Topic: World's First Physical Bitcoin wallet (Read 2404 times)

First physical wallet... not... There were loads of other hardware wallets before this one.... I think this can rather be described as a disposable hardware wallet. I do not see why USB firware cannot be

infected by this? {BadUSB exploit} If this was used more than once this would have been a problem. Give me a paper wallet or a Trezor any day of the week, over this wallet. I am all for making things

easier, but this is a waste in the most terrible way possible. {use once and throw away?} 

i have no idea about this. i dont know about the physical wallet of bitcoin, but how can a person keep the bitcoins in physical wallet. is it possible to keep digital currency in a physial wallet.

I agree it should be titled  the first physical bitcoin note  as the previous poster said it should be to not confuse with the other ones.

This project is pretty nice but the title is wrong indeed, I think if this project will grow it has a good point of succeeding for sure.
I hope this project will keep alive because I believe in it for sure.

I'm finding the uses for this to be fairly minimal. Maybe I'm just not fully understanding it. Why wouldn't I just give someone a paper wallet if I didn't want to do a transaction, but wanted to hand over funds (let's say to a car dealer). Either way they would want to sweep the funds and get confirmations before releasing the vehicle to me.

So it's like a loaded Casassicus coin, disregarding it's collectors value.

You can pass them on, load them up, or spend them. Wouldn't a paper wallet be the first physical wallet? This souls be more of like, "the first physical bitcoin note"

Here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK5G5jAzoyk

That's not the really first physical bitcoin wallet, Trezor and the like are also hardware like wallets that are intended to be used for multiple transactions and should be as secure as an offline machine, still find this idea interesting though

I do not see the logic in this. If you connected the device and moved coins to it and then have to give this device to someone else to receive that value, the private key will be compromised and the device be rendered void. Instead of paying a few cents for one transaction, you would be paying $8 for the device and only be able to use it securly for one transaction. How can this be a solution to provide a expensive device that can only be used once? ^clueless^

casascius bitcoin is the first one i think so.. it is a collectible coin packed by real bitcoins inside.. each coin has its own bitcoin address and private key underneath the hologram..

The Answer is in the FAQ


So basically, the private key is in a plain-text ASCII .txt + a QR-code image (png, gif, jpeg?) once the key is "broken"
In other words: you could re-use it, but i would advice against it, because once broken, the stick offers less protection than an encrypted paper wallet, or a desktop wallet with a passphrase.

I think it's secure enough if we create our own private key.
besides, physical bitcoin can't be stolen online, at least we can save it in secure place we had.
those are the advantages, aren't they?

Can anyone confirm what will happen to the private keys after you break the seal and activate the device? I think they will be generated into the USB stick and stay there in a text file or a QR code so they should be reusable and not only a one time thing right? $8 for a disposable wallet is too much but if it can be reused as a cold storage it could make a great cheap little device for storing Bitcoins.

Even then, if i would buy a house or a car with bitcoins, i think i would need a legal contract first... So the buyer and seller would be identified by their id (with a notary), the payment BTC address would be defined,... So their would actually be less worries about not getting your funds.

Especially in the case of buying a house: it doesn't matter what the buyer is doing, the house legally belongs to you, untill the buyer has transferred to coins to the address given on contract. So there would be no use for a single-use stick IMHO.

The only "real" reason i would ever use this, is cold storage... But even then, i'd rather use a BIP38 encrypted paper wallet.

That being said: it's a nice gadget, and i'm pretty sure somebody will put it to good use

It is a very good idea but it is a bit expensive so I guess it will be only used for the black market or expensive buys (a car, a house...)

I agree the price is a major limiting factor for most users, but I don't think this is really used for everyday purposes.
Right now, it is really just for special cases. But I'm sure in time, the price will come down and a specific market/use will appear.

Just checked out their website and to be honest I'm not sure about this one. If you give this as payment, even if it's sealed, the guy will still have to check right there and then that the funds are indeed there. It's not like he can just put it sealed in his pocket and be confident he has the money. And if that's the case then using an app on your phone would do just as well. This is one-time use only and costs 8 dollars while a paper wallet is free and doesn't run any risks of malfunction.

If i understand it correctly, you cannot use it as a hardware wallet... You can use it as a cold storage device tough.
You can add coins to it, and keep on adding coins without any problems BUT you cannot access your private key, so you cannot sign a transaction to get part of your coins out. In order to do this, you have to break the stick, and sweep the wallet completely.

If the price is really $8 per unit it's not going to be very cheap for a disposable wallet. I wonder if we could use it as a permanent hardware wallet for long-term if we just keep depositing coins to it? I would prefer a USB stick rather than a paper wallet.

As said before, I also think the blockchain is enough. Just get into the store, send Bitcoins from your phone or whatever and bring the goods.

Here's a "physical" thing that would be interesting: Some kind of Trezor like device with retina scanning and fingerprint scanning capabilities and POS terminals accepting these devices. The device has your keys secured, you insert it in the POS terminal and download address and payment information. You take it out, make it scan your retina, hold it for fingerprint scanning and it signs the keys and creates the transaction. When you connect it to the POS it broadcasts it immediately (that, or it broadcasts it right away from your phone). Either this or the devices generates a private key with the funds and "dumps" it immediately on the POS terminal.

One could argue a device like this could be expensive... Yes, but I prefer it like this: one time cost and multiple usage. I think that paying 8$ for something like this is a bigger premium than paying 200$ for something like what I described.

I understand your point and what you mean, but I still don't think it's worth it to order a few of these to regularly use them. I don't think this would bring people to Bitcoin and help it become something you spend daily. I wouldn't like to spend extra 8$ for having to pay for 50$ worth of groceries.


Yes... And to think people whine about 2 cents transaction fee


Casascius was the first.