Real Money(tm), coin versus coin

[db]

A Casascius physical bitcoin and a 5 SEK coin lying next to each other on my desk caught my eye and it struck me how backwards the typical use of the phrase "real money" is.

The SEK coin is nothing but a piece of copper alloy. Unlike the bitcoin there is no magic in it. Mold a piece of copper-nickel (worth 0.7 SEK) into that shape and you've got 5 SEK. It's ridiculous.

The bitcoin clearly is the Real Money here.

[herzmeister]

yap but i'm not sure if bitcoin can work as a physical money.

if there are more issuers than casascius, you'd have to trust them all. maybe possible when long-established banks jump in. ain't gonna happen i'm afraid though 

[DeathAndTaxes]

yap but i'm not sure if bitcoin can work as a physical money.

if there are more issuers than casascius, you'd have to trust them all.

isn't that true of any physical money?

[herzmeister]

nitpicker 

[Steve]

If you really wanted to make physical coins based on bitcoin on a broad scale, the way to do it would be to embed the private key inside the coin in some manner such that you'd really have to destroy it…and in the manufacturing process, there would be one computer automatically generating the keys and embedding it into the physical coin (as well as the public address on the outside) without that machine ever being connected to the internet or touched or visible by humans.  Quality control would break aport a certain percentage of the coins coming out to ensure the numbers are properly stamped and correlate with the address.  A computer later in the process would fund the coin's address before rolling off the assembly line.

It would be cool, and I'm sure it will happen eventually if only for the novelty of it, but it's awful convenient to use internet connected smartphones and not have to deal with physical coins and change.  For that reason, it's hard to imagine it being in widespread use.

[Technomage]

The physical coins will most likely stay as collectors items and savings gifts. They are also perfect as a conversation piece. They don't need to become much more than that.