Would you buy a 0.1 BTC Casascius Physical Bitcoin as a giveaway?

[casascius]

Instead of denominating them, maybe I ought to just put "BITCOIN".

I probably will not vanitygen.  It is difficult to vanitygen with mini private keys.

I will probably print only the firstbits and put them in a mini QR code. To me, loading batches efficiently is more important than redeeming a batch quickly.  These are meant as giveaways, QR coding the private key is inconsistent with that purpose and also this is a coin - space is quite limited.

[Dirt Rider]

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to?  Perhaps have a link to it on the Casascius page so someone who has no knowledge of Bitcoin what so ever but ended up with a coin in their hand, can figure out what to do with it (or simply learn what they 'could' do with it).  Ideally it would be one of the first results to come up when someone Googles Casascius:  "How to redeem Bitcoin from a Casascius Coin" or something along those lines.

EDIT:  And YES, I would absolutely buy 10 bitcent coins.  Given the opportunity, I'd pre-order at least 100 of them right now.

[SgtSpike]

Instead of denominating them, maybe I ought to just put "BITCOIN".

I probably will not vanitygen.  It is difficult to vanitygen with mini private keys.

I will probably print only the firstbits and put them in a mini QR code. To me, loading batches efficiently is more important than redeeming a batch quickly.  These are meant as giveaways, QR coding the private key is inconsistent with that purpose and also this is a coin - space is quite limited.

Using firstbits is a good idea, though I'm biased.

What about just letting the purchaser load them up?  If they have the firstbits, it'd be easy enough to quickly type that in, grab the full address, and send 0.1, 0.5 or 1 BTC to it.

Then again, people wouldn't know how much was on it just by looking at it, so you couldn't say it was a 10 bitcents coin or a 1 bitcoin coin - they would all be different.

[Jalum]

What can you actually do with 0.1 bitcoin?  Is there any way to spend or withdraw such a small amount?  If it's not a usable/transferrable amount of currency, I don't really understand the point.  If you think people will become "invested" in BTC when you give them half a postage stamp's worth, that's not the way the world works.

[btc_artist]

What can you actually do with 0.1 bitcoin?  Is there any way to spend or withdraw such a small amount?  If it's not a usable/transferrable amount of currency, I don't really understand the point.  If you think people will become "invested" in BTC when you give them half a postage stamp's worth, that's not the way the world works.

It's a token amount to start a conversation / get them interested.

[casascius]

Using firstbits is a good idea, though I'm biased.

What about just letting the purchaser load them up?  If they have the firstbits, it'd be easy enough to quickly type that in, grab the full address, and send 0.1, 0.5 or 1 BTC to it.

Then again, people wouldn't know how much was on it just by looking at it, so you couldn't say it was a 10 bitcents coin or a 1 bitcoin coin - they would all be different.

I would probably sell them by the roll of 50, offering to pre-load them in advance, or to generate a list for the buyer to post-load them, or offering to post-load them myself.

Empty coins don't have searchable firstbits, and those not familiar with the command line interface or the "sendmany" command will spend a lot of time loading coins, and will pay a lot of transaction fees.

People wouldn't necessarily know what the amount is, but if the coin says "BITCOIN" it's reasonable to assume it might be 1 bitcoin, without actually having to be.  Presumably if you're talking to somebody about Bitcoin, you'll probably tell them whether you're giving them a whole bitcoin or just part of one.

[SgtSpike]

Using firstbits is a good idea, though I'm biased.

What about just letting the purchaser load them up?  If they have the firstbits, it'd be easy enough to quickly type that in, grab the full address, and send 0.1, 0.5 or 1 BTC to it.

Then again, people wouldn't know how much was on it just by looking at it, so you couldn't say it was a 10 bitcents coin or a 1 bitcoin coin - they would all be different.

I would probably sell them by the roll of 50, offering to pre-load them in advance, or to generate a list for the buyer to post-load them, or offering to post-load them myself.

Empty coins don't have searchable firstbits, and those not familiar with the command line interface or the "sendmany" command will spend a lot of time loading coins, and will pay a lot of transaction fees.

People wouldn't necessarily know what the amount is, but if the coin says "BITCOIN" it's reasonable to assume it might be 1 bitcoin, without actually having to be.  Presumably if you're talking to somebody about Bitcoin, you'll probably tell them whether you're giving them a whole bitcoin or just part of one.

Eh, good point.  You'd have to send them at least a satoshi before they have firstbits...

Sounds like a good plan though. 

[P4man]

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to?  

+10

[RandyFolds]

What if you offered two different rates for preloads and empties?

[coblee]

I think you should stick to 0.1 btc. I would buy at least 100 of them if not more. And you should preload them all. Doesn't make sense for people to load them themselves.

And please put on your website information for people who received these coins and just googled casascius.

[casascius]

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to?  

+10

Do you mean something more detailed than go to MtGox, click "Add Funds", and choose "Redeem Private Key"?

The alternative involves patching source code and is a billion times more difficult.  It's out of reach for the average user.

[coblee]

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to?  

+10

Do you mean something more detailed than go to MtGox, click "Add Funds", and choose "Redeem Private Key"?

The alternative involves patching source code and is a billion times more difficult.  It's out of reach for the average user.

Another method is to use StrongCoin to import the mini key and then send those coins somewhere else. Having a website that explains to average joe what Casascius coins are and how to redeem them would be very helpful.

[btc_artist]

I think you should stick to 0.1 btc. I would buy at least 100 of them if not more. And you should preload them all. Doesn't make sense for people to load them themselves.

And please put on your website information for people who received these coins and just googled casascius.

This.

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to? 

