Bitcoin Forum

I wonder why there is not more supply and demand for physical bitcoin. Let me explain ...

I assume that it is technically as secure to produce physical bitcoin as it would be to create bitcoin keys via the glacier protocol.
Please find my question regarding security here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323632.0

That said, I understand that there is a market for hardware wallets, that fullfil the need for secure keys. The market is - according to the back of the enevlope calc I did - round about 5 million user for hardware wallets. But hardware walltes have security flaws.

I also assume that the market for physical coins is way less - something like 50.000 user.

Right now there is a market of 100 Million bitcoin user, so it is obvious to see that 99% do not follow the "Not your keys, not bitcoin mantra". I mean no wonder, when it is so hard to produce a secure setup. The glacier protocol is cumbersome and you would have to be a technical expert to follow that protocol.

So why is there not more demand and supply for physical bitcoin?

I think that there is more demand than you might be aware of.

Just this month I have sold over 130 DIY poker chip wallets with denominations of .001, .0025, .005, .0075 and .01

and I am a no one in the physical making business - there are guys out there selling physical bitcoin items left and right! I think you just need to look in the right places.

What would be the value of physical Bitcoin for the users and how does make storage, its main use case for now, better and safer from theft?

Having that said, you are asking the wrong question. It's the market the creates the demand for the product. So what is wrong with the product?

It will I guess depending on the quality of the physical coin, if it is made of gold, of course, the price the same on gold, but if your physical coin made on copper then the price is cheap than the gold. A physical coin is almost nothing valuable except if many crypto enthusiasts treat this as a souvenir coin.

The most physical coin is not intended to make for storing your digital bitcoin that has a value, but I saw there is a physical coin that has an address inside and has a digital bitcoin, maybe that is a paper wallet that the seed is separate to the physical coin. Regarding the demand and supply, just ask above, that dude selling physical coins.

Bitcoin price change may not necessarily mean increased adoption or the number of people buying bitcoin. A person or institution can buy 100,000 bitcoins, causing the price to change faster than thousands of people adopt the currency.
Also, founding members when they invest, they create their own contract and their devices to verify that everything is going well.

Do not forget that many people keep their coins in hot wallets, and few of them need hardware wallets.
As for physical bitcoin, they open up some trust that you do not need to risk, and there are free, open source solution (do it with your self)

I don't know whether I am getting your point or not. In my opinion, Bitcoin failures and success comes because of its digital nature not because there is demand of physical bitcoin. Decade later there is zero demand of physical bitcoin which clearly means no one wants it. 

not sure why you say there is zero demand - people are buying physical coins with btc loaded to them - aka physical bitcoin - almost every day.

I'm probably even less of a no one than Mopar up there, but I've certainly bought more than my fair share of this. Am not sure what you really mean by "empty" physical bitcoin though -- do you mean unfunded bitcoin wallets in the shape of collectibles? If so, there's a very real demand. Niche maybe, but if a non-collector like me occasionally shops around, then I can imagine what it'd look like for people who're really into it.

I'm not so much into vanity value either, I just think it's nice to remind some young adults I'm "in charge of" of what Bitcoin is, in a way that's more relatable to them.

It is just considered as collectible item so people who actually want to spend bitcoin may not buying the physical coins then why people need to pay premium price for something which is not actually having any extra benefits for the money we are spending.

I may come across this thread quite late, but let me give you some content in mind. As far as I know, if physical bitcoins were literally made and usable then their aesthetic value would be reduced. considering the existence of bitcoin is not expected to be made in two types, so let bitcoin remain in a cryptic system, which can only be accessed by the network. cannot be duplicated physically. then the positive point even though bitcoin is non-physical but its value exceeds any physical. probably the equivalent of 1kg of gold.

It's because as of now, hardware wallets is the only means of getting high security without being too inconvenient, in fact it's user friendly even for beginners so it's a lot more easy for ppl to consider buying.

Another reason could be, it is not as marketed as much as hardware wallets, talking about by the company/maker + word of mouth from users particulary as a means of storing. I've no way of verifying whether a physical btc via glaciaer protocol is more secure but if it really is, i don't think a lot of ppl knows this. Maybe this is just me but right now, hardware wallets has an impression of being a 'need' while physical bitcoins are only for collection which isn't a 'need' but a 'for fun' thing.

But demand for physical bitcoins is a lot more than you think I agree. Our collectibles (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=217.0) board is pretty strong alone, with old peeps still in the field for years and with new ppl still coming in, what if we combine it with other platforms out there? 🤤

I found this post interesting for two reasons:-
first, the superiority of Gold over btc (regardless of price) a gold coin will obviuosly be more expensive than silver or copper, btc may be higher in price but can never replace Gold,

second, btc is only valuable because it is digital coin, having a physical coin will most likely not worth much (again depending on the quality) except what value users are ready place on it, hypothetically BTC will likely loss its fiat value when minted as physical coin!

BTC does not lose its value when it is minted into a physical item. The physical items are simply a representation of the wallet address and allows the BTC to be a bearer item, allowing for transfers of BTC off chain. This increases it's value not decreases it.