Bitcoin Forum

I was hanging out with some friends and one of them had a very strange idea: writing on 5€ banknotes the public and private keys of a bitcoin address with something like 0.0005 BTC on and the link to the official bitcoin website to make more people know about the Bitcoin.

In your opinion would it work?

isn't that illegal is some countries? also that would create a legit reason for banks to go against bitcoin (IMO).
better not do that.

So the idea included giving away something like 0.0005 to a random people to spark their interest on btc, right? I thought it'll be better to give it away to someone you know that hadn't know bitcoin yet. And please no banknotes, I know thst in some countries it is illegal to writes and doodling on banknotes

People have been going around handing free bitcoin paper wallets for a while now. It is a nice idea to get people interested, but the way you are proposing has a risk attached to it.

Imagine receiving a banknote with 0.0005 btc written on it. People that don't know about bitcoin trade those banknotes around like it is fiat banknotes, without realizing the private key is on the same banknote. Also, they probably didn't check the public key to see if the bitcoins are still on that address.. They risk losing out this way.

Think of it this way: I could write down the private key, hand the note to someone else and immediately import the private key and send the coins to a different address.

That's a nice idea, but not the right way to do it. A better idea is to stick some posters in the streets or to hang a kind of banner in your house's walls.

...

Defacing paper currency is usually illegal in most countries.

Yet, I have seen "END THE FED" stamped on US money.

Not to mention telephone numbers and other small notations.

I see no harm in putting a public & private key on a US$20 or a €20.  Just don't get caught!

you're right. It's better to hang a banner than write it on a banknote, It's illegal in my country. Stores won't accept a banknote if it has some ink on it or holes on it.

It's similar to idea of stamping "time for plan BTC" on banknotes. That didn't get great reception among community, many saw that as low level spam and rather bad PR.

Also if someone claim the tiny amount, banknote goes back into circulation and the next person who bothers to visit website and (manually?) type in the priv key just to discover there's nothing on it anymore, will be hugely disappointed.

Not the best idea, but you could do it just for lolz, and to check how many people have bothered to withdraw.

Writing on note can be illegal i think.

It's actually legal in the US as long as intention is not to destroy or make them unusable.

There's debate as to the legality of "defacing" money in this way, and I think it varies from country to country. What could be more perfectly targeted grass-roots advertising though? I suspect "rewards" in the form of public/private keys on the bills is a stretch of complexity for the intended target market and that simply stamping "Make This Dollar Honest at Bitcoin.org", "The Future of Money is Bitcoin, Visit Bitcoin.org" or "Claim Your Free Future Money at Bitcoin.org" or something else short and catchy would be more ideal.

nice idea,if bank not problem with that,its okay and will effective to introduce bitcoin to people and banks member.
but i dont think its will can applicable in every banks,and dont put 0.0005,its too small,raise the amount about 0.001 ;D

Isn't it forbidden to write something on banknotes? I don't know how successful this method could be even if this is alowed, many people maybe just wouldn't have the clue what that means.

Will people understand what it means? I am not sure but it's good that people and community trying to make bitcoin much popular.

In Europe, if I remember well, you can even pay with 9/10th of a buck. It can have holes, be in several parts, but as long as you can understand it and that there's a least 9/10th of it, that's fine I presume.

So it's possible to take 10% of 9 bills to create a new acceptable bill?

IMO that would be a stupid move. Besides that being an illegal act in several countries that would be the act that would make Banks hate bitcoin even more.
If you want more people to get in bitcoin, the best way you can do that is to offer some bits to many of your friends.

I can guarantee you that no bank will give a shit about some writings on few banknotes. They wouldn't even notice, and what banknotes have to do with banks? You make it sound like banks own banknotes.

I'm not sure whether such thing would be illegal in EU. It's allowed in US (as posted above).



Or he could do both? These 2 things are not quite the same in terms of promotion.
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side note, BTC0.0005 is definitely to small for the purpose. Better do less with at least BTC0.0025 (around $1) each.

lol i see a major problem with this. say the first person to notice the writing goes on the bitcoin site and signs up. but the tons of people after that who receive the note will attempt to claim the same key, but theyre would be nothing on it.

