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Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: Matthew N. Wright on April 17, 2013, 03:04:26 PM



Title: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: Matthew N. Wright on April 17, 2013, 03:04:26 PM
I couldn't find a consolidated and up-to-date list of all the physical storage mediums available on the market for bitcoin, so I hope with everyone's help we can make this thread into one. This would include Casascius coins, BitPay cards, Bitbills, Paper wallets, Ron Paul checks, etc. Just spit out anything that comes to mind if you see one missing.

  • Casascius Coins (https://www.casascius.com/) - Metal rounds
  • BitBills (http://bitbills.com/) - PVC Cards
  • PrintCoins (http://printcoins.com/) - Paper Cheques
  • BitAddress (http://bitaddress.org/) - Paper Wallet


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: the founder on April 17, 2013, 05:04:39 PM
Are you going to rate them?    
How about give advice on which is superior for what purpose?

Giving a pure list like that isn't going to help people,  they need to know exactly what they are getting into when they go offline like that.  They might not fully understand that to trade them on an exchange for example they need to redownload the blockchain for some of those examples above (a several hour process).

Plus there is other forms of "physical coins"  which include a thumbdrive holding a wallet.dat or an optical drive or whatever other type of media with the computer it came from offline, formatted, whatever.





Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: BTC Books on April 17, 2013, 05:23:25 PM
Armory paper backup of offline wallet.


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: uyjulian on April 17, 2013, 07:08:54 PM
Floppy dicks.


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: Matthew N. Wright on April 18, 2013, 05:50:23 AM
How about give advice on which is superior for what purpose?
You're welcome to post your opinions of each one above and stimulate discussion.

Floppy dicks.

Tattoo of the private key?


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: SimonQ on April 18, 2013, 07:38:56 AM
This is a good thread.  Thank you for starting it.

What I'm not clear on is why should we trust any of these people/businesses to not keep a copy of our private keys?  It's pretty clear that Bitcoin scoundrels are creative and opportunistic, and incompetence itself plays a major part in many recent problems.

Of course I'm mainly talking about companies that sell pre-made bills, coins, etc.  Offline bitaddress paper wallets that you generate yourself and print yourself are obviously in a different category (though you should at least think about what your printer does while you're sleeping...). 

Cheers,
SimonQ


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: poly on April 18, 2013, 07:42:48 AM
You can make your own paper wallts with BitAddress.


Title: Re: Bitcoin physical storage mediums
Post by: Dabs on April 18, 2013, 09:26:04 AM
Someone already thought of this, but you can buy plastic or metal or wood alphabets, and you assemble your own private keys that way. I plan on making a small run, and see if anyone else is interested to buy. Payable in bitcoins, of course.