Introducing Bitbills!

[ataranlen]

Anyone who trys to fake one of these cards in the US is subject to a Felony  

I'm no Lawyer, but thats what I gather from US code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 25 > §482-§483

Source

But from what I have gathered is that bitcoins can not be a currency and is rather a digital good.
That would make these cards a physical representation of a digital good and thereby not a bank note.

Paypal and Apple seem to think bitcoin is a currency. If you think the US gov wont call it that you are dreaming.

I'm pretty sure the US Govt. is going to fall on the side of Paypal with the whole e-currency. I'm still looking for US laws/code regarding e-currency.

[PwrLeveld]

Ok, yes it truly is a currency but the problem is the fact that the law as current puts bitcoins as more of a security than a currency but it could truly be considered a curency. However, the govermen is more likely go after the bitcoin network than someone counterfitting bitcoins.

[Ian Maxwell]

On another note, I truly fail at judging the market. I felt like the biggest obstacle for me to do something like this was the cost, and was trying to figure out how to keep fees below something like 2% of face value, and now this guy is selling a 1 BTC card for 1.30.

On the other hand, maybe this just means there's still room for competition!

[PiGames]

Really nice idea.
Hopefully the first 'round' goes well.
I'd really like to see some form of acceptable 'physical' representation of bitcoins.
I like the idea of a 'note' with a redeemable address.
Very impressive.
Ill probably be buying some on the second wave.

[LightRider]

I don't think this idea is sustainable in the long run. It seems kind of wasteful to produce a physical one time use product like this.

[Insuremeplz]

I don't think this idea is sustainable in the long run. It seems kind of wasteful to produce a physical one time use product like this.

Can't it be used over and over again until someone finally decides to convert it back to BTC? These could be traded around a bunch of times and always store their value until the final owner decides to upload the money.

[Alex Beckenham]

I don't think this idea is sustainable in the long run. It seems kind of wasteful to produce a physical one time use product like this.

Can't it be used over and over again until someone finally decides to convert it back to BTC? These could be traded around a bunch of times and always store their value until the final owner decides to upload the money.

Exactly. And for this reason, even a counterfeit card could pass through hundreds or thousands of hands before being discovered as a fake (when someone decides to import it).

[SgtSpike]

I don't think this idea is sustainable in the long run. It seems kind of wasteful to produce a physical one time use product like this.

Can't it be used over and over again until someone finally decides to convert it back to BTC? These could be traded around a bunch of times and always store their value until the final owner decides to upload the money.

Exactly. And for this reason, even a counterfeit card could pass through hundreds or thousands of hands before being discovered as a fake (when someone decides to import it).

Yep...  :\

[BitterTea]

My prediction is that at first, people will probably redeem them soon after receiving them. Once Bitcoin becomes more widely known, this or something like it could become more widely traded, I think.

[LightRider]

It also has the perverse outcome of removing bitcoins from the economy in case they are lost or destroyed, which is easily mitigated in the digital form by the current ability to easily back up and make copies of wallet files.

[Alex Beckenham]

It also has the perverse outcome of removing bitcoins from the economy in case they are lost or destroyed, which is easily mitigated in the digital form by the current ability to easily back up and make copies of wallet files.

Well here's a crazy idea that even I wouldn't like... bitbills.com could somehow backup the wallets they put onto the cards.

Put an expiration date on the card, say 10 years into the future.

If the card hasn't been imported by that date, bitbills.com can spend those coins.

[BitterTea]

It also has the perverse outcome of removing bitcoins from the economy in case they are lost or destroyed, which is easily mitigated in the digital form by the current ability to easily back up and make copies of wallet files.

I think that completely physical bitcoin tokens will comprise an insignificant portion of the 2,100,000,000,000,000 total base units (satoshis).

[Belkaar]

You should contact the bitcoinlabs.com guys. They are building an ATM for BTC. As I understood it they wanted it to give out USD at current exchange rate, but it giving out BitBills would be way cooler.

[Reto]

Well here's a crazy idea that even I wouldn't like... bitbills.com could somehow backup the wallets they put onto the cards.

Put an expiration date on the card, say 10 years into the future.

If the card hasn't been imported by that date, bitbills.com can spend those coins.

I think that would work.

You should contact the bitcoinlabs.com guys. They are building an ATM for BTC. As I understood it they wanted it to give out USD at current exchange rate, but it giving out BitBills would be way cooler.

I agree with this, this way people won't camp near the ATM waiting for a good exchange rate.

[caveden]

It also has the perverse outcome of removing bitcoins from the economy in case they are lost or destroyed, which is easily mitigated in the digital form by the current ability to easily back up and make copies of wallet files.

There's nothing so perverse in that. Only the fact that the guy who loses it will be distributing part of his wealth to all other bitcoin holders. He has a strong interest not to lose the card.

[Stephen Gornick]

Two questions.)

1.) Would you consider a private branding issue of these?

 e.g., some generic white label or perhaps with custom private branding instead?

2.) When I grab a prepaid card at the grocery store there are no funds on it until the cashier processes it through the point of sale.  If these private branded versions were resold, it would be ideal if the cards had no value until sold.

[Belkaar]

Well here's a crazy idea that even I wouldn't like... bitbills.com could somehow backup the wallets they put onto the cards.

Put an expiration date on the card, say 10 years into the future.

If the card hasn't been imported by that date, bitbills.com can spend those coins.

I think that would work.

That would make the backup location (and the creators if they know a needed password) a target pretty fast since you could score all the unclaimed bitbills face value in circulation at once.

[da2ce7]

I am interested in purchasing these cards... Can I Buy a few of them, 'unloaded,' once I have confirmed that they have arrived safely and are untamed with. You send the coins to the addresses contained?

(Shipping to Aus)

[caveden]

I am interested in purchasing these cards... Can I Buy a few of them, 'unloaded,' once I have confirmed that they have arrived safely and are untamed with. You send the coins to the addresses contained?

That's probably the safest way to sell them, actually.

[FreeMoney]

I am interested in purchasing these cards... Can I Buy a few of them, 'unloaded,' once I have confirmed that they have arrived safely and are untamed with. You send the coins to the addresses contained?

That's probably the safest way to sell them, actually.

Oh, yeah... and you could have unmarked bills. You could increase the value of them as needed and check the balance anytime. Might be more reasonable to pay .3BTC for an unmarked card than a 1BTC card. Of course all of these cards can already be increased, but people might look at you funny (okay funnier) when you insist that the 1BTC card is worth 45BTC.