Bitcoin Forum

With the new regulations, producers of Physical Crytocurrencies are not shipping out coins with digitally loaded btc/ltc.
it seems meaningless and pointless to receive empty Physical Crytocurrencies.
lealana are producing unloaded coins for the 5/10ltc which are supposed to be limited mintage, seems only the 25ltc and 1ltc series one are of collectible value now.
looks like Physical Crytocurrencies are losing its appeal to investors/collectors.

Is it just me or does anyone here feel the same as me?

It's not pointless. Just load them up yourself. Probably safer that way as well.

They only had more appeal in the beginning because of their novelty and the fact that BTC were cheap. The regs probably had some impact though.

I realy dont' understand the queastion. Why would they loose it?

I never understood their appeal in the first place. Seemed silly paying overpriced coins. The money they were going for was silly, so I guess it was a good investment.

i like  physical silver and gold
but its hard to use thats why fiat was invented
its hard to send physical silver and gold around the world
the world is very global now with plane travel, internet, phone calls etc
we do business/trade with global participants, so silver and gold will never be the commonly used currency again like in roman times

bitcoin is the new and improved fiat 2.0

safer that way, doesn't seem to have collector's value when its received unloaded.

physical cryptocurrencies now are sold unloaded/empty, it has a feel of buying usual/silver coins instead of cryptocurrencies.

its a good investment at the price its going for,
physical ones are more troublesome to sell/spend, so you always have btc/ltc which you will never sell.
it acts as a hedge in case you sold too early/cheaply.

I think this was more of a novelty or collectors item. They would make a really nice gift as well if anyone is thinking of getting me one.  ;D

When Mike Caldwell released the first Casascius coins in 2011, the idea was simply to prove a concept (tangible bitcoin), and provide another means to get people interested in bitcoin. They were intended to be given away, or carried around as conversation starters. I did both, and they worked very well. The coins I gave out as stocking stuffers got several family members interested in bitcoin, and for a year or two, I always had a Casascius coin in my wallet, ready to pull out when some gold-bug complained that you can't touch bitcoin.

Obviously Casascius coins are now rare collectors' items, especially since the FinCEN threats caused Mike to shut down.

To people complaining about the premiums on these coins: they are fascinating remnants of bitcoin's early history; both the original intent and why they are no longer produced are intimately tied to bitcoin's character. Such things tend to be valued by people; we are creatures of nostalgia and many of us have the collector gene. For comparison, look at the premiums on some gold coins that only had a mintage in the hundreds... They may be worth $1000 in gold value, but many of those coins can sell for 5 or 6 figures due to rarity value and/or historical significance. Calculate the premium percentage on those....sheesh.

Anyways, Mike produced beautiful coins, which helped me, at least, generate interest in bitcoin in the (relatively) early days. I hope, and expect, that their collector value will continue to be significant as time goes by.

The coins I have sold were meant for two reasons:

1. To help teach others about Bitcoin and Litecoin

2. As a collectible.

Personally I've found that coins that are loaded that you tuck away you generally stray away from trading with. Meaning you have stronger hands when it comes to holding on to your coins.

Perhaps people who make paper wallets can understand.

It's like the saying "Set it and forget it" ...only it's more like "Create it, tuck it away, and forget about it for years".

I still allow customers to fund their own coins before I ship them. I just do not fund the coins personally as I do not care to handle customer coins currently for that.

If you fund the coins prior to me shipping there are two things that come into play:

1. The holograms do not get marked with my laser "BUYER FUNDED".

2. You assume the risks that go along with shipping funded coins via USPS Registered Mail. Even though none of my packages have ever gone missing, it isn't impossible for that to happen.

Personally I would not want any coins I ordered to be funded by me then shipped to me, hence it isn't something I advocate, but will accommodate should a buyer want that.

Physical crypto currency (I believe) is more interesting that physical gold and silver bullion. It adds another dimension to it as well as the ability to get educated about crypto.

Just my 0.02 BTC

Have you had any issues with any government agencies? These would make awesome Christmas gifts.

in india they make .1 btc and smaller denomination coins
i saw it in a video last year on bitcoins in india

No. Feel free to purchase them for xmas gifts when the time comes around. Last year was pretty crazy during the month of December and into the months after.

the 1btc error coin was going for 3X or more in 2013.
i used to have a 1btc to fiddle/play around with when they were cheaper, but stopped touching them ever since the last spike in price. ;D

The problem is simple, people are asking entirely way too much. Some of the premiums are just crazy, especially if you believe that btc will hit 10K or more in the near future, which I do believe.

