Introducing CryptoPendants, a new and creative way to store your Bitcoins.

[TheUntitled]

As novel as the idea is, I would be terrified of having it snatched off my person.

Unfortunately, this is a real problem. One which I'm not entirely sure how to rectify. The best advice I could give would be to conceal it in public, but then what's the point of it? You might as well just print off a paper wallet.

To be honest, if it would just make you paranoid and stress you out, perhaps it's not the physical Bitcoin for you.

We could always buy 2... one to use as secure wallet, in a secure place and one "empty" for use/display as a pendant.

Not really the solution that I would use, if I'm honest.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the pendants won't all have set values, they'll come empty and perhaps with a certificate or something of the sort which has the public key on it, so you can top it up as you go along. So if you just like the design, your CryptoPendant doesn't need to contain any Bitcoins.

Oh, and one more thing! New update album: http://imgur.com/a/1EGqW#0
I went in to even more detail regarding the storage of the private key in this one.

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[n4ru]

As novel as the idea is, I would be terrified of having it snatched off my person.

Unfortunately, this is a real problem. One which I'm not entirely sure how to rectify. The best advice I could give would be to conceal it in public, but then what's the point of it? You might as well just print off a paper wallet.

To be honest, if it would just make you paranoid and stress you out, perhaps it's not the physical Bitcoin for you.

We could always buy 2... one to use as secure wallet, in a secure place and one "empty" for use/display as a pendant.

Or buy 1... and use an actual secure wallet to store BTC. Which would mean you'd simply want a BTC pendant for display.

[TheUntitled]

As novel as the idea is, I would be terrified of having it snatched off my person.

Unfortunately, this is a real problem. One which I'm not entirely sure how to rectify. The best advice I could give would be to conceal it in public, but then what's the point of it? You might as well just print off a paper wallet.

To be honest, if it would just make you paranoid and stress you out, perhaps it's not the physical Bitcoin for you.

We could always buy 2... one to use as secure wallet, in a secure place and one "empty" for use/display as a pendant.

Or buy 1... and use an actual secure wallet to store BTC. Which would mean you'd simply want a BTC pendant for display.

This is what I'd suggest, if you're worried about thievery but still like the design. Maybe in future I'll make a version which isn't branded, but I have other versions of CryptoPendants that I want to get working on first. We'll see where it goes after the new prototype is ready.

[TheUntitled]

Just a quick update, guys:

Today I uploaded the prototype components to Shapeways, so that when I get a chance I order the prints.

I selected the material for component #1 (The main pendant) as stainless steel, but when I was selecting the material for component #2 (The plate), I saw this:



I assume this is to do with some sort of design flaw, so I'm going to play around with the model a bit by making some parts thicker than they are at the moment. If that doesn't work, I'm going to contact Shapeways support for advice.

[TheUntitled]

For anyone interested, I've resolved the issue.

All I had to do was make the plate thicker by about 1mm, and now the stainless steel option can be selected.
There is one problem with this, though: it's now a little more expensive. Before I order I'm going to email Shapeways and ask them if I can print both the components together rather than as separate items to reduce costs.

Given a week or two, I think I'll be ready to order the new prototype.

[ct1aic]

For anyone interested, I've resolved the issue.

All I had to do was make the plate thicker by about 1mm, and now the stainless steel option can be selected.
There is one problem with this, though: it's now a little more expensive. Before I order I'm going to email Shapeways and ask them if I can print both the components together rather than as separate items to reduce costs.

Given a week or two, I think I'll be ready to order the new prototype.

Good luck my friend and keep the good work. I'm waiting for a future release, to buy one.

[pisces1999]

I really like the initiative. Keep up the good work

[Boelens]

For anyone interested, I've resolved the issue.

All I had to do was make the plate thicker by about 1mm, and now the stainless steel option can be selected.
There is one problem with this, though: it's now a little more expensive. Before I order I'm going to email Shapeways and ask them if I can print both the components together rather than as separate items to reduce costs.

Given a week or two, I think I'll be ready to order the new prototype.

Cool, looking forward to it! =)

[btceic]

Instead of a ar code can you pop a usb chip in there?
Or better yet, the entire slide be a usb chip?

[TheUntitled]

Instead of a ar code can you pop a usb chip in there?
Or better yet, the entire slide be a usb chip?

This actually isn't a bad idea.

But there are a few problems with it:

• I don't know how I would implement it.
• I don't know where I could buy USB chips thin enough for the plate.
• I'm not sure exactly what data would go on the USB chip. I'm assuming it would be the wallet.dat from a wallet...right?

Most of these problems could potentially be fixed with a little research, though.

I'll definitely keep this idea in mind for future iterations of CryptoPendants. Thanks a lot for your suggestion!

[psybits]

Not the most insightful feedback but I just wanted to say these look awesome!

