new adress, withdraws it from my balance in the app, and enters my e-mail application with the new file attached. So I e-mail my friend who recieves the money and simply opens the file to put it in his own wallet with.
Preferably, you should also be able to protect these containers with a password. That would also provide a fairly easy way to store parts of your own btc outside of the client in a secure manner. Simply create a btc container from the client and choose to save it on a usb drive. If you use an android app you could send it directly to drop box via the share api etc.
Thoughts?
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