Let me give you an example.

Lets say your selling a 1btc coin and asking 5 btc. I have seen it already so I'll just use this number.

if btc hits 10K you'll need to find someone who's willing to pay you 40K on top of the face value when you go to sell it. That's crazy..

the 25ltc silver are out of production permanantly?
i'm thinking of getting a 25ltc.

think we'll see smaller and smaller demoninations, 1btc becoming rarer

40k for 10k , 30k premium is huge.. lesser buyer would be able to afford that..

I will get my order in early for sure. I usually finish Christmas shopping by August.

I have quite a collection of different physical coins. That being said I'm not adding to the collection. I just find it far too difficult to sell these things. I have a Casasius bar in a safety deposit box where I can send btc to for future investment. The other coins I just use to show people and talk about bitcoin. That's the best thing coins have going for them.

As I pointed out above, the premiums on Casascius coins, at 1.5-4x spot, are nothing compared to the premiums on historically significant and/or low-mintage gold/silver/numismatic coins.

You can't think of the value of Casascius coins using some sort of "intrinsic" model. It works more like art pricing, or traditional collector markets (coins, stamps, etc).

Yes they will not be made anymore. But be on the look out for an auction in the auction subforum for some of them that I kept for myself.

Physical Bitcoins were the first casualty of government action against Bitcoin.

I thought the first casualty was the cracking down on exchanges/general businesses?

Ok, the second causality.

I never really saw the use in them, but I would collect them if I collected coinage.

Personally, I never saw the appeal. I buy physical gold and silver as a hedge/store of value, but was never interested in trying to incorporate crypto into that. I suppose they look kind of cool. Not worth the markup, generally, though.

thats great, luckily i already have a 25ltc, bought at a bargain..

I see Physical Crytocurrencies as double investment. You invest in gold / silver itself and in crypto that is on adress your coin has. Kinda gold / silver cold storage.

If one day,after natural disaster,the electricity shut down,bitcoin will be  out of function.Maybe physical bitcoins will be usefull.And gold and silver again.

Could a company who is outside the US producing and shipping these coins evade the reach of the US governments crackdown?

If you think the price is too high, then sell some.

Ah.... you can't, and that explains everything right?

Too risky investment! Liquiditing physical crypto currencies is not easy! Preferring physical gold.

i think its also because ppl think that its not worth buying physicals as they can might as well buy 2-5 more digital ones.

hence believe the initial minted physical ones(casascius/lealana) will have high collectible values when cryptos reaches mainstream(without huge price swings, quite stable as gold price.).

in times of WAR, ppl may be using physical cryptocurrencies instead of gold, in future.

think you are right,
i mean in general, lesser and lesser ppl would be able to afford as bitcoin price goes up/becomes rare, hence the increase in premium.

Production costs were high so the premium was sizable even buying directly from Mike Caldwell. At the time, I decided not to buy any, but those who did made a really great investment.

just like casascius coins could go down in history as the "first gold coin" of cryptos.
like those first minted gold coin thousand of years ago found in good condition, they are of great historical value and price.

I don't think they will ever lose the appeal.   Maybe the initial novelty of the physical coins has worn off a bit, but at the end of the day, they are great for cold storage, much better than a piece of paper.

What is your experience? Is there only a premium for early Cascascius coins misprints?
Or do you also expect and experienced a good investment return on Lealena, Titan BTC, ... coins?
And what do you think about the investment/collector potential of hardcoldca.sh, which is basically just silver with a QR code.

My 2cent: There was a hype in late 2013, early 2014, when Titan BTC, and others entered the market. This has calmed down a lot.
I am not so much informed about the prices physical bitcoins fetch here in the forum at the moment. Just noticed that some professionals sell coins on ebay for exorbtant prices.

I also heard there are already fakes around.  >:(

I think the only reason it's calmed down is because they are going to jail if they don't stop. Cascascius would still be going if he hadn't been threatened by the government. Smoothie had a good idea by having the purchaser load the money but that isn't as sexy as buying this pre made sealed coin ready to go.