Thinking about creating my own physical Bitcoin...

[SgtSpike]

I love Casascius coins.  I think they are awesome, they deserve the attention they get, and I am now thinking about creating my own coins, similar in format to Casascius coins.

The big reason I want to do this is as a way to use some of the great firstbits addresses I have.  You could buy a coin with 1KILO on the back of it, and know that you can always look up the full address of that coin at blockchain.info (or firstbits.com when it is back up).  Or, buy a coin with 1KIRK on the back, redeem the coin by importing the private key into your Bitcoin client, and then use the address as your own (perfect if your name is Kirk?).

These coins would:
- have custom security level hologram on one side with private key behind it (~$5000 sunk fee)
- have elaborate design on the other side
- potentially have some sort of edging on the coin (like US quarters do)
- likely be 1.5" in size
- all be 1 BTC coins (1 BTC is held inside of the private key)
- all have premium firstbits addresses on them, such as 1SEXY, 1KIRK, 1KILO, 1STUD, 1MUSIC, 1AAAAA, etc

Decisions to be made:
- Design of hologram and coin face.
- Size of coin.
- Straight metal coin, or colored?
- Is 1 BTC too much or too little?
- NAME of the coin.

Your thoughts?  Would you be interested in such a coin?

[ironcross360]

I would be interested. But a good idea to make a coin worth of cash value also is to gold plate it?

[tkbx]

I love Casascius coins.  I think they are awesome, they deserve the attention they get, and I am now thinking about creating my own coins, similar in format to Casascius coins.

The big reason I want to do this is as a way to use some of the great firstbits addresses I have.  You could buy a coin with 1KILO on the back of it, and know that you can always look up the full address of that coin at blockchain.info (or firstbits.com when it is back up).  Or, buy a coin with 1KIRK on the back, redeem the coin by importing the private key into your Bitcoin client, and then use the address as your own (perfect if your name is Kirk?).

These coins would:
- have custom security level hologram on one side with private key behind it (~$5000 sunk fee)
- have elaborate design on the other side
- potentially have some sort of edging on the coin (like US quarters do)
- likely be 1.5" in size
- all be 1 BTC coins (1 BTC is held inside of the private key)
- all have premium firstbits addresses on them, such as 1SEXY, 1KIRK, 1KILO, 1STUD, 1MUSIC, 1AAAAA, etc

Decisions to be made:
- Design of hologram and coin face.
- Size of coin.
- Straight metal coin, or colored?
- Is 1 BTC too much or too little?
- NAME of the coin.

Your thoughts?  Would you be interested in such a coin?

Design: Casascius got it right the first time. Bitcoin logo, denomination, year minted. Maybe "In Satoshi We Trust"?
Size: Probably around the size of a JFK half dollar: slightly larger than a quarter.
Color: Probably straight metal. Maybe consider making a few special edition ones in .999 silver? Other than that, probably nickel plated zinc or pure nickel.
Denominations: You might also want to consider BTC0.5 and BTC0.1, BTC1 is a nice novelty, but nobody is going to realistically trade in BTC1 increments.
Name: No idea

[SgtSpike]

I would be interested. But a good idea to make a coin worth of cash value also is to gold plate it?

I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the feedback.

I love Casascius coins.  I think they are awesome, they deserve the attention they get, and I am now thinking about creating my own coins, similar in format to Casascius coins.

The big reason I want to do this is as a way to use some of the great firstbits addresses I have.  You could buy a coin with 1KILO on the back of it, and know that you can always look up the full address of that coin at blockchain.info (or firstbits.com when it is back up).  Or, buy a coin with 1KIRK on the back, redeem the coin by importing the private key into your Bitcoin client, and then use the address as your own (perfect if your name is Kirk?).

These coins would:
- have custom security level hologram on one side with private key behind it (~$5000 sunk fee)
- have elaborate design on the other side
- potentially have some sort of edging on the coin (like US quarters do)
- likely be 1.5" in size
- all be 1 BTC coins (1 BTC is held inside of the private key)
- all have premium firstbits addresses on them, such as 1SEXY, 1KIRK, 1KILO, 1STUD, 1MUSIC, 1AAAAA, etc

Decisions to be made:
- Design of hologram and coin face.
- Size of coin.
- Straight metal coin, or colored?
- Is 1 BTC too much or too little?
- NAME of the coin.

Your thoughts?  Would you be interested in such a coin?