[TheUntitled]

Not the most insightful feedback but I just wanted to say these look awesome!

Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

[TheUntitled]

Hey all, I've got another update for you guys.

Over the past few days I've been asked "Why haven't you ordered the new prototype yet?". The answer to this? I'm not pleased with the price.

Considering shipping costs and costs for the holograms, and then of course the profit margin, a final product which I would then sell on to people would definitely cost upwards of $50. Perhaps even $60+ if shipping outside of Europe, and this displeases me. I set out to make a cool yet affordable pendant, and at the rate things are going now it doesn't really look like the "affordable" part of the pendant is going to happen.

You might be thinking that I'm taking a huge profit margin here, but really I'm not: the majority of the costs are for the actual printing and shipping.

So we're left with a few options:

• I can continue with this price, totally throwing out the original idea
• I can scale down the model slightly to reduce prices, but this might make it harder to print and there's a higher chance pieces will snap off
• I can continue with this price for the stainless steel version of the product but also release cheaper versions made out of different kinds of materials

And since I have no idea what to do, I thought I'd ask you guys. What would you, the members of the Bitcoin community, deem acceptable?
You can vote here, if you like, but a comment on this going in to more detail about your vote would be a lot better: http://strawpoll.me/336856 (excuse any typos on there) 

Also, suggestions on any other solution are greatly appreciated.

One last thing, what materials would you like to see versions of CryptoPendants to be made out of? You can view all available materials here: http://www.shapeways.com/materials?li=nav

Any feedback at all is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
//Untitled

[psybits]

3D print the pendant and then spray it gold

There are places online that'll print it for you.

You could also contact these guys: http://www.3dp4btc.com/

They might even do it for a share of the profits / to be involved.

I'd like to offer these services too: http://bitcoinprbuzz.com

(we can come to an arrangement re price or some other possibility)

 

[TheUntitled]

3D print the pendant and then spray it gold

There are places online that'll print it for you.

You could also contact these guys: http://www.3dp4btc.com/

They might even do it for a share of the profits / to be involved.

I'd like to offer these services too: http://bitcoinprbuzz.com

(we can come to an arrangement re price or some other possibility)

 

CryptoPendants are currently being printed at shapeways.com using Stainless Steel 3D printers, which isn't a service that 3dp4btc provide.

But assuming that I do want to print them out of Plastic, there's another problem with 3dp4btc: their printers aren't SLS printers...
There are a couple of types of plastic printers, one of which (the one used at 3dp4btc) has a plastic filament which is fed in to the printhead, is heated up and then is spat out by the printhead. SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) printers on the other hand lay down layers of nylon powder and use lasers to melt out the layers.

Don't get me wrong, 3D printers that aren't SLS aren't exactly bad, just not suited to my model which has some fine details that I don't think a non-SLS printer could pick up.

Regarding bitcoinprbuzz: it's not really something I'd use yet, But I'll keep it in mind in future.

[psybits]

Man I love shapeways

Still if you printed them on demand you don't have to worry about stock levels.

Plastic is kind of cool in it's own way. Floats on water, futuristic feeling.

Just thinking of how to make it cheaper.

[TheUntitled]

Man I love shapeways

Still if you printed them on demand you don't have to worry about stock levels.

Plastic is kind of cool in it's own way. Floats on water, futuristic feeling.

Just thinking of how to make it cheaper.

The problem with the plastic at 3dp4btc is that it's not detailed enough for what I'm going for. The plastic at shapeways just looks so much more professional.

[Katrina Elisse Caudle]

I really love the idea of a pendant that I can store my money in! But I also wouldn't wear a pendant with a giant B on it. I'd probably want my cash to be a little more discrete.

[psybits]

Man I love shapeways

Still if you printed them on demand you don't have to worry about stock levels.

Plastic is kind of cool in it's own way. Floats on water, futuristic feeling.

Just thinking of how to make it cheaper.

The problem with the plastic at 3dp4btc is that it's not detailed enough for what I'm going for. The plastic at shapeways just looks so much more professional.

Yeah - you can probably find somewhere cheaper than shapeways and plastic would definitely be cheaper.

Maybe have two different materials - cheaper plastic and more expensive metal?

[TheUntitled]

I really love the idea of a pendant that I can store my money in! But I also wouldn't wear a pendant with a giant B on it. I'd probably want my cash to be a little more discrete.

Yeah, this has been suggested a few times before, and will definitely be considered for future editions of CryptoPendants.

Don't forget, this is only the first iteration! I have many more ideas for future versions, so stick with it and a discreet CryptoPendant may arrive at some point.

Yeah - you can probably find somewhere cheaper than shapeways and plastic would definitely be cheaper.

Maybe have two different materials - cheaper plastic and more expensive metal?

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Having a cheap plastic version and an expensive metal version.