Gifting Bitcoin to a friend

[sheenshane]

What about using Binance? Letting them register them and just send them a gift card? Look at the link below.

I didn't know Binance offers gift cards. The only problem is that new accounts have to undergo KYC now. So he would have to perform identity verification. Since I don't like doing that myself, I don't want to suggest that he does. Do you know any other exchange where you could purchase a gift card that doesn't require KYC?

Yes, any amount now on Binance that you will purchase now is required KYC and you will perform identity verification.  Maybe other exchanges too but there's a limit before or a maximum limit that shouldn't exceed before they will ask users to undergo KYC.

I saw a thread of a list Gift cards providers, it might be good if you will try the no-limit option there since you don't want to perform KYC verification.

Regarding your friend, IMO, isn't ideal to give a gift that they didn't know or didn't familiar with, I mean a zero knowledge of what they receive and it seems it could be there will be a chance or possibility that it could be lost on their hand.  However, if you will include a video tutorial on the gift that you gave to them on basic information towards how Bitcoin will use and how to keep it safe might be a good idea if you will force yourself to give something that they didn't know yet.

[LoyceV]

How cool would it be if there was a way to safely generate a Bitcoin wallet/address for someone else.

That's simply not possible. If you use a third party for doing this, you move the risk there. If you'd create a blackbox printer that prints a private key and puts it inside a sealed envelope, it's still totally based on trusting you.
I've given funded paper wallet to several people, and always warned them not to add more funds and never to trust anyone with their private keys. They still have the paper wallets, and I only give it to people who trust me.

I considered leaving a backup for myself, but I don’t want a way to access the coins. Once I hand it to them, it’s their responsibility to keep them safe.

You could use Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts to be able to regain access if they don't move the funds for (for instance) 20 years, just in case they lose it and it's worth a fortune by then.

I am hoping it will intrigue him a little and get him interested.

Could you make it something slightly related to their new home? A (Bech32) vanity address would be a start, but also stored inside something special (to them)?

Even in my country, I can buy a very beautiful house with 1 BTC.

This sounds like a great idea for a new topic

What about using Binance? Letting them register them and just send them a gift card?
~
It has no expiry

I wouldn't do this, Binance can make it expire or add other conditions whenever they want. Or Binance could just totally disappear at some point.
Private keys are forever!

[BlackHatCoiner]

I have tried gifting bitcoin to friends with zero interest in it and even telling them I want to give them free money if they spend 10 minutes with me to set up a wallet isn't enough to entice them. If people aren't interested then they aren't interested

I think that's where we all, the Bitcoiners, rely on. To this wrong attitude towards it during an early epoch. It is mainly seen positively; we take our opportunity to increase our future accumulation status while the majority of the people out there are unaware of the radical changes that will occur.

It is disappointing, though, if it's a close friend of yours or a relative. Still, that's the reason we're heading on a highly hierarchical economy.


My answer to Pmalek is that if your friend is highly likely to lose them or not appreciate them, don't. While it sounds cool, it isn't.

[gmaxwell]

Don't assume that it's black and white-- that someone is interested or not interested.  Things come in shades. People can be interested without totally falling down the bitcoin rabbit hole and immediately learning enough to securely manage your gift.

I was assuming your hope is that they hold onto them, if you just think they should sell them-- then the thing to do is just walk them through creating an exchange account at an exchange you think they should trust then moving the coins directly to their address there.

As far as trusting you-- well trusting the person giving them a gift over that gift is a bit different than anyone else.  I doubt it encourages anyone to trust in situations where it isn't appropriate, quite the opposite: I think giving people a private key is a great opportunity to discuss and educate about security.

[Pmalek]

I will probably go for one of the below solutions:

• Create a brand new wallet with seed from my Ledger device. Send some BTC to it and give them the seed.
• Generate a private key with bitaddress in an offline environment or by booting a Live OS from USB. I will fund the address and print out the necessary info or give it to them as QR codes.

[crwth]

I wouldn't do this, Binance can make it expire or add other conditions whenever they want.

I guess it would still depend on the persons perspective whether or not they want to go the easy route or learn. The best thing is still knowledge and safe approach.

Or Binance could just totally disappear at some point.
Private keys are forever!

Private keys and control of your own wallet are forever for sure. I want to think that they wouldn't go anywhere, being the top #1, but it's always safe to be sure when HODL-ing.

