Bitcoin Forum

Has anyone brought up the idea of BitCards?

If this thing picks up bitcoins will not cut it as an online only currency, people will need a way to use them in the real world, have any thought been put into the creation of a merchant/atm system
with cards linked to the users bitcoin...

See I think that users should not hold their own coin but the network itself should hold them, this would of course make it so much easier to make a card system....

It could even be simpler than that. The customer carries a USB pen drive with a spending wallet that he plugs into the trusted merchants machine that is running a bitcoin client that pulls up the customers wallet and requests how much to send to the merchant's bitcoin account/address ... simple, done (once someone figures out how to secure the transaction and work around waiting for confirms).

Yes, but the same can be said of every vendor that has electronic access to your credit or debit card.

If there is no more than spending money in USB wallet then customers have limited downside risk and dodgy vendors will meet their fate with market forces (closed fists) eventually.

Yes, i have, search for a thread with "bitcard" on the title :p

I like moa's idea and I don't see why it wouldn't work.
If you add a fee don't they get confirmed pretty quick?

Please correct me if i'm wrong; i believe it can take anywhere from 10 minutes up to even 12 hours, perhaps even more, somtimes a block is exceptionally hard.

Right but someone will finish it fast as hell right? I'm going to read over it again.
If I make a transfer it's the same block for everyone right?

How about just some company that issues banknotes backed by BTC?  When all is said and done, much cheaper than making people carry smart cards or USB drives.

Sure, somebody has to trust the issuing company... but nobody had a problem trusting Liberty Dollar.  At least nobody can bust in and come after the bitcoins.

Yes, you're right. The commonly accepted way around this is described here:
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4148.0

Here's a discussion someone else began about a possible POS implementation:
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2628.0

Good idea, that would be a bank.

The first bank to begin dealing, trading and providing accounts in bitcoins will get some of my business. It is just a matter of time.

If that works then I'd imagine you see credit cards and everything else that goes with conventional banks.
You could also have quick payments based on trusting the bank etc.

Also I'd imagine that the odds of getting ripped off at say a restaurant are pretty low.
I'd let my customers start a transfer and walk out, if it proved to be a bad idea then I'd stop.
If you're not going to make them pay at the time they order though you're not really taking much more risk anyways.

How much does it cost to print your own money bills with enough forgery countermeasures for people to trust them and not be fooled easilly?

If you're doing it in bulk like the US does it then it's probably not bad.
If you're printing 20,000 or 500,000 I imagine it's not worth it. Not at all.
Lots of R&D etc too.

With how digital the currency is I think there would be way better options like guaranteeing the money.
Something like a check guarantee system. You write a check and someone else does the btc transfer later.
ID is verified and the system checks if you have a history of bad btc checks.

I would guess you'd outsource your printing to an established reputable private firm already in the business of printing banknotes.  Smaller countries do this.

http://www.zyra.org.uk/banknote.htm

Exactly, still going to be real expensive on a smaller scale though if you want it to be safe.