Bitcoin Forum

The idea here is that virtual currencies are difficult for the average person to grasp.  They want something they can hold in their hands.

So check this out

https://bit-pay.com/cards (https://bit-pay.com/cards)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52611567/sample2.jpg

It lets anyone *receive* bitcoins without a wallet or without having to know anything about bitcoins.  It's the perfect gift to give to someone so you can explain how Bitcoins work.  After you give them the card, and they activate it, show them how you scan it and send them a few pennies.  they will get a text message alert saying 'you've got money!"

check out the rough video demonstration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UmynaPg8hw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UmynaPg8hw)

This should be something that the general public can grasp.  "I use this to receive money, into my bank account, ok I get it."  Once they get that far, then you can take the next step and show them more of the wallet side of things.  They can switch their account preferences at any time to keep the bitcoins instead of converting them to USD.  USD just makes it easier for the newbie to understand.

We will have a printer in our booth at CES to make these on the spot for any reporter that comes in.  I hope we can get alot of new bitcoin users from this!

oh, and we have keyring versions too :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52611567/keyring-photo-small.jpg

Awesome.  Just awesome.

Looks like the same Porsche key as the one that PimpCoin is using.  ;D

Perfection.

Anyone can accept Bitcoins as payment now.


You guys have the BTC acceptance down pat.

If we could get to the point where it is that easy to convert dollars to BTC it would be revolutionary.

Thanks!  the Mobile Checkout is better for a shop like yours if you need to collect a specific amount in USD, EUR, etc, but this is a step towards more simplification.  You don't have to have your phone on you, just put this on your keyring and let the person with the phone figure out how much to send you.

I do need to get over to see your wife's shop soon.  This month has just been way too busy.

I'm going to tweet @ChicagoCabbie the YouTube link. Great video!

~Bruno~

you're giving away Porsches? I want one!

If I want to get some of these for other people, do I need an account or can I just order the cards and send them to the website to activate?

you can order a card for anyone from our site.  it's when they activate it that we do the account creation.  You can also add a card to a Bit-Pay account you already have.

Very cool.  We really needed something like this.  Keep it coming!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12679676/bit-pay.jpg

I was able to buy one early and just submitted for my activation. Nice hard plastic, 3 to a card. Well done.

Mine came with ford keys, not Porsche  :P

This looks very nice! I just had a crazy idea: how about printing these QR-codes on t-shirts!

Awesome! :-)

This is a brilliant idea! You can also make stickers out of the qr codes to stick on items in a store and scan at check-out just like the UPC code too. There are many ways to implement this. I really like what you are doing!

Just one question though. How are you able to exchange the BTC for USD so quickly and deposit it to the card holder's bank account? This is something I need to know before deciding to buy one.

Keep up the great work!

And along those lines...

Are you making that deposit before there's even a confirmation of the transaction in the blockchain?

This is pretty awesome. I hope someone makes something like this that will work with european banks.

This. US was the first easy step, but addapting it to all the EU banks and the rest of the world will take time. I hope we will see many additional countries supported in the coming year!

That's something of a relief, but I still wonder if they trade the sent bitcoins (by using their own coins) for USD as soon as the transaction is detected? That still wouldn't be an ideal situation, but then again, I get it that the USD price could shift quite a bit while waiting for 1 or 2 confirmations. Hmm....

Very good job Bit-Pay guys!  ;D  this is a good alternative to my service http://www.btcinstant.com . We convert Bitcoins -> USD-> Credit Cards for use immediately. FYI: We use bit-pay to convert USD for our customers they are great guys! hat's off to you all!

The timing of the notifications works just like the regular Bit-Pay accounts.  You can choose to be notified immediately, after 1 confirmation, or after 6 confirmations.  But regardless of your notification setting, the accounting ledger is not updated until 6 confirmations.  Then each day we do a sweep and payout your accumulated balance by ACH direct deposit.  

The fees are 2.99% which includes the sell trade and the ACH, both of which cost us money to execute, but we do it all for the merchant.   They don't have to mess with anything, and they can spend their time running their business.  :)

Makes sense. Thanks for the feedback, I seriously think your service will be a catalyst for pushing bitcoin into the mainstream.