Hmm I still don’t see it! And that’s a great point, gotta have the 5er with an incredible set like that!

Edit: doh! I see it too! That elusive little devil!

Have to disagree. Many people who collect here were numismatists/traditional coin collectors first. There are traditional coin collectors entering this space all the time. I get messages often on my Instagram “physicalcryptocurrency”account from traditional coin collectors inquiring about these types of coins/wanting to enter the space. This will only increase as time goes on.

OP- heck of a coin. Great job not peeling it over the years. If you’re looking to sell this sooner than later Id post it all over every social media account letting people know  ( Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, youtube, etc ). 

I tried the ballet wallet, but it did not work for some reason unknown. I ended up sweeping the btc on exodus then the remaining forks on coinomi BCH,BSV,BTG. there are other forks still out there, but that's all I could find on coinomi. I am not sure where to claim the other forks yet if you know fill me in please.

I fear there may be a misunderstanding here of the process Krogoth and I are advocating. It is not my place to tell anyone what to do or not to do; nor what anyone's risk tolerance ought to be. And I'm going to risk sounding patronising here by getting a bit preachy in the hope you and / or others who see this don't jump into doing this stuff, get it wrong and get robbed.

But above in this thread (here...


... as well as in this post: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5300639.msg55893024#msg55893024 )

...and, I suspect, in countless other threads and videos and books about the basics of Bitcoin, there are processes devised, tried and tested to handle and to use private keys securely. If dealing with anything more than what to you is 'loose change', I highly recommend not only following these processes but also taking the time and effort beforehand to understand what a transaction consists of; what is required to prepare a transaction, how most of the process can be separated from the vulnerable bit (i.e. its signing). Because once it is understood, you will be able to see why what may initially be a daunting many-step processes is necessary; you can follow the purpose of each step and where it belongs in the process; you can get a better appreciation of the design of Bitcoin and the transaction-creating process. And when it's safely done, when you did it, you can get the satisfaction not only of knowing that the funds are safe but also from knowing that, by following an understood step-by-step that you will have consolidated that knowledge by carrying it out yourself. And, as remote a chance as there may have been (see below) that the online machines were compromised, you will know that it was all done without there being a need for a 'hold-your-breath-and-hope' moment when there was a risk of losing the coins*. (The process of using a hardware wallet will also make more sense to you if you hadn't already gotten what that process consists of.)

/soap box rant

I think there may be confusion here arising out of a more generalised use of the word 'sweeping' i.e. 'to have moved the funds from a wallet' and the technical term (and the sweeping function in wallets). As far as I understand it, it is not possible to technically sweep a wallet without the wallet being able to ascertain the 'available balance' from the blockchain therefore not possible to do on an air-gapped machine which, by the processes recommended by those who understand, is the only place you want your private keys to be until the BTC balance is safely elsewhere.

Just to be clear, the use of a hardware wallet with Electrum (or with whatever software) is separate and outside the scope of this discussion (unless we extend it further   ). For our purposes, all you need with respect to your hardware wallet (if that is to be the destination of the funds you're moving from the Casascius coin) is that you need a verified address for that wallet. In other words, your hardware wallet will be set up with its own seed words and you just need a destination address for that wallet in order to prepare the transaction that will be signed by the physical coin's private key.

The use of Electrum (for the on-line machine) with respect to moving the balance from the physical coin is as a 'watch only' wallet whereby when setting it up, instead of inputting private keys (as you would to restore a low-value wallet with some funds on), you input only the bitcoin address (the part that was visible prior to peeling the sticker off). This enables that wallet, once you've put in the destination address, to find the balance on the blockchain and figure out how much 'max' is in order to create the transaction that you'll be signing on the air-gapped wallet. But I think we're going round in circles by now. I don't think I have any more to add on this process that hasn't already been said or isn't in the resources Krogoth kindly linked to.

I think Krogoth answered that one well.


The risk is simply that malware on a connected machine could potentially use your private key to move your BTC to their address quicker than your sweeping process does.


You're now asking to quantify risk which is a whole other ballgame. The odds that this could happen vary enormously with each circumstance and would be very difficult, even for a security expert, to ascertain without knowing what devices / OS you're using, what else they're used for and since when, whether you use the same device (or accounts also associated with that device) to send communications relating to cryptocurrency, how good your opsec is etc. etc. Without knowing how big an 'I own crypto' bullseye sign you've digitally drawn on your back, it's impossible to tell what the odds are. But why take that risk if you have an opportunity both to carry out this process without taking that risk and in the process, to progress your learning of what this technology is about?


All good. At least this convo is keeping the thread alive while we're waiting for these photos  

*You may even find the process so satisfying that you want to go through it again using Electron Cash for BCH, Electrum SV for BSV before using the simple one-step process in Ballet or Coinomi for anything else.

I input the cas mini key in the app import, and it just was stuck in sweeping mode. I then converted the mini key to a wif key on bitaddress and tried it that way as well, and it did the same thing no luck. On exodus it worked first try with the mini key. I have imported paper wallets on there no problem it works instantly maybe the app is in the process of being updated or something I'm not sure why it didn't work.

The race against time he refers to is as follows...
If for some reason you have a virus or malware specifically engineered to be able to copy your mnemonic or paper wallet...or and private key...then they can literally beat you to sweeping your coins before you do. So why take that chance when you can sign it safely offline first? Especially with a 10btc coin. Better safe than sorry

There are also malwares that send your btc to a different address...they switch the addy at the end.

Here is a thread of a different way to carry any btc you plan on sending without actually having the btc on your hot wallet.
 I used to use this method when i met people in person and didnt want to carry the btc on my Mycelium wallet
       
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5106013.0

I tried to import/sweep a casascius on the ballet wallet app it didn't work for me. Exodus worked for me for the btc then I used coinomi to claim the forks

Hi, thanks for your interest and sorry for my late response.
Regarding 'sweeping' or sending, it's something I've done many many times - for myself when they were low value but also more recently for friends.

I would agree with iBHK8 to use something like Ballet for the forked coins, 'airdropped' stuff etc.

However, I would first - cautiously and with very well considered steps beforehand - send your BTC to a hardware wallet address then only aftwerwards to go play with the BCH & small-fry other stuff.

I don't know if it's possible to 'sweep' without exposing the private keys online so the way I have talked people through doing it is with an out-of-the box £200 air-gapped (wifi off from first start-up) laptop with electrum installed on it from USB stick. Then with electrum also on your connected computer, you can set up watch-only wallet on that one, inputting the public key which will enable you, with the wallet able to read the blockchain, to prepare the transaction (the amount (max), the send-to address and the fee). Then you need to export the unsigned transaction and take it (either on USB or by QR code) to the air-gapped machine to import, sign and export again. You can then, with the signed transaction, input it back into the electrum on the connected machine and broadcast.

There are many variations on this theme with various degrees of security. It is essentially the same as safely spending from a paper wallet and you'll find many processes for that - some with illustrations etc. The critical thing is to remember is that until the signed transaction is broadcast and has been confirmed, you don't want there to have been *any way* the private key could be accessed by anyone (or some malware that will help itself to your funds). (Scanning the QR code to an app on your connected phone to sweep your BTC, for instance, can become a race between your legitimate app sending you the funds and malware on your phone sending them to someone else)!

I'd be interested in the 10btc, although not sure on the premium when thinking about it in terms of fiat. Will probably be hard (and not worth the risk) to sell even a 1btc Cas once BTC hits $100k+. On a side note, what is your recommended method to friends for sweeping the physical coins? Always like to hear about different methods. Thanks

In my opinion the safety and security that comes from capsulation FAR outweighs this joy of fondling coins. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