What does this mean for the Bitcoin movement?

[p12]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4903fc9a-591f-11e3-a7cb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2m57rJNVb

Alderney looks to cash in on virtual Bitcoins with Royal Mint reality

Interesting.

Maybe I need to start doing some serious research on Bitcoin.

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/11/29/tiny-island-looking-to-mint-physical-bitcoin/


Sounds like a great way to allow banks to launder, fractional-reserve, or otherwise steal bitcoins.

I'll keep a real bitcoin, please.  You can have your minted make-believe bitcoins.

[Scout26]

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/11/29/tiny-island-looking-to-mint-physical-bitcoin/


Sounds like a great way to allow banks to launder, fractional-reserve, or otherwise steal bitcoins.

I'll keep a real bitcoin, please.  You can have your minted make-believe bitcoins.

I'm confused.  "Real" bitcoins are just numbers stored on a computer hard drive, while "Make-believe" bitcoins are ones you can hold in your hands?

Do I have that correct?

[AJ Dual]

I'm confused.  "Real" bitcoins are just numbers stored on a computer hard drive, while "Make-believe" bitcoins are ones you can hold in your hands?

Do I have that correct?

You can transfer people the number or the codes in any way you wish, email, peer-to-peer through the various BitCoin wallet utilities, or the code on paper, or written as a QR code. The coins I've seen so far have the QR code, although once scanned, the coins were worthless. I guess you could just throw another sticker with a new QR code on there...

All the BTC physical media schemes I've seen to date were really more like a pre-loaded gift card or credit card, and the BTC still mainly moved in the "real" way. It was just a tangible method of relaying the codes.

I suppose like anything else, it begs the more philosophical question "what is money?" etc. I guess if I have a $50 Applebee's gift card, or a pre-paid VISA/AMEX/MC with $50 on it, and give it to someone in exchange for $50 in bullets, gold, canned food or whatever it was "money" too...

I don't really care what people do with their BTC, as long as it does not allow for fractional reserve/speculation/futures or derivatives type activity, or for the larger Internet/BTC community to ignore such behavior for those who don't want to play. Plenty of other fiat .gov issued currencies for those types to mess with or screw up IMO.  In theory, since BTC's only exist as their codes, and the block-chain and user base at large will quickly squash any "duplication" or attempts at double-issue of a BTC, this shouldn't be possible, although I could see people trying to use BTC as a commodity backing of a "sub currency", like using BTC as gold or something to issue paper or non-gold coinage etc. then playing finance games with that.

Then it just becomes an issue if the "games" with the sub-currency become more popular than the BTC, which then could artificially drive up the value of BTC than just the exchanges, or the built in mathematical deflation as the block chain gets ever longer, and the miners/processors create the "scarcity" because new BTC's become ever more infrequently added to the pool/block-chain.

[AZRedhawk44]

I'm confused.  "Real" bitcoins are just numbers stored on a computer hard drive, while "Make-believe" bitcoins are ones you can hold in your hands?

Do I have that correct?

100% correct.

Yes, I'm a fiat currency skeptic that decries FRNs as valueless and likes PM's, and I'm telling you that a printed BitCoin is worthless to me, because I can't verify if it's actually valid.  A digital BTC, on the other hand, is peer-verified by thousands of nodes, in near-real-time.

You could print the QR code for a BTC that has already been spent digitally, and then try to sell the physical representation of that BTC.  Sort of like the Chinese gold with tungsten in the middle.

[Gewehr98]

Maybe.

But a $20.00 bill will survive a hard drive crash. 

[AZRedhawk44]

Maybe.

But a $20.00 bill will survive a hard drive crash. 

Of course.

No one is saying otherwise.  And if you want to back up your BTC to paper, you can.  If you choose.

But BTC on paper is susceptible to being spent, but still being represented on paper without any indication of the cancelled nature of it. 

[freakazoid]

You could print the QR code for a BTC that has already been spent digitally, and then try to sell the physical representation of that BTC.  Sort of like the Chinese gold with tungsten in the middle.

That is a small risk, but you can check if it still holds value before taking possession.

[DustinD]

One idea for hard currency BTC is to put the code inside some sort of embedded foil. You could open it up and spend it online, but not without destroying the physical part.

This also allows you to spot check your money to make sure it's good. Open up one percent of it, and keep the rest in the physical form.