BTCitBTCills
So very little information is available to the public at large about these very rare and important part of Bitcoin history. I am willing to share here all the knowledge I have been able to gather from my hunt for these very rare items. For the lucky few who have these and for the many that are still hunting, I hope this helps everyone in the understanding of Bitbills. They were made before Casascius and thus the very first physical representation of Bitcoin.
On the 9th May 2011 a new concept was introduced to the world of Bitcoin. BitBills was the very first incarnation of Bitcoin in a physical form. This was sold to the public in the form of a credit sized card loaded with Bitcoin. As of May 15, 2012, Bitbills were no longer in production.
A public key was visible to check on blockchain the amount of Bitcoin inside the card. The private key was hidden behind a hologram, only to be exposed when ready to sweep the Bitcoin out.
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How rare BitBills are:
Bitbill intact/full load (as of Feb 23, 2024)
20BTC: 88 (26 intact)
10BTC: 107 (27 intact)
5BTC: 144 (49 intact)
1BTC: 589 (297 intact)
Thanks...JohanM
Who knows where we stand today and how many were redeemed when Bitcoin hit 20k last year!
As per manufacturer...
A Bitbill is a plastic card that holds the cryptographic key that will allow the face value amount of the card to be spent. The key is on a QR code embedded within the card such that it cannot be read without the card showing evidence of tampering. Additionally, the card has a hologram affixed to ensure that the card is not a counterfeit.
The intention is that the card will be left unopened and then can be treated as money by being acceptable at face value when making a transaction in-person at a retailer, for example. At any time, the card can be opened and the funds spent through the Bitcoin payment network. Once the card has been opened it will no longer be acceptable as payment anywhere else due to the fact that its private key has already been revealed.
At the time this article was created, the ability to spend a Bitbill required that a patch to the Bitcoin software be in place.
The cards come in denominations of 1 BTC, 5 BTC, 10 BTC and 20 BTC. Orders for the cards are accepted online and the only form of payment is Bitcoin.
I've grouped the security concerns into three classes: Counterfeiting, tampering, and source-trust.
Source-trust means that you have to trust me, and I haven't thought of a good way around that. I promise that I put the bitcoins on the cards, delete the private keys, and use a secured manufacturing process. My hope is that as people begin buying, using, and redeeming Bitbills, they will form a trusting relationship with me the same way you might have a trusting relationship with MtGox and other companies.
Counterfeiting is the problem of others copying our cards and passing them off as real (presumably without even including the private key). Our cards are fundamentally hard to manufacture. When handling Bitbills, always check that the design matches the one shown on our website to make sure it's an authentic card. We use holograms that are very difficult to replicate. As our business grows, we plan to implement more and more security features.
Tampering is the problem of people extracting the private key without it being visible. We put the private key actually inside of the layers of plastic, so it's not just a simple matter of carefully peeling off a sticker or anything. The hologram is directly on top of the private key, also within the plastic. Even if it is somehow covertly extracted (once you see one of these, you'll see just how impossible that seems), the hologram destructs when removed.
We're working hard to make sure Bitbills are as sound as bitcoins themselves (if not better, since they clear instantly). But remember, like all the best stuff, they are BETA
BTCitBTCills METAL BANK CARDS
Out of all the Bitbills ever made, the metal Bitbills bank cards and payee cards were the rarest as less than 20 were ever sold before the company closed down and that I have from an official source. How many pairs were made out of these, who really knows and how may survived is anyone's guess.
BitBills Bank Cards were aluminum cards, engraved with the public and private keys. Two cards come in a set: a 'payee card,' which includes the public key only, both in human-readable Base 58 and QR code formats; and a 'bank card,' which includes the private key in QR, as well as the public and private keys in human-readable Base 58 format.”
BTCITBTCILLS BANK CARDS
Bank cards are like piggy banks for bitcoins. Load it with your bitcoins, put it in a safe place and your money is securely locked away until you choose to redeem it. Redemption is as simpe as scanning in the bank cards QR code, which encodes the private key
BTCITBTCILLS PAYEE CARDS
Payee cards are durable metal cards which display a bitcoin address, making it easy to accept payment. They include a URI encoded QR-code of the bitcoin address which makes it easy for you to accept payments from smartphone users. Payee cards can be purchased tied to a bank card or for an address you already use.
BTCITBTCILLS PROOF SHEET
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