Bitcoin Piggy Bank for Kids - Would You Buy This?

[ModuloMadBTC]

I'm a parent who owns Bitcoin and struggled to teach my kids about it in a tangible way. Everything is abstract - wallet addresses, keys, satoshis.

So I have a concept mockup for a physical Bitcoin piggy bank:

HOW IT WORKS:
- Parent loads NFC plastic tokens with small amounts of BTC ($5-10 in sats)
- Kid deposits physical token into the piggy bank
- Bank reads token via NFC, transfers Bitcoin to child's wallet in piggy bank
- Empty token is “pooped” out the bottom for reuse
- LCD screen displays balance in sats

https://imgur.com/a/Zm7aEWH

TARGET:
- Ages 6-12
- Price: $60-70 retail
- Includes extra reusable tokens
- Parent app for management

QUESTIONS:
1. Would you buy this for your kids or as a gift?
2. Is $60-70 the right price point?
3. What security concerns would you have?
4. What features am I missing?

Just doing market research before investing in prototyping. Honest feedback appreciated!

[BattleDog]

The biggest security gotcha here is the NFC token framing. If those tokens are just IDs that trigger the app to send BTC, they're basically arcade coins, which is fine, but then the actual wallet lives in the piggy bank or parent phone and needs sane guardrails.

If the piggy bank is holding keys, I'd want it to be watch-only by default and have "spend" require a parent action on their phone, otherwise you've built a $70 gadget that can be griefed by anyone with a cheap NFC reader and 10 minutes alone with the kid's backpack.

Also please don't make the kid's wallet a single static address that you keep reusing, that's a privacy fail and a great way to teach the wrong lesson early.

[tabas]

QUESTIONS:
1. Would you buy this for your kids or as a gift?
2. Is $60-70 the right price point?
3. What security concerns would you have?
4. What features am I missing?

Just doing market research before investing in prototyping. Honest feedback appreciated!

1. Yes but mainly for looking cool and not with the features of it, it's a good initiation to get them closer to Bitcoin.
2. Quite expensive because that price, a parent can simply gift them a hardware wallet. Should be around $20-$30. But that depends on your actual costing.
3. Battledog said interesting thing about NFC, and another thing is : NFC data for contactless payments are the new target.
4. I'm not sure about that but if it can be more simple, maybe that's it.

[LoyceV]

- Parent loads NFC plastic tokens with small amounts of BTC ($5-10 in sats)
- Kid deposits physical token into the piggy bank
- Bank reads token via NFC, transfers Bitcoin to child's wallet in piggy bank

Does this mean a total of 2 on-chain transactions happen, after which the kid collects many dust inputs in Bitcoin? If fees go up a bit, 10,000 sats isn't enough to move it anymore.

- LCD screen displays balance in sats

The pictures aren't very clear: is the balance on the screen 839:777? Or 15.45?

TARGET:
- Ages 6-12

If it has to be tangible: why not just use good old fiat coins? That teaches them to count, but it's also good to teach them not everything comes in a physical shape. Now you're teaching them a "token" has value, but after it is "pooped" out, they'll try to insert it again but the value is already gone. That's a terrible way of adding value to something tangible.

- Parent app for management

I know most people just install anything, but they really shouldn't! Every unknown app is a potential security threat.

1. Would you buy this for your kids or as a gift?

No.

2. Is $60-70 the right price point?

I'd rather give them the amount in crypto.

4. What features am I missing?

Have you seen LightningPiggy?