Design: Casascius got it right the first time. Bitcoin logo, denomination, year minted. Maybe "In Satoshi We Trust"?
Size: Probably around the size of a JFK half dollar: slightly larger than a quarter.
Color: Probably straight metal. Maybe consider making a few special edition ones in .999 silver? Other than that, probably nickel plated zinc or pure nickel.
Denominations: You might also want to consider BTC0.5 and BTC0.1, BTC1 is a nice novelty, but nobody is going to realistically trade in BTC1 increments.
Name: No idea

Yes, I agree Casascius coins were well designed!  I obviously need my own design, but general style/feeling, it would probably end up similar.  I was thinking a bit larger than a JFK half-dollar (1.2"), but perhaps you are right and that would be too large.

The biggest problem with denominations is how do I decide which address gets which denomination?  Should it be random, or selected by the customer, or attempt to select the best out of the bunch for the higher denominations?  I thought about it before, and didn't really want to let the customer select by denomination, as that would mean I would have to wait to apply a hologram until the coin was ordered.  If I don't apply them in a big batch, but instead one by one as they are ordered, I can see it leading to mistakes.  Mistakes are not acceptable in a project like this.  Maybe I could just do them in batches, and let the addresses fall where they will.

[johnniewalker]

I think it'd be awesome if you made the coins out of silver. That way they would retain some value AND be a collectors item even after they're spent.

[SgtSpike]

I think it'd be awesome if you made the coins out of silver. That way they would retain some value AND be a collectors item even after they're spent.

Mmm, might be a possibility!  Especially if they were 1 BTC denominations...

[tymm0]

I love casascius coins but I think we need a little diversity in our physical coins. A little decentralization if you know what I mean.

[Jrock]

I'd be in the market for this, especially with with some of the huge markups the casascius resellers are asking. A guy I messaged the other day wanted 1.9 bitcoins for a 2013 1 BTC valued coin.

[SgtSpike]

I'm not sure what I'd do for markup.  If I used silver 1oz coins, I'd be looking at around $31/coin in variable costs plus the $5k fixed costs.  Add some profit in to recover the fixed costs and make it worth my time, and a 1 BTC coin at today's market price stamped with 1AAAAA address might cost an individual around 1.5 BTC.  Could cut that down to 1.3 BTC if I wasn't using silver.

And of course, the markup would be worse on the smaller coins... I might have a minimum order if I decide to do multiple denominations and sell 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 BTC coins.  Maybe I should denominate them as 100 mBTC, 200 mBTC, 500 mBTC?

I am glad to see interest in this!  I will move forward with the project as much as I can, until I have the funding to make it happen.

[johnniewalker]

I think it'd be awesome if you made the coins out of silver. That way they would retain some value AND be a collectors item even after they're spent.

Mmm, might be a possibility!  Especially if they were 1 BTC denominations...

Here: http://www.freedomsilvermint.com/custom-minting.html
It would cost you $200 for the die (which lasts forever), and there is a minimum order of 100@$2.75over spot of your custom rounds.

I just looked quickly to give you an idea. I'm sure you'd be able to find a less-expensive method.

Goof luck!

[DobZombie]

Interested!

As some of you may know I'm collecting a lot of physical bitcoin collectables to start a museum.  I've got another website to build then I start on the museum 

So, Yes! You should ABSOLUTELY create a physical bitcoin. I love Cascasius but the man needs competition!

+1 for me! Willing to pay BTC1.5 for a 1BTC coin 

[Welsh]

This is certainly interesting.


I hope you can successfully do this, I wish you good luck!

[bracek]

make 21 silver coin with only 1 satoshi in it

[palo]

Interested!

As some of you may know I'm collecting a lot of physical bitcoin collectables to start a museum.  I've got another website to build then I start on the museum 

So, Yes! You should ABSOLUTELY create a physical bitcoin. I love Cascasius but the man needs competition!

+1 for me! Willing to pay BTC1.5 for a 1BTC coin 

is your museum going to be online?

[HowGudAmI]

If you do lower than 1BTC then measure it in mBTC - I really think mBTC should be pushed forwards for lower values.

But i think a 1BTC .999 or .925 silver coin would be really nice!.

[shibaji]

+1 for 1btc silver coin. I would be interested.

[DobZombie]

Interested!

As some of you may know I'm collecting a lot of physical bitcoin collectables to start a museum.  I've got another website to build then I start on the museum 

So, Yes! You should ABSOLUTELY create a physical bitcoin. I love Cascasius but the man needs competition!

+1 for me! Willing to pay BTC1.5 for a 1BTC coin 

is your museum going to be online?

Getting there

Believe me, once I've gotten the bones of it up you'll all be the first to know

[edd]

How many quality firstbit addresses do you have? What will you do when you run out?

[DobZombie]

If I were sgtspike I'd sell those ones at a premium.

Mind you, forstbits have gone a bit out of fashion

[b!z]

How many quality firstbit addresses do you have? What will you do when you run out?

1xxxxx and shorter are fairly easy to generate, I'm sure he can make more.