Bitcoin Forum

I thought I would let everyone know I was successful in cashing out the stored value out of my BitBills.

I had 100 BTC in BitBills.  Since the value of the Bitcoin has risen, it didn't make a lot of sense for me to be carrying around what amounts to $200 and $400 "bills" (10,20BTC).  So I cashed in all but two of the 1 BTC bills, for a total of 98 BTC.

Here is a picture and screenshot showing my successful receipt of 98 BTC.  (Not sure why it appeared to combine some of the transactions, but I still ended up with the same amount).

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/bitbillscashed.jpg/

Suggestion to BitBill makers: It would be nice if the little QR square with the private key had a couple of human-readable characters of the Bitcoin address just as an assurance that the right private key is enclosed, for those of us who might send BTC to the BitBill address for safekeeping.  It would also be cool if the private key were in human readable form on the back of the square.  Assuming I have to hand-type the address anyway, scanning the QR code just adds one more step to the process.  Finally, I suggest removing from the BitBills.com FAQ that the private key is in "hexadecimal"... it's not, and the suggestion that it's supposed to be adds undue uncertainty when one notices that the private key is not hex.

Do you know there is a 3-month backlog for those, and you wasted them just to get even money by cashing in the codes? (which destroys the bitbills)?

They have to me used sooner of later.

I appreciate this. I would tip you if there was an address. : D

I didn't waste them.  I essentially added value to every BitBill those guys will ever create, by spreading some news that they're legit.  I audited them, if you will.

Besides, what are you going to do with a $400 bill (20 BTC) that you have to talk someone into accepting?  With how much the prices have changed, it makes more sense to have smaller denominations.

that's awesome!

You see one on the photo. :)

I don't want a middle man printing me pictures of my money. How can I print them?

Make a new key, send money there, print out the private key, cover it.

Wow, bitcoin is fucking awesome.

For storage in an envelope with other valuables that's a perfect denomination.

Ok, ... well it's your money and it is none of my business what you do with it.  Sorry.  

And as you mention, it was a good "audit" since there weren't already very many documented cases of a Bitbill getting redeemed / spent.

Incidentally, a spent Bitbill casing might be of interest to the British Museum's Modern Money exhibit?
  http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=4573.0 (http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=4573.0)

The price instability is exactly why I think it's way too early for bitbills.
It's a nice proof of concept, but I wouldn't want to own any bitbills any time soon.

Still, good luck with that.

The middle man isn't necessarily a terrible idea.

If you buy BitBills, sure you have to trust that they're not going to steal your money.  But is that really so terrible?

If you send your coins to MtGox you already trust that MtGox won't steal your money.  You also already trust that no one will hack MtGox and steal it out from under them.

If you send your coins to MyBitcoin you already trust that MyBitcoin won't steal your money.  You also already trust that no one will hack MyBitcoin and steal it out from under them.

If you keep your coins in your own computer, you already trust that your computer is free of hackers.  Unless the computer is dedicated to bitcoin and never gets connected to the internet (airgap), you can never be certain of this.

At least if these guys have good controls in place for producing these BitBills, like equipment not connected to the internet, all things considered they aren't that bad on the scale.

If produced securely, a BitBill is one of the best offline wallet solutions available to non-technical people.  There would be real value in a 0 BTC bitbill (though a nonzero denomination would work too).  Simply send bitcoins to the public BitBill address.

The redemption was a pain in the ass though.  What would be sweet is if the keycode were also human readable (on the back of the QR square), and if MtGox or other exchanges could accept the private key as a BTC deposit method (which would produce a transaction that immediately liquidated the balance to another address, and credited the user MtGoxBTC after 6 confirmations).

anyone with more post a youtube video redeeming them?