+10

Do you mean something more detailed than go to MtGox, click "Add Funds", and choose "Redeem Private Key"?

The alternative involves patching source code and is a billion times more difficult.  It's out of reach for the average user.

StrongCoin has been mentioned already.  pywallet might be another option.

[cbeast]

Is there a website that explains in detail how one actually redeems the BTC from a coin?  Somewhere we can refer coin recipients to?  

+10

Do you mean something more detailed than go to MtGox, click "Add Funds", and choose "Redeem Private Key"?

The alternative involves patching source code and is a billion times more difficult.  It's out of reach for the average user.

We'll wait for it. I appreciate Magic the Gathering Online Exchange for their hard work, but then again I'm a geek at heart. I will use their service for what I can, but they are too slow and complex for most people.

Another method is to use StrongCoin to import the mini key and then send those coins somewhere else. Having a website that explains to average joe what Casascius coins are and how to redeem them would be very helpful.

The online services are vital and have a lot of potential, but there needs to be a basic way to import into a simple client.

[btc_artist]

The online services are vital and have a lot of potential, but there needs to be a basic way to import into a simple client.

Bottom line, private key importing needs to be in the default/official client. And the sooner the better.

[casascius]

I have proposed sweepprivkey on the Wiki, which I believe will become the fundamental underpinning for redeeming Casascius coins and any other kinds of physical bitcoins.

With that function properly implemented, redeeming Casascius coins can be as easy as using a Javascript redeemer that initiates a sweepprivkey on a hosted service.  And fortunately, I have seen posts from Gavin suggesting he understands that sweepprivkey is an important function, possibly more so than importprivkey (this was in a discussion about importprivkey).  That right there will probably be the biggest ticket to widespread redeemability.

Ultimately, a customer should be able to redeem the private key on the website he wants to spend them.  God forbid, if he wants to use his physical bitcoin on Silk Road, he should be able to type his private key straight into Silk Road and have it deposited into his balance (assuming that's how they work there).  Sweepprivkey would enable that for any and all websites that accept bitcoin deposits.

[cbeast]

I have proposed sweepprivkey on the Wiki, which I believe will become the fundamental underpinning for redeeming Casascius coins and any other kinds of physical bitcoins.

With that function properly implemented, redeeming Casascius coins can be as easy as using a Javascript redeemer that initiates a sweepprivkey on a hosted service.  And fortunately, I have seen posts from Gavin suggesting he understands that sweepprivkey is an important function, possibly more so than importprivkey (this was in a discussion about importprivkey).  That right there will probably be the biggest ticket to widespread redeemability.

Ultimately, a customer should be able to redeem the private key on the website he wants to spend them.  God forbid, if he wants to use his physical bitcoin on Silk Road, he should be able to type his private key straight into Silk Road and have it deposited into his balance (assuming that's how they work there).  Sweepprivkey would enable that for any and all websites that accept bitcoin deposits.

The Javascript redeemer sweepprivkey on a host is a great idea as long as it doesn't require setting up an account. It should be done anonymously, even if a fee is taken.

[P4man]

Ultimately, a customer should be able to redeem the private key on the website he wants to spend them.  God forbid, if he wants to use his physical bitcoin on Silk Road, he should be able to type his private key straight into Silk Road and have it deposited into his balance (assuming that's how they work there).  

AFAIK, thats not how it works there. As on most websites you dont have a balance, you trade directly with the buyers/sellers.
I also cant imagine ordering some munchies or alpaca socks or even space cake and typing in codes of one coin after the other.
4x 1BTC coins and 12 BTC cents lol, we are going to need that small change after all

Anyway, the logical way is importing them in the official client. That would be awesome. Mt Gox is not a solution IMO, not for 1 BTC coins at least. No one if going to sell 1 BTC on MT Gox. I would also like to think these coins have more enduring value than possibly Mt Gox, so some generic way, no matter how complicated for now, would be nice. Just so people see it can be done, even if Casascius and Mt Gox are no longer there, that their bitcoin value doesnt depend on it.

Also, as I requested before, some generic information would be very useful. Id really like to point my recipients to one single page that explains how the coin works, how to redeem it, what bitcoin, where they can spend them etc. Now I have to tell them, go here to redeem the value, there to see what a bitcoin is, oh and over there to find out how the Casascius coin works. A single (brief) page with all that key information would be great. Just put yourself in the shoes of someone who received such a coin and has no idea what it is. Christmas dinners dont last long enough to explain all that :p.

[ne1]

Just a thought, as a promotional tool I think of the handing out at large gatherings scenario like occupy movements.  Being that the private key is not hidden, they could be coins or they could be printed on cards.  I think some people will really get it, some will kinda get it and some won't get it at all and throw them away.  This being the case I think it might be a good idea to print/mint up a version that has an expiration date and if the btc hasn't been spent by that date the btc will be redeemed by the issuer.  If this is printed on the coin or card it is understood and not dubious considering this is for promotional use anyway.  The card could also have more information on it.  Thoughts?

[btc_artist]

I have proposed sweepprivkey on the Wiki, which I believe will become the fundamental underpinning for redeeming Casascius coins and any other kinds of physical bitcoins.

With that function properly implemented, redeeming Casascius coins can be as easy as using a Javascript redeemer that initiates a sweepprivkey on a hosted service.  And fortunately, I have seen posts from Gavin suggesting he understands that sweepprivkey is an important function, possibly more so than importprivkey (this was in a discussion about importprivkey).  That right there will probably be the biggest ticket to widespread redeemability.

Found the wiki page. Thanks. Sweepprivkey looks like a very useful piece of functionality, much more so than importprivkey, since it would also allow the user to redeem their private keys (without importing them).