Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacobmarble | Hacker News Reader

Hey, this is a beautiful product, and a nice idea. If the value of Bitcoin ever stabilizes, then this could really work.

From my perspective as a Bitcoin (and related) skeptic, here's what turns me off, probably an easy fix:

> Secure your spot

> Reserve your spot in line for one of the first 2100 Bitcoin Note packs shipping this summer. ...

...and...

> Limited First Edition

> The first release of the Bitcoin Note will only be 2100 packs of low serial number notes. ...

This turns me off because I hear the same pitch in almost every other ICO-like event: "Get yours now, while it's still juicy and sweet".

View on HN

Thanks for the feedback. Ideally we would have opened up sales right away rather than a waiting list (we have the notes manufactured), but we are waiting to wrap up a few key pieces like the mobile apps.

We highlight the low serial notes as we know numismatists like to collect this sort of thing.

> we are waiting to wrap up a few key pieces like the mobile apps

Interesting approach but this Show HN got some decent attention. Are mobile apps even necessary? Doesn't waiting for them blow the attention you're getting via HN today?

We're going to showcase the physical notes in person at Consensus, which is arguably the last major Bitcoin conference of the year (certainly for US market).

We've found that having notes in person helps folks to understand the concept more easily.

This made me wonder, money has been around for a long time, so it's hard to ask about a specific event, but say the first minting of USD, was there ... a line to get it? Did the fed just dump huge sacks of the stuff at post offices with a note saying "you can use this instead of doubloons"?

Guess I am just curious if the same kind of effect was observed, I suppose banks would have been trying to "secure their spot" for some first release of $CURRENCY notes/coins? Hard to imagine Joe Homesteader lining up at 9AM.

I can’t speak to real life but if you want to read an enjoyable depiction of how society might react to novel currencies, check out Going Postal and Making Money by Terry Pratchett.

This made me laugh. Good one .

There's a wikipedia page for that if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_d...

The bitcoin collector community loves the low number stuff

Its a small community but they’ve been around since the Casascius days, long predating crypto asset securities (which predates the ICO)

Great product! Speaking of stable...is there any reason not to focus this product on stablecoins?

The biggest challenge we have with stablecoins is justifying why when US Dollars are ubiquitous and "free".

I think there are some good arguments for stablecoins in markets that desire dollars, but they are hard to get -- or for high denomination notes, however, