CASASCIUS PHYSICAL BITCOIN - In Stock Now! (pic)

[SgtSpike]

Slabbed that myself with a holder from here: http://bcwsupplies.com

The label is a Photoshop .psd file which I'll give to anyone that wants it.

Slab-a-dab-dab:

Did you make this yourself, or was this actually graded by a 3rd party company?

Nice, it looks good!

[SgtSpike]

Casascius - have you ever done any heat-testing with your coins?  I am curious what temperatures they would be able to withstand while still having a legible private key.  In other words, would they be more or less safe than a piece of paper in the average firesafe?

[casascius]

Casascius - have you ever done any heat-testing with your coins?  I am curious what temperatures they would be able to withstand while still having a legible private key.  In other words, would they be more or less safe than a piece of paper in the average firesafe?

The private key is a piece of paper, so it should be roughly similar.

[SgtSpike]

Casascius - have you ever done any heat-testing with your coins?  I am curious what temperatures they would be able to withstand while still having a legible private key.  In other words, would they be more or less safe than a piece of paper in the average firesafe?

The private key is a piece of paper, so it should be roughly similar.

LOL, didn't realize!  I've never torn one apart myself.... thanks. 

[molecular]

Casascius - have you ever done any heat-testing with your coins?  I am curious what temperatures they would be able to withstand while still having a legible private key.  In other words, would they be more or less safe than a piece of paper in the average firesafe?

The private key is a piece of paper, so it should be roughly similar.

It'd probably be harder to ignite than an unprotected piece of paper because it's behind the hologram.

btw: just made some shots of older coins to show the "patina"


(click for post with larger version)
 
btw2: I increased the number of coins I will sell for BTC 1.5 including shipping (16 left).

[Rawted]

Any word on when memorydealers will be back in stock? looking to purchase some of these beautiful coins with my cc, paypal, or cash.

[SgtSpike]

Casascius - have you ever done any heat-testing with your coins?  I am curious what temperatures they would be able to withstand while still having a legible private key.  In other words, would they be more or less safe than a piece of paper in the average firesafe?

The private key is a piece of paper, so it should be roughly similar.

It'd probably be harder to ignite than an unprotected piece of paper because it's behind the hologram.

btw: just made some shots of older coins to show the "patina"


(click for post with larger version)
 
btw2: I increased the number of coins I will sell for BTC 1.5 including shipping (16 left).

I was more concerned about it browning, but again, that'd probably be a bit delayed because it is covered by the hologram.

[Rawted]

If you're concerned about tarnish, just get a pack of these -> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009YKA106/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00     . i use them everywhere i have PMs.

[naypalm]

I recycle the cheese spread jars leftover from xmas or the superbowel.

[EricTyle]

It'd probably be harder to ignite than an unprotected piece of paper because it's behind the hologram.

I don't think you would need to ignite it. I'm sure it would have enough essential fuel in there to at least illegible-ize/vaporize the piece of paper

[casascius]

I would expect the hologram to melt and burn like plastic, and then it's just an exposed piece of paper.

Best kept safe from fire just like your fiat currency.

They have fireproof envelopes you can consider using.  They may help. I imagine they are made from that same fireproof fabric that plumbers use to avoid burning walls with their blowtorch. That stuff is pretty cool. Last time I did a home plumbing repair I blowtorched my hand using that stuff as a barrier. Pretty neat. You still feel heat but it takes FAR longer to burn you (seconds to tens of seconds) vs just torching your bare hand (tenths of seconds).

[dave111223]

In the future do you think you would continue to put the private keys on the coins?

If Casascius coins are widely used in the future as the physical form version of bitcoins wouldn't it make more sense to just generate addresses with no private keys at all (private keys destroyed immediately after generation and never saved)?  So that the bitcoins are forever locked to the coin.

This would surely bring the cost of making the coins way down as you could do away with the whole hologram system completely.

This would be especially useful for printing paper money as you wouldn't need to think of any elaborate way to hide the key inside the paper and could allow for low cost printing of small denomination bills.

[casascius]

No that wouldn't work because for them to be backed by something, it must be possible to claim it.

Simply destroying an equivalent number of coins is not the same.

Example, imagine the US dollar is "backed by gold, you just can't ever claim it". That is equivalent to being backed by nothing.

[dave111223]

No that wouldn't work because for them to be backed by something, it must be possible to claim it.

Simply destroying an equivalent number of coins is not the same.

Example, imagine the US dollar is "backed by gold, you just can't ever claim it". That is equivalent to being backed by nothing.

But if the coins all had the full address printed (or etched, or etc..) on the outside, one could still verify that the coin did hold it's reported value.  Obviously this would not be feasible until Casascius coins were widely used in physically transactions (ie buying a candy bar at the store), because at that point there would be no need for the coin to ever be put back into digital use, why would one need the private key?

I'm not sure I understand your US dollar example?

[imanikin]

No that wouldn't work because for them to be backed by something, it must be possible to claim it.

Simply destroying an equivalent number of coins is not the same.

Example, imagine the US dollar is "backed by gold, you just can't ever claim it". That is equivalent to being backed by nothing.

...
I'm not sure I understand your US dollar example?

Then anyone could make any number of coins with the same public address, and everyone could verify that they all have the same coin at the same time... 

[dave111223]

The money would need to have some kind of anti counterfitting marks built in

[casascius]

I don't realistically expect my coins to be used much for trade - it's rather infeasible with the premium I must charge to continue to make them.  Anything can be compromised or counterfeited given enough resources or ingenuity.  The only thing I can realistically promise is that I've mailed out only honest coins.  That said, I'd expect competition long before I'd expect counterfeiting - it is far more rational economically to make legit physical bitcoins than fake ones.

The argument would be, why invest all the resources to make fake 1BTC coins for a short run that won't be sustainable when the market is willing to pay a good percentage of 1BTC in the form of a markup for a legit coin in the long run?

[jtibble]

Hey Mike,

What do your stocks of 2012 1BTC coins look like right now, and when do you expect 2013s to come in? Also, when do you expect the 10BTC silver and gold-plated coins to be available?

Cheers,
jtibble

[casascius]

The 2012's are gone, and the 2013's I have all the materials in and am part way through the private key printing and cutting process but am not finished with that.  So, that is holding up some orders that contain 1BTC coins.

[Littleshop]

I don't realistically expect my coins to be used much for trade - it's rather infeasible with the premium I must charge to continue to make them.  Anything can be compromised or counterfeited given enough resources or ingenuity.  The only thing I can realistically promise is that I've mailed out only honest coins.  That said, I'd expect competition long before I'd expect counterfeiting - it is far more rational economically to make legit physical bitcoins than fake ones.

The argument would be, why invest all the resources to make fake 1BTC coins for a short run that won't be sustainable when the market is willing to pay a good percentage of 1BTC in the form of a markup for a legit coin in the long run?

I have seen in person trades and done them with casacius coins at the bitcoin conventions.  They were done with the coins at similar value to the ordering cost (above quantity 5) like 1.2 BTC each.  Of course those were with series 1 coins which are now worth more then 1.2 BTC each!  I would imagine if there were enough Bitcoin people together who were trading that they would be used again.