Gold-plated Bitcoin bearer bar

[casascius]

This is a product I am bringing to the Bitcoin market.  It should be available in a few weeks.

Like the 25 btc Physical Bitcoins, these are gold plated bars that are made to look valuable.  A great way to dress your Bitcoins for what they're worth, and a way for Grandma to hold bitcoins that's easy to understand and requires no technical knowledge.



I'm planning on offering them in two versions:

1 - a 100 BTC bar with a hologram, which works just like a Casascius physical bitcoin.  The hologram itself will be specific to this product and will say Casascius 100 BTC directly on it.

2 - a non-denominated savings bar with a hologram.  You buy your own, and load your own BTC.  The hologram itself will be a Casascius hologram with a valid private key and the hologram says zero BTC, which is mainly a clue that one should check the balance before accepting the bar in a face-to-face transaction.  This is mainly to cater to those who want a good-looking bar, but don't want to send 100 BTC or more through the mail, or who might want it for a different denomination.  I may have the ability to laser-etch other denominations into the bar, but that remains to be seen.

I'm interested in feedback and thoughts.

The bars are 4cm x 8cm, 6mm thick, and weigh about 138g.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I see you in the reflection.  Going to do some CSI digital reconstruction to reveal your identity via the reflections.

Seriously though pretty cool idea.   Would be good for passing bitcoins to heirs.  In clearing an estate they may not know what a bitcoin is but the bar looks valuable so they might ask questions, questions they might not ask about a piece of paper thas says important bitcoin private keys.

[casascius]

In clearing an estate they may not know what a bitcoin is but the bar looks valuable so they might ask questions, questions they might not ask about a piece of paper thas says important bitcoin private keys.

This is actually one of the most compelling reasons I thought the bar would be useful.  Even the 25 BTC gold-plated coins are definite eye catchers.  I felt inclined to clearly put "gold plated" on the bar, otherwise, people would be inclined to think it was solid gold and might ignore the bitcoins.

Even worse in an estate scenario would be a USB flash drive that contained the bitcoins along with a 2-page step-by-step on how to use TrueCrypt to decrypt it.  I don't know about your family, but my family would have enough to worry about besides learning how to decrypt my bitcoins that they could pretty much be kissed goodbye if that were how I was keeping them.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I see you in the reflection.  Going to do some CSI digital reconstruction to reveal your identity via the reflections.

Seriously though pretty cool idea.   Would be good for passing bitcoins to heirs.  In clearing an estate they may not know what a bitcoin is but the bar looks valuable so they might ask questions, questions they might not ask about a piece of paper thas says important bitcoin private keys.

You're in luck. Today, I added CSI Digital Reconstruction to my resume. Feel free to double your order.



Jokes aside, very nice product you have there.

Bruno

[Hawkix]

A tip for improvement:

- made the bar from tungsten
- remove the "plated" from the label

 

[viboracecata]

cool but too expensive

[casascius]

cool but too expensive

I didn't state a price, so just curious, how did you determine they were expensive?

[teflone]

another neat product, good job.. 

What other metals have you considered for these bars?

[Elwar]

I see you in the reflection.  Going to do some CSI digital reconstruction to reveal your identity via the reflections.

Seriously though pretty cool idea.   Would be good for passing bitcoins to heirs.  In clearing an estate they may not know what a bitcoin is but the bar looks valuable so they might ask questions, questions they might not ask about a piece of paper thas says important bitcoin private keys.

[Astro]

Is it actual gold plating, or "gold" plating?  Will it tarnish like your first series coins tend to?

[paraipan]

My thoughts: nice product, should get some goldbugs interested too

[edit] Word on the holograms, same can be copied and sold to different people for the real price and only one would get the bitcoins. Checking the address balance would not help them know how many of the same exist and where sold either so the first to redeem would be the lucky one so the only one selling them should be Casascius. If one day something like his happens he would be the only responsible as he knows the private keys of all the coins and makes them.

edit: lol i didn't even bothered to see who's OP was, Casascius i was a thinking at other things when i posted, sorry

[payb.tc]

i really like the idea and it's mostly good-looking, however my first thought was the circle at the top makes it looks a little too much like an ipod

[Coinabul]

You should make a solid silver bearer bar. (Since I'm not too big a fan of plating.)

-Jon

[casascius]

Is it actual gold plating, or "gold" plating?  Will it tarnish like your first series coins tend to?

The 1BTC coins are not claimed to be gold plated, I have always been pretty clear about how they are brass.

The bars however are gold plated. As are the 25BTC coins.  That means elemental Gold, Au, 79, etc... not just the color.

[pixie85]

Was there ever a mintage number of the non-denominational ones released?

Did you just dig out a 6 year old thread? That's necromancy at its finest!

[fathur.aza]

Really good but why expensive, gold plating is it really.

[freedomno1]

This is a product I am bringing to the Bitcoin market.  It should be available in a few weeks.

Like the 25 btc Physical Bitcoins, these are gold plated bars that are made to look valuable.  A great way to dress your Bitcoins for what they're worth, and a way for Grandma to hold bitcoins that's easy to understand and requires no technical knowledge.

I'm planning on offering them in two versions:

1 - a 100 BTC bar with a hologram, which works just like a Casascius physical bitcoin.  The hologram itself will be specific to this product and will say Casascius 100 BTC directly on it.

2 - a non-denominated savings bar with a hologram.  You buy your own, and load your own BTC.  The hologram itself will be a Casascius hologram with a valid private key and the hologram says zero BTC, which is mainly a clue that one should check the balance before accepting the bar in a face-to-face transaction.  This is mainly to cater to those who want a good-looking bar, but don't want to send 100 BTC or more through the mail, or who might want it for a different denomination.  I may have the ability to laser-etch other denominations into the bar, but that remains to be seen.

I'm interested in feedback and thoughts.

The bars are 4cm x 8cm, 6mm thick, and weigh about 138g.

It would be nice to see these in both editions the 100 BTC bar would be nice to store and keep around, but the loadable bar is where it is at.
... and then I realized it was a necro well this was worthy of archiving and here I thought Casacius was releasing new editions.

[farharhadi]

Why it's a bit like the Cheesy ipod, but I think it's a good idea that can be questioned again

[Kakmakr]

Was there ever a mintage number of the non-denominational ones released?

Did you just dig out a 6 year old thread? That's necromancy at its finest!

The question is still relevant and I see the user is still posting on the forum. Necroposting can sometimes bring out the good stuff from the archives. The Casascius physical bitcoins are still in fashion and people are more interested in them, when the price hits these record levels.

You tend to dig out all those old coins, when the price goes crazy. ^smile^ < Brag rights for a good investment >  

Ps.. One of those 100BTC bars would have been worth $253 800 today.