4 ms·

It's an interesting souvenir and definitely nice to look at, but once you spend your BTC online, the intrinsic value (the BTC) and the store of value (the coin)

It's an interesting souvenir and definitely nice to look at, but once you spend your BTC online, the intrinsic value (the BTC) and the store of value (the coin) become separated, and the coin becomes worthless. In fact, I don't even know how money would get exchanged... if you gave someone the coin, it still doesn't confer ownership. It's essentially an anonymous IOU, meaning it has no value.

iliis 15y ago
> if you gave someone the coin, it still doesn't confer ownership It does because the coin has the private key. Maybe it's better to think of it as a key to a (public) safe. The key represents the right to open this safe. So, by giving you the key, I give you the ownership to the content of the safe. (However, if I have another copy of the key it get's problematic.) > It's essentially an anonymous IOU Which is exactly the same as normal cash. The only difference is that you can destroy them without really loosing the money. So you have a worthless piece of metal. You can do the same with your normals coins (eg. melt them down), but then the worth is just gone ;)
- gerggerg 15y ago
  except I can't write down the serial number of my hundred dollar bills, give the bills to you and then spend them myself.
  - Periodic 15y ago
    I think this is why you don't load them yourself. Essentially it is this company backing the coin, not you. When they send you a loaded coin it probably won't be loaded with the coin you bought it with. Another interesting property is that unlike a bank they cannot issue more money than they have assets, as each coin is linked to a unique private key. (assumes they are not just a one-time scam)
    - gerggerg 15y ago
      Casascius makes no mention of backing the coin whatsoever. You have to verify it upon receiving it unless you don't really care.
  - iliis 15y ago
    It is also why they have a tamper-evident hologram. You essentialy have to destroy your bill in order to spend it.
    - gerggerg 15y ago
      I think you mean make sure it has any value at all. When anyone buys a coin from this organization. The first thing they should do is rip off the hologram and make sure the code works. As far as I can tell, casascius provides no warranty, guarantee, insurance, or backing of any kind.
  - baddox 15y ago
    I assume that when you by a good with a physical bitcoin, the seller would immediately verify the code.

iliis 15y ago

> if you gave someone the coin, it still doesn't confer ownership It does because the coin has the private key. Maybe it's better to think of it as a key to a (public) safe. The key represents the right to open this safe. So, by giving you the key, I give you the ownership to the content of the safe. (However, if I have another copy of the key it get's problematic.) > It's essentially an anonymous IOU Which is exactly the same as normal cash. The only difference is that you can destroy them without really loosing the money. So you have a worthless piece of metal. You can do the same with your normals coins (eg. melt them down), but then the worth is just gone ;)

gerggerg 15y ago
except I can't write down the serial number of my hundred dollar bills, give the bills to you and then spend them myself.
- Periodic 15y ago
  I think this is why you don't load them yourself. Essentially it is this company backing the coin, not you. When they send you a loaded coin it probably won't be loaded with the coin you bought it with. Another interesting property is that unlike a bank they cannot issue more money than they have assets, as each coin is linked to a unique private key. (assumes they are not just a one-time scam)
  - gerggerg 15y ago
    Casascius makes no mention of backing the coin whatsoever. You have to verify it upon receiving it unless you don't really care.
- iliis 15y ago
  It is also why they have a tamper-evident hologram. You essentialy have to destroy your bill in order to spend it.
  - gerggerg 15y ago
    I think you mean make sure it has any value at all. When anyone buys a coin from this organization. The first thing they should do is rip off the hologram and make sure the code works. As far as I can tell, casascius provides no warranty, guarantee, insurance, or backing of any kind.
- baddox 15y ago
  I assume that when you by a good with a physical bitcoin, the seller would immediately verify the code.