Bitcoin Forum

Chasing Casascius is a project released to commemorate the halving being sold on www.chasingcasascius.com

It is being released through Creation Company (CC Ltd.) and we are working hard to get our publisher and printer in line with our exclusive custom printing demands.

This is a photo book featuring a short story about a girl, whose profession is Block Explorer, and her quest to find a Casascius gold bar and sync it's associated address with the bitcoin blockchain.

To me, it represents a whimsical story that doesn't need to mention bitcoin directly in the title to get attention. Casascius gold plated bars remain the most aesthetic and technologically advanced gold plates in existence. This story combines bitcoin, casascius bars, fintech, an exotic locale, IoT and more in a technologically advanced way.

Although our suppliers asked us to pay them in US dollars, we are accepting payment only in bitcoin. We are committed to releasing this product in the closed loop bitcoin ecosystem:

• Payment in Bitcoin
• Track your ownership with the associated Counterparty asset
• A portion of the proceeds donated to charities that accept bitcoin
• Sales timeline tied to the bitcoin halving
• International Shipping

Sales close at block 420,000, so time to purchase this book is limited

After the halving, a book from number 1 - 5000 will be chosen randomly via a provably fair seed to be shipped with the Casascius Gold Bar. This is worth more than the book itself.

We are using Stripe for payment processing of bitcoin, alipay, and credit cards. We also accept bitcoin escrow on orders of 5 or more

I'll be around here for the duration of this project, but unless Theymos un-newbs my account, it will be slow for me to respond here. We can also be reached via email at hello@ccltd.co

Let's make history,
Photon Research

This is just an awesome idea - I love it!
Do you ship to Europe?

@Mithell Group buy? ;D

Yes, we are shipping internationally!

Brand new account and effectively anonymous seller (we only have your statement that you are known to coinbase)
You can complain to coinbase .... I am not on coinbase. Will coinbase verify your statements ?

I would love to buy, if there was an escrow opportunity

ccltd.co website is not bursting with legitimacy
ccltd.co looks to be registered / shielded through Panama

Give me a reason to feel that I wont be ripped off, and I will be buying. Set up an escrow facility through a trusted name on the forum, you will get lots more sales

monkeynuts, be sure to checkout this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1514498.0
TookDk, I'll do a group buy if more people want one

I will jump on an escrowed group buy to europe too Mitchell

I would be willing to buy one assuming we can use a well known escrow on this forum.

I'm in as well :D

Looking forward to the sequel.  GETTING NASTY. (kidding)   :D

This could be a whole franchise!

I'm in.

great, I hope you will enjoy this piece of history

Do you plan to at least respond to requests for escrow given you have no known reputation on this forum?

If you do have trades you've done please link us to the proof so we can verify. Thanks.

I want :D

I've been in contact with several people regarding the group buys and escrow

This presently presents logistical problems as this particular forum's version of trust wasn't considered by my team (but still wouldn't change the logistical problem even if we had considered it, the distribution model would have been concluded unviable and we wouldn't have pursued the project!). So it depends on the size of the buys and the need for it, as the books are selling as is using the way we intended for them to be sold.

This may be something we consider down the line (in coordination with our publisher's warehousing, printing and shipping cost demands) if it is a substantial number of copies - shipping many copies to one person instead of many copies to many people.

People interested in the book should buy it through the website. People that want to buy the book in different quantities need to contact me via PM or email.

You have been un-newbbed (your rank remains the same, but I've lifted some of the newbie restrictions).

This post is way underrated!  ;D

awesome! thank you Cyrus

Is it possible that you can post a plain picture of the finished book - just to see that the cake real?

https://mopies.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/portal-cake.jpg

Some people will have their orders soon, they are shipped from a warehouse and I don't have a copy here. But I have approved proofs, I'll get one and take a picture next time

I'm interested in buying one as well.. :) one copy reserved for me please.
Thanx in advance
Kind regards

Defcon23

Edit: indeed, via trusted escrow only...  ;D  ( Ognasty or Blazed will be fine .. or Mitchell via group buy as well )

The cake is a lie.

But hopefully we'll see another cool book in the community with this project.

How much interest is there in the Europe group buy at this point? How many copies

I would be in for 1

I would be in for 1, if the cake is real.

i'm from EU too , & I would be in for 1 ( as already said ..)

1 for me too

I'll create a group buy thread this evening! ;D

yeah ! well done ! good idea man  8)

And for a group buy on the US continent?



