Bitcoin Forum

Collectors cards with bitcoins in them. Here's the concept:

Make a trading card series (could be a game but doesn't have to be) Make it bitcoin themed. Make rare cards/ common cards/ uncommon etc/ And then Have "shinies". You know, like every other trading card game. But this time, shinies are shiny because they have tamper proof holographic tape hiding a key that holds a small amount of BTC. Kind of like casascius coins, but on the cards themselves. The rarer the shiny card, the more bitcoin is attached. Profits come from selling the card packs. The majority of cards have no bitcoins associated with them, shinies are only bonus/very rare.

This is just an idea. But if people are interested or have thoughts on it, lemme know. If this gains a lot of interest I might pursue it/invite people to work with me on it. Initial setup would need printing/packaging/site development/promotion/designers/shipping/order management/ security-trust measures. Would definitely need a team to make it happen, so there's no way I'd pursue this idea unless a looooot of people are interested. Just thought I'd throw it out into the wild!

Part of the value in collectable cards is that they can be resold. There would be no way to guarantee that any second hand "bitcard" has any funds remaning.

Can't the balance of an address be checked on the blockchain by anyone? I mean that's part of the idea behind this whole bitcoin business as far as I understood. The whole community checks and confirms every transaction and thus also every adresses balance.

That in turn would make any rare second hand card that still has it's BTC avlue intact even more valuable.

But everyone that has owned the card knows the private key for the bitcoin address on the card.

Exactly, you can check to see if the funds are still there.

Also Casascius coins use tamper evident holographic tape to keep the keys private and prove that the keys are still intact and not emptied. https://www.casascius.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Printed-Evident-Hologram-Stickers/dp/B004CUWNRC

As long as the card still has the tape intact, it is pretty safe to assume the btc is still associated with that cards 'private key'. Only someone who can forge the tamper proof tape could get around that, and unless the cards had a huge amount in them (they wouldn't have more than 1 btc) it's not really worth trying to fake it.

Cards with the tape in tact would obviously be worth more to collectors/ traders.

all funded cards or 'shiny cards' would have to be printed individually to apply a unique private key and then have the tape applied to those numbers before being packaged. Trust would have to be established that the person packaging the cards does not save the private keys anywhere and does not access them ever. Just like casascius coins.

Sorry, i mis-read your original post. I see what you are saying. This could technically be possible, if you can trust the employees and develop a good tamper-proof mechanism. Depending on how collectible these cards are, many bitcoins could be effectively removed from circulation.

Yes, collectibility would be key. I'm thinking quality artwork, designed by prominent/active bitcoin community members. But there should be an overarching design. Also, the designs should be tied together some way in a common theme.

Specialty packs could be handed out at certain events, giving them more collectible value/scarcity. Also specialty packs could be issued for openings of new bitcoin related ventures/products. There could even be an initial sale of limited edition packs for bitcointalk users.

Associated the cards to key moments in crypto history could increase the cards' relevance/"brand awareness". They would almost become souvenirs to the bitcoin movement.

I think it could really work, but the initial setup is where I'm hesitant to start on the project. I would want to see if people actually want this. Once I get outta the newb zone I might throw this idea into another thread to gauge interest. I want to start a project but I want to make sure it's worthwhile, ya know? If this one doesn't gain steam naturally I'll probably go back to the drawing board and try to think of a service that has more utility.