That's what I wrote few posts above. But on the second thought, such people would at least learn a little bit about Bitcoin, private keys etc.

Overall I'd say such guerilla promotions are no longer needed, it could be somewhat useful 4-5 years ago. Bitcoin has grown past that stage.

No. The whole thing, public and private keys is just too long. I guess I wouldn't accept a banknote with anything written on it. What if I go to the bank next, and the bank says it doesn't want it. Sorry, I don't want to take any risk with money.

As far as the idea is concerned,it is one of the best I have heard but the method it propose is not good.Why deface fiat for it?better sms random numbers the private keys or send email

it is illegal to advertise anything on banknotes.

This. You can basically do whatever you want with US bills as long as you don't try to modify it to be a different type of denomination which is illegal.

If you wanted to write 'I love satan, lets buttfuck a rabbit' on a bill you could.

It would be useless because unless people know what bitcoin is and what those numbers mean (I.e private keys etc) they will just pass it on without paying any attention and obviously there's not much blank space on banknotes to write any description of Bitcoin

A bit of fun but I'm not sure how many people actually take the time to examine their notes. If I stumbled across one it might well send me down the rabbit hole.

There such kind of this has been held on tv program in turkey, it more like competition or games, the girls show private key on screen and the people just need to screen the barcode and get the bounty instantly, but only small of people get interested in this things, of course they're only people who knew bitcoin before, then I think it's not a good idea moreover write anything on banknotes it is ilegall

A stamp referencing bitcoin and then the key might work. Scavanger hunts that activate when people scan the code.

I think 0.0005 bitcoin is to small for giving someone, if you can give more i'm sure people will interested on your private keys, and you also can input the rates for 1 bitcoin is. so it's make people more interested.

I think the idea is really good. The most obvious question is why would you want to spend that much money on just advertising Bitcoin. You can use this idea for a business purpose. Perhaps creating a website with some information and news about Bitcoin and draw daily winners from a lottery or simply publish a QR code with certain amount of Bitcoin. In the exchange you could make some money if your site becomes really populer and i bet it would after some investment of money and time.

There was a TV program not long time ago in a Turkish channel where they talked about Bitcoin and helped people to understand it better. It was a nice program and they also showed a QR code on live TV and gave some amount of bitcoin to first one who claimed it. I think the guy who got it is still very active here on the forum.

Another similar case i saw was on a youtube video about Bitcoin. It is called "The Bitcoin Gospel" and at the begining of documentary, Roger Ver shared a QR code with the amount 100 Euros equivalent to Bitcoin. He also mentioned in the documantery that he has givin away thousands of Bitcoins to people in order to introduce them to Bitcoin world. Of course, he is a Bitcoin millioner.

Its been done.

Awhile back (years) there was actually a website that would keep track of bills and if the BTC was ever spent. I forget what it was called tho.

EDIT: Looks like its gone now. cryptobill.com https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135943.0

I have had bills in almost perfect condition rejected by banks just because of a small crimp or a little tear in one end of the banknote. Good luck trying to pass such written on bills in a store. Why not using other kinds of marketing material like printing out business cards with the public and private keys on them and handing them out to people?

I have spent many, many bills with writing on them!  Including the "END THE FED" ones (must be someone in town who does not like the Federal Reserve, LOL...).

But, yes, OK, there are probably more efficient ways to spread the word by using private/public keys...  Perhaps another way to do that would be to set up PUBLIC throwaway email accounts at gmail (etc.) with blockchain.info wallet addresses w/ passwords.  Put up a new one every time someone has claimed BTC...

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(not quitting my day job, hah...)

Crazy promotion idea. Instead of on bank notes, write the keys (and QR's) inside of a few candy wrappers of a particular brand of chocolate. Make it for a substantial amount of btc value, not just dust, and only a few wrappers. It would be like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but in real life. What a huge marketing boon for that chocolate company, they would want the business frenzy and therefore would fund the large reward.