We are filling orders from many countries all over the place, don't forget you can just order on the website, although I did notice that there is no way to specify quantity greater than 1. With the interest in group buys I'll see what else is possible

The first batch of orders are being prepared, thanks for your patience!

Good news! We can now accept escrow on orders of 5 or more to one address!

In the future we'll be able to get this down to orders of 1 in US and Europe, and then to Africa, Asia and Australia. It takes our printer longer to get set up logistically on the latter continents! (Which means it entails more risk to wait for funds in escrow longer as shipping may take several weeks)

Well, congratulations on publishing the second book relating to physical bitcoins! It's a small club we are in  8)

EDIT: third book

in case you missed it

http://8btc.com/thread-35388-1-1.html

hooo ! it's available via alipay ?i have missed that..,  interesting .. Thanx mate  8)

Thank you Elianite

yes, if you use Alipay, let me know about the purchasing experience, I can't read Chinese

Alright, do me a favor and let people know when you get your copy, I can't post pictures yet

Just a heads up, we ditched Coinbase, setup Stripe and now accept Bitcoin, Alipay, and major credit cards

I have tracking numbers, but it isn't automated, just give it a few business days

With customer fulfillment now ongoing with people receiving their books, stay tuned for details on how the raffle for the Casascius Gold Bar will proceed, it will be a separate thread, most likely in a raffle thread

That's great But... Did you miss the thread about everyone feeling ripped off so far? Can you actually explain wtf you are selling so I don't get ripped off too?

Thanks!?

I saw a fairly objective review of both sections of the book without giving too much away, I see some people noticed the Kialara easter eggs

The motivations of our buyers are across a broad spectrum - such as the crypto art enthusiasts, those more interested in the gold bar raffle, those interested in this new product in the space, and more - and those motivations are completely in line with our desire to launch this project and raffle going into the halving

Ok. fair enough. Can you send me a vouch PDF copy, or are you just racking up BTC for free like most scammers here?  ::)
I wont leak it, I'm just curious as to what the f I'm really buying hardcopy .. thanks.

Edit - Just seems like a scam. If not, prove it with me. :)

I confirm I received my book!

Woohoo! This right here,


This means a lot to me

Why does everyone on this forum think everything is a scam? Who would go to the effort of creating a 'fake' book, if the real thing can sell for $150?
One might question whether the book is worth $150, but surely it is not 'fake'.
Nobody would question this in the 'real world'..

Thank you Elianite its alright, every community has its nuances.

The Chinese bitcoin community found out about this project on its own for example and has a completely different standard of legitimacy, just like how here the lack of escrow turned out to be "the thing" at one point. Speaking of which we are willing to accept bitcoin escrow at this point, but the orders are coming through the site and with url referrals from facebook and other networks.

Being able to engage with the whole world like this makes it all seem a lot smaller and more accessible, so I'm very glad to bring this project to market!

I know that there are some mixed opinions about this product, this i just my view on things:

I agree with Elias that is not a SCAM per se, the word scam is sort of miss used in the bitcoin community.
What I hear, is that some of the people that have bought the book say that they don't think it was worth $150.
My definition of scam is that a person try to trick another person, most commonly by receive bitcoins for a product that is never delivered or is completely different that described.
It is not my place to say if the book is worth $150 or not, since i don't have a physical copy (yet), but calling scam is a bit misplaced (imo).
But it is definitely legit that the buyers say that the product does not live up their expectation or that it is too expensive, its their right to feel that way.

I agree $150 is a lot for a book, no doubt about that, it is also the price that has hold me back so far for not getting the book.
But for me was it clear from OP that the book would not a novel or a encyclopedia on casascius, I see it more as a collectible in the form of a very unusual/obscure crypto related product,
I fully respect that the buyers have a different opinion than mine, this is just my view of the product.

If someone have bought the book and feel that it does not live up to their exception and is not worth $150, then could an idea be to put it up for sale in the marketplace or make an auction.
If the book come up for auction then will I most likely bid on it.

@OP
Another thing that has come to question: How will the raffle will be done, can you share some more specific details? How will it be provable fair?

The other point is the company behind the site, there is no info about the team, who they are, where they are based and the company name itself doesn't even have a website.
Is the company a registered company? CC Ltd (Creation Company Ltd). If registered, in which country?

Sorry but that doesn't trigger my confidence, hence why I'm also refraining from getting the book apart from the price.

