A friend had a strange idea

[countryfree]

No. The whole thing, public and private keys is just too long. I guess I wouldn't accept a banknote with anything written on it. What if I go to the bank next, and the bank says it doesn't want it. Sorry, I don't want to take any risk with money.

[btvGainer]

I was hanging out with some friends and one of them had a very strange idea: writing on 5€ banknotes the public and private keys of a bitcoin address with something like 0.0005 BTC on and the link to the official bitcoin website to make more people know about the Bitcoin.

In your opinion would it work?

As far as the idea is concerned,it is one of the best I have heard but the method it propose is not good.Why deface fiat for it?better sms random numbers the private keys or send email

[LayTheHorseTipster]

it is illegal to advertise anything on banknotes.

[CryptoDatabase]

...

Defacing paper currency is usually illegal in most countries.

Yet, I have seen "END THE FED" stamped on US money.

Not to mention telephone numbers and other small notations.

I see no harm in putting a public & private key on a US$20 or a €20.  Just don't get caught!

It's actually legal in the US as long as intention is not to destroy or make them unusable.

Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

This. You can basically do whatever you want with US bills as long as you don't try to modify it to be a different type of denomination which is illegal.

If you wanted to write 'I love satan, lets buttfuck a rabbit' on a bill you could.

[Wapinter]

It would be useless because unless people know what bitcoin is and what those numbers mean (I.e private keys etc) they will just pass it on without paying any attention and obviously there's not much blank space on banknotes to write any description of Bitcoin

[gentlemand]

A bit of fun but I'm not sure how many people actually take the time to examine their notes. If I stumbled across one it might well send me down the rabbit hole.

[btccashacc]

There such kind of this has been held on tv program in turkey, it more like competition or games, the girls show private key on screen and the people just need to screen the barcode and get the bounty instantly, but only small of people get interested in this things, of course they're only people who knew bitcoin before, then I think it's not a good idea moreover write anything on banknotes it is ilegall

[Zeke2345]

A stamp referencing bitcoin and then the key might work. Scavanger hunts that activate when people scan the code.

[23dzmaz]

I was hanging out with some friends and one of them had a very strange idea: writing on 5€ banknotes the public and private keys of a bitcoin address with something like 0.0005 BTC on and the link to the official bitcoin website to make more people know about the Bitcoin.

In your opinion would it work?

I think 0.0005 bitcoin is to small for giving someone, if you can give more i'm sure people will interested on your private keys, and you also can input the rates for 1 bitcoin is. so it's make people more interested.

[Nomad88]

I think the idea is really good. The most obvious question is why would you want to spend that much money on just advertising Bitcoin. You can use this idea for a business purpose. Perhaps creating a website with some information and news about Bitcoin and draw daily winners from a lottery or simply publish a QR code with certain amount of Bitcoin. In the exchange you could make some money if your site becomes really populer and i bet it would after some investment of money and time.

There was a TV program not long time ago in a Turkish channel where they talked about Bitcoin and helped people to understand it better. It was a nice program and they also showed a QR code on live TV and gave some amount of bitcoin to first one who claimed it. I think the guy who got it is still very active here on the forum.

Another similar case i saw was on a youtube video about Bitcoin. It is called "The Bitcoin Gospel" and at the begining of documentary, Roger Ver shared a QR code with the amount 100 Euros equivalent to Bitcoin. He also mentioned in the documantery that he has givin away thousands of Bitcoins to people in order to introduce them to Bitcoin world. Of course, he is a Bitcoin millioner.

[AmDD]

Its been done.

Awhile back (years) there was actually a website that would keep track of bills and if the BTC was ever spent. I forget what it was called tho.

EDIT: Looks like its gone now. cryptobill.com https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135943.0

[DimensionZ]

I have had bills in almost perfect condition rejected by banks just because of a small crimp or a little tear in one end of the banknote. Good luck trying to pass such written on bills in a store. Why not using other kinds of marketing material like printing out business cards with the public and private keys on them and handing them out to people?

[OROBTC]

I have had bills in almost perfect condition rejected by banks just because of a small crimp or a little tear in one end of the banknote. Good luck trying to pass such written on bills in a store. Why not using other kinds of marketing material like printing out business cards with the public and private keys on them and handing them out to people?

I have spent many, many bills with writing on them!  Including the "END THE FED" ones (must be someone in town who does not like the Federal Reserve, LOL...).

But, yes, OK, there are probably more efficient ways to spread the word by using private/public keys...  Perhaps another way to do that would be to set up PUBLIC throwaway email accounts at gmail (etc.) with blockchain.info wallet addresses w/ passwords.  Put up a new one every time someone has claimed BTC...

As in:

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(not quitting my day job, hah...)

[arcticlava]

Crazy promotion idea. Instead of on bank notes, write the keys (and QR's) inside of a few candy wrappers of a particular brand of chocolate. Make it for a substantial amount of btc value, not just dust, and only a few wrappers. It would be like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but in real life. What a huge marketing boon for that chocolate company, they would want the business frenzy and therefore would fund the large reward.

   

[avikz]

Is it legal to write on the banknote? Also is bitcoin legal in your country?

If yes, then it might get some people interested about bitcoin, otherwise it will be a total failure.

To promote bitcoin, it is better to hold a public meeting and let them know about the technology. But since solo mining is not anymore profitable, I doubt many people will be interested in this.

[Genius Einstein]

i am not sure if your friend is coming up with a smart idea as from my point of view i think that that practice is illegal in some countries all over the world. Still the idea is a good idea to converse about.

[7788bitcoin]

Some businesses at my place actually reject bank notes that are dirty or with written words or even very slightly torn. They ask you to go to bank to exchange.

But I think this is a great idea and hopeful I will see one soon!!!

[Kakmakr]

You will just render the fiat note unusable by doing this. Some merchants will not accept it as payment method because it is stained with ink. They use that as a reason not to accept fiat money, because when they take it to the banks, the banks are full of nonsense. Ink stained notes are usually associated with armed robberies and people <merchants> are told not to accept these notes for payment. Those ink packs are used to render the money useless that are stolen during these robberies. ^hmmmmm^

[Wendigo]

Yeah I can attest to that. One time I had to pay a tax and I went to the bank to deposit some funds and suddenly the clerk didn't like 1 or 2 of the banknotes because they were too crumpled or torn almost half way in. Fortunately I had a surplus of cash with me so I could get it done  Anyway I think there are better methods to promote Bitcoin like perhaps giving leaflets to customers at your workplace or putting up Bitcoin posters around town?

By the way the idea to use throwaway email accounts to send Bitcoin promos to random people may backfire because generally the emails will arrive into people's junk folder and they will delete anything with 'free money' in the heading on sight I think.

[sotisoti]

If the purpose of defacing a banknote is to promote Bitcoin, why not create a viral content for it? (Doge nascar, PSY gangnam style, internet meme, you name it)