I am totally cool with this, I encourage competition, and hope this works out well. I will also be happy to order some. I honestly wished this happened a long time ago. While flattered to be the only person producing physical bitcoins, it's not the way I think things "should" be. Someone who can do a better job of this, should do a better job of it.
Keep in mind that my ulterior motive in producing them in the first place was to promote Bitcoin. Their creation was motivated by my awareness that people need something physical to be able to talk about Bitcoin to those needing a shiny thing to hold, and that my creating them was going to have a direct impact on the number of Bitcoin conversations happening around the world. That need hasn't changed, and making a pretty 100mBTC coin given today's rates is a clear example of being attentive to the needs of the market and the potential user base of the coins.
Likewise, welcoming competition is consistent with my original stated goals. The fact that I have earned a well seeded reputation that results in people being willing to pay the amounts they pay for my original coins is plenty rewarding for me. I do not need to be the only one making these.
I was going to say, one day they ought to erect a statue for you, but instead as a tribute, maybe I should mint coins with your face on them instead
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I have one bias I'd like everybody to be aware of, and this concerns both new creators of coins, as well as those who buy the coins. I am biased in favor of people creating coins who have a good track record of being in business IRL and who maintain a net worth approaching or exceeding the value of the promises they might issue. A promise not to steal your bitcoins is a promise that can be broken.
What you don't want is a situation where someone is tempted by the opportunity to run and disappear with other people's money. Depending on which prevailing story you believe, people grossly underestimated this risk with Bitcoinica when deciding to send large amounts of money overseas to a 17-year-old for safekeeping. The community needs to have learned its lesson by now. A reasonable policy is to demand 2-factor on all physical coins above a value you could afford to lose if the person who made the item defaults on the trust you have placed in him.
Its another reason Im going for small denominations. Depending on final cost and pricing, if I were to steal all the unredeemed coins at some point in the future, I could probably not even double my revenue and its not exactly going to be enough to pay for a one way ticket to an exotic island. What I could potentially gain is a pretty low incentive, particularly compared to the 100BTC bars and the like that you are selling.
If you were to steal the bitcoins you have sold you could probably buy the island by now
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The only challenge I have to those producing physical bitcoins like mine, is that I demand that they prove themselves capable of producing coins securely, properly, avoiding risks of hacking and key compromise, as well as proving themselves worthy of the community's trust. Meanwhile, I insist that the community not lose sight of the importance of this. I will really, really, really be bummed the day some future producer of physical bitcoins tarnishes the whole concept by ripping off his customers (or even the day people find unredeemable coins due to production errors), and so I favor accountability and I favor producers having a major sort of skin in the game.
To everyone buying physical bitcoins, please remember that you should always be able to name ONE individual who is responsible for the coins you buy, whose ass is willing to be kicked, and you should be able to assure yourself you'll be able to find him/her if you need to, and that person needs to be able to afford reasonable mistakes, as well as to be sued. You do not want to hear "sorry I screwed up, but I'm broke, so your loss", nor do you want to hear your attorney say "I'm very sorry for your loss, but you can't get blood out of a stone"
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I mostly agree.
Im not entirely sure yet if or how I will handle this as a legal business, but plenty of people here already know who I am and were to find me.
As for my trustworthiness; that will be for customers to judge and weigh against the incentive I would have for ripping them off. I know you are speaking in general terms, but for the record, my first batch will be 1000 coins of 0.1 BTC. Assuming I actually manage to sell them all, subtract any redeemed coins and whats left is a very complicated, expensive and risky way to try to con people out of ~50 BTC. I can think of easier ways.
That said... I hope this turns out well! I would offer naming suggestions, but I think any suggestion I offered would be prejudiced just by me having offered it. I might offer thumbs ups, thumbs downs, or my comments on other names I see though. Casascius is a word I simply made up. I have filed for trademark status on it (my attorney accepts bitcoin!)
Feel free to offer. I can always say no
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