And yes more info about the raffle and how it will work would be good. Which version of the Casascius BTC Bar will be up for grabs?

I see Mike Caldwell himself got a copy of the book? At least we know one copy is out. ;)

Looking at the pictures, then is it the casascius bearer bar...

I apologize. Took is correct, I should not have used "scam" - maybe "rip-off" would have been more appropriate, my bad.

Points that I have noted in conversation with photonresearch directly:

1. The initial presentation seemed sketchy- Mike Caldwell himself was the first to post about it. Coincidence? I don't know. ::)
2. Photonresearch is hiding his domain information, there is no valid business reasons for that, unless you are just stupid and want to pay your domain registrar free money.
3. Elianite, I know your real name - THis guy, he could be josh garza for all anyone knows? (Yeah I know he's probably not, but you get the point).
4. Bitcon only sales? No... I don't buy books with bitcoin, I'd rather use paypal or amazon like the "real world". ;)

That's all I'm going to say on it. Hopefully a copy makes its way to auction and I will bid as well.

Cheers! :)

If the litecoin community found out I was making bitcoin books I'd have bigger problems than getting spam to my company's PO Box from every SEO marketer  :D

Hyperbole but I think the point is clear

We also accept credit cards and alipay

Because understanding where ASICMiner was, where Activeminings incorporation documents were filed and who its managing member was... Same goes for Butterfly Labs, and KNC .... Did any of that actually help ensure customers would get anything?

But yes this is a registered entity, if something goes wrong any sleuth could find out any of that extra information in 5 minutes, let alone a regulator (but really, contact me if you don't get what you ordered or something) payment processors and our suppliers know who we are

For consumer confidence, and understanding which qualifiers have actual consequences, the only thing that matters is customer fulfillment, and we're actively moving forward with the project!

RAFFLE NEWS

We will be using the hashCode of the block 420,000 hash, to seed into a PRNG from a range of 1 - 5000, the owner of the order which contains that book wins the gold bar (in most cases 1 order = 1 book, but in the group buys blocks of books are sold in sequence)

It will use the toshi.io API to get the block hash, if block 420,000 is orphaned, we will use the block hash from the longest chain when consensus is re-established by the network

A system with the same architecture should be able to return the same resulting number between 1 and 5000, which would make this provably fair by the industry's standards

Let me know what you guys think, this is the opportunity to discuss alterations to the raffle format

First to clarify: each book is one entry into the raffle, of which there are 5,000.

There is also an associated counterparty token, of which there are 5,000. We encountered limitations with our printer in our ambitious quest to bind these to the book physically. So this will be done with the cooperation of purchasers, a counterparty token sent to all their addresses. (and I would like that if an after market forms, subsequent purchasers get the token sent to them)

As such I can see that there won't be transparency on whether all 5,000 have been purchased, like if this was on Kickstarter or used a single bitcoin payment address

So the answer to your question is:
a) yes
b) yes, it is 5,000

What I can do is put a Google Doc up with 5,000 bitcoin addresses (each of which will have a counterparty token sent to it), beforehand, which allows for everyone to know their position in the raffle. If their position is the number generated at block 420,000, then they'll know they won. I have their physical address and we will reach out to them regarding delivery of the gold plated bar.

The address you designate for receipt of the counterparty token will be the one in the shared spreadsheet

R3 CEV buying

and the domain referrer stats are pretty interesting, people coming in from facebook and slack, decent click through rate

Of course those R3 clowns are buying. The book mentions the word ''blockchain''.


Baaam instant buy with 'murican Express Platinum. ::)

Good thing: They will likley get the content of the book. Unlike what the innovation of an open blockchain is.

https://blockchain.info/tx/403aaeccc1ac7b129f641ff0b77620adf51f6370f802b985e501e0e832d90b99

Couldnt stop myself.

Paying for the book rather than the chance of a bar. Expecting an unsold book number to have more chance at winning the raffle than all of the sold books.

Curious to know what then happens ? How will it be transparent that someone (legit) gets the bar. The winning book may never be sold .... the bar should be awarded no matter how many books are sold

hahaha its kind of a trojan horse in that regard, and I think they - and many others - will appreciate it, I consider it quite educational and way more interesting than watching a guy in a suit drone on at a finance conference.

The book uses some terms incorrectly and contains a glossary about the differences between the story and reality. The main idea was that it didn't come off as contrived like a lot of other "we want you to know about bitcoin" media, but I haven't had any reviews about that yet :)