[Pmalek]

Private keys and control of your own wallet are forever for sure. I want to think that they wouldn't go anywhere, being the top #1, but it's always safe to be sure when HODL-ing.

I am not really worried that Binance will disappear overnight, but I understand what LoyceV was talking about. It's the regulatory frameworks that centralized exchanges like Binance have to comply with that worry me more than an exit scam or disastrous hacking incident. But no matter what happens, it wouldn't be the first time.

Most replies hint at that it's best to learn the proper ways to go about the seed and private keys. I wanted to spare my friend from that since he hasn't expressed a desire to ever learn it. I will probably just do it for him, and then it's up to him whether or not he wants to learn the ways of Bitcoin. 

[Charles-Tim]

I wouldn't do this, Binance can make it expire or add other conditions whenever they want.

I guess it would still depend on the persons perspective whether or not they want to go the easy route or learn. The best thing is still knowledge and safe approach.

Having a noncustododial wallet is not a hard approach and even binance still requires learning.

Most replies hint at that it's best to learn the proper ways to go about the seed and private keys. I wanted to spare my friend from that since he hasn't expressed a desire to ever learn it. I will probably just do it for him, and then it's up to him whether or not he wants to learn the ways of Bitcoin. 

A gift suppose to be a surprise, this would be the approach I will use. If the seed phrase or private key is given to your friend, all that matters most is to keep it safe, it is completely offline, nothing like online attack and he is safe without online access for that period regarding the seed phrase or private key by protecting it offline.

Then after gifting, teaching can follow in my opinion, telling him the worth of the coin will make your friend not to be careless about it, and telling him about online security. To make use of a wallet can not be so hard for him when the time comes, you can even tell him to get in touch with you if he needs help about it after apparently teach him few necessary information he needs to know.

[RickDeckard]

Most replies hint at that it's best to learn the proper ways to go about the seed and private keys. I wanted to spare my friend from that since he hasn't expressed a desire to ever learn it. I will probably just do it for him, and then it's up to him whether or not he wants to learn the ways of Bitcoin. 

This may be a stupid question from my side, but I have been following the development of the thread and you seem to be rather sure that Bitcoin (and the derivative knowledge in how to interact with it) isn't something that your friend values / is very interested in learning. If you're so sure about that, why are you even considering giving him a gift whose nature is BTC? I fully understand the gesture and your eagerness to give him a unique gift that probably none of his friends will give him, but I can't seem to see the reasoning behind it considering your stance regarding his interest on it.
I think that, if we could categorize the answers so far, they would fall in either of these categories:

• Get him a hardware wallet, load it with coins and just give it to him. There are a lot of good alternatives out there - look here[1] for example - and let him find (eventually) the "way" to unlock his BTC. Granted, if he values your gift, and from the look of it, he won't risk it that easily nor he'll fall into common scams providing he'll do his research first.
• OPENDIME still looks a feasible option (from my point of view)
• Create a wallet (offline) and give him the seed words + instructions. While he may not be very interested in learning about BTC (for now at least), I'm sure he will value whatever gift you give him and for sure will treat it with the same amount of respect that's shared between you two. Perhaps catching up on him from time to time just to see how his "quest" for "crypto knowledge" is doing?
  
  

Whatever you end up choosing, I'm sure he'll enjoy the gift (plus company!). People tend to over-complicate sometimes (myself included) when the best gift is always our presence within the ones that care about us. And congrats to him! Buying a house is a great step in a relationship / life goal!
[1]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0

[Pmalek]

This may be a stupid question from my side, but I have been following the development of the thread and you seem to be rather sure that Bitcoin (and the derivative knowledge in how to interact with it) isn't something that your friend values / is very interested in learning. If you're so sure about that, why are you even considering giving him a gift whose nature is BTC?

It's not that I don't think he doesn't want to learn about Bitcoin or that he isn't capable of understanding it. He is the kind of guy that likes shortcuts. He will take the faster and easier route instead of the more complicated one. Many times, that's not a bad approach, but with Bitcoin it is. The easier and more user-friendly and convenient way to store and interact with crypto can cause people to lose their savings and have them stolen or lost.

I have tried to introduce a few friends to the technology for years, but I can't say I've had a lot of success. A few seemed interested, but when we got to the point of either investing or performing a service in exchange for Bitcoin, suddenly that interest waned. Then when they hear about the price increases and possibilities crypto offers, they tell me I was right. I want to change that record and try it one more time with him.