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Ask HN: How does Dropbox's Betacoin work?
- Artemis2 12y agoThey probably just generate a GIF with your beta code, that you enter in your apps. The apps then check against Dropbox's servers whether the code is correct or not, using a hardware ID (HWID) to restrict codes to a single device. Probably nothing outstanding apart from the branding ("betacoin"). Dropbox engineers on HN, correct me if I'm wrong.
- BillinghamJ 12y agoMore specifically, the GIF contains the activation code in its comments section: http://www.velvetcache.org/2014/08/20/custom-mailbox-betacoins http://www.velvetcache.org/2014/08/20/custom-mailbox-betacoi... I don't believe any hardware IDs are used. The codes are one-time use only, and your Dropbox/Mailbox account is activated with it. Once your account is enabled, you can use the beta on multiple computers.