 :o  :o

Is it legal to write on the banknote? Also is bitcoin legal in your country?

If yes, then it might get some people interested about bitcoin, otherwise it will be a total failure.

To promote bitcoin, it is better to hold a public meeting and let them know about the technology. But since solo mining is not anymore profitable, I doubt many people will be interested in this.

i am not sure if your friend is coming up with a smart idea as from my point of view i think that that practice is illegal in some countries all over the world. Still the idea is a good idea to converse about.

Some businesses at my place actually reject bank notes that are dirty or with written words or even very slightly torn. They ask you to go to bank to exchange.

But I think this is a great idea and hopeful I will see one soon!!!

You will just render the fiat note unusable by doing this. Some merchants will not accept it as payment method because it is stained with ink. They use that as a reason not to accept fiat money, because when they take it to the banks, the banks are full of nonsense. Ink stained notes are usually associated with armed robberies and people <merchants> are told not to accept these notes for payment. Those ink packs are used to render the money useless that are stolen during these robberies. ^hmmmmm^

Yeah I can attest to that. One time I had to pay a tax and I went to the bank to deposit some funds and suddenly the clerk didn't like 1 or 2 of the banknotes because they were too crumpled or torn almost half way in. Fortunately I had a surplus of cash with me so I could get it done  ;D Anyway I think there are better methods to promote Bitcoin like perhaps giving leaflets to customers at your workplace or putting up Bitcoin posters around town?

By the way the idea to use throwaway email accounts to send Bitcoin promos to random people may backfire because generally the emails will arrive into people's junk folder and they will delete anything with 'free money' in the heading on sight I think.

If the purpose of defacing a banknote is to promote Bitcoin, why not create a viral content for it? (Doge nascar, PSY gangnam style, internet meme, you name it)

It looks to be a foolish behaviour. When more users use this same method for spreading bitcoin or cryptcurrency, soon government will come with strong regulations on paper currency use.

I like this idea of giving to the known peoples surrounding you and it is better to give them the paper wallet instead of bank note as it is right that some country law not allow to write on currency if it is done it is a crime which is punishable. And if you give to the known person then they can contact back you and get more knowledge like this awareness will be more.

Lol, I doubt banks are going to 'go after bitcoin' because people are defacing notes. I guess it might be ilegal to write on some countries notes but 1 you're very unlikely to get caught or prosecuted and 2, banks and shops write on banknotes all the time in my country so probably not illegal. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea but I wouldn't do it. Maybe just stenciling a bitcoin BTC would pique peoples interest though.

Sheeple mentality overload. Illegal? Fuck it. Legit reason? Bullshit. Do that. Nice idea.

it was not a good idea, if somebody keep doing it, bitcoin can be banned by the government and it can make a bad image for bitcoin reputation, why you dont spend your money on buying a domain then make article about bitcoin i think it will attract people and make a positive image for bitcoin

Its illegal in the UK to deface the queens money lol but tbh everyone does it and i cant remember a case of anyone being punished.  Remember max keiser burning a £20 on live TV? 

To OP you might aswell just write bitcoin on money as an advert.

Yes writing on bank note is illegal in my country. There are lot of better idea to spread out bitcoin to new people. I guess this idea will not that much effective as we expect.

Its good idea, if government dont have any objection on writing on currency notes.

I thought this is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's the best way to spend time advertising btc. People who use cash are not the best public to talk about a digital currency...

Well if you wanna really to promote bitcoin use a tshirt ,a bracelet with the symbol and people will get curious watching it i believe writing will make nothing as people will think ,those bastard hasnt nothing better to do then write huge code.

I think it might be illegal in places as others have said.  I have had many notes with random numbers on them which don't mean anything to me, very rarely would I look at a note close enough to be able to see if anything was written on it.

Chances are the people that would get your note would just think it strange that somebody has written all of these numbers on it and not actually know what they were for.

If you really wanted to do something like this an idea could be to print out some basic leaflets with a link to a bitcoin wallet and how to claim the BTC and you could drop these off in some shops or through people's doors but this would be a lot of work and you would be giving away a good bit of your bitcoin.

This will not worknif your target are people who is totally clueless of bitcoin. 0.0005 btc means nothing to them, what more a random public keys. They will just ignore it. Besides, vandalizing banknotes is illegal.

That is indeed a strange idea but for most of the country, it is an illegal thing to write or to deface a currency. You could be fined under this title or imprisoned if you are caught doing so.

In my honest opinion, I doubt this would work as most of the time people barely look at their money. For instance, I have $100. I'd say, "Oh, I got $100. *puts inside wallet*". I mean, do you people analyze your money from pixel to pixel before you put it inside of your wallet?

Well, if you insist on doing this, I am willing to exchange my 'clean' $5 banknote with your $5 banknote. :-P

Done this many times, no one says a thing.
Still spendable.

http://fr.yesurdu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Clown-Five-Pound-Note.jpg

Yes, its like a childish behavior. We have to come up with mature idea to promote Bitcoins.
It has to be such idea which is long term and give a mature look. Something like a business idea.

If you want to avoid defacing the currency I suppose you could use a stickie note on it. For a more professional look, I'd just use Powerpoint or something to create a printed card with the free BTC. Leave it along with a regular tip at restaurants, or in other situations where you can be confident it won't be discarded without a look. (Many will be discarded anyway, so it's best to retain the ability to retrieve the funds from any such addresses after a suitable time period.)

that is an interesting idea for sure, but I don't think it is going to be much effective in making people interested about bitcoin.
besides I am sure that ruining money is against the law maybe if you do it on a couple of bills there is no worry but if it is done on a large scale it would be some sort of advertising and might even get you in trouble.

also I don't think people are too lazy to go check out what the hell is bitcoin and how bitcoin works, the most thing they are going to do is to check how much does 0.0005BTC is worth and give it up as soon as they check the price (20 cent)

That can get you into a lot of trouble

thats a great idea though i doubt that it is allowed in all countries, at least not in my country but it would surely attract more people

besides that if it was legal in my country i would definitely do that with my spare money though too bad is that a first person who get it would take the money and that would be it

Ok, so you post this online... { IP traceable} next thing is, you start finding these notes and you left some further clues {handwriting recognition} ...then the authorities start investigating and find you.

They test your writing and link it to you... You go to court and you face some jail time or some massive fines. Some people suggested using a stamp ... this will make it even easier to trace.. every

stamp, leaves unique evidence, like a old type writer. We do not need all this bad attention... leave the fiat system to destroy themselves.  ::)

so,the matter will come where you will spread that 5€ banknotes?its will effective if that amount raise,and then you must trace that money,if you dont do that,i'm sure some bitcoiners will take over every public and private keys of a bitcoin address.

That would be an interesting idea and I saw multiple new bitcoin startups in Shanghai did so already giving away physical bitcoin vouchers, Circle also did it soon after it's launch and at another occassion, The only difficulty is making it encouraging enough "probably giving few cents won't be enough IMO".

Well printed money circulates for some short period then banks start to collect them and make anothers,soo design at notes arent new at all ,people left their numbers at some notes.Would be better to you make a bracelet with bitcoin on it,instead try to give money to people that doesnt know bitcoin.

0.0005 btc is too low to spark interest of any would-be claimer. You should make it at least to the equivalent of 1€ or don't do it at all.

How about just a nice looking simple business card with some catchy teaser info and a link to Bitcoin.org or another educational Btc site? You could leave them behind everywhere like skin cells.

50000 satoshi looks definitely better :D But yes, 0,2$ could be too less for attract anybody. Maybe there could be a program, that would allow people to get some decent portion of BTC under some conditions, like making some amount of transactions or something.   

It's really strange idea. People will not understand what he mean cause they don't even know what bitcoin is. Better to use different ways to promote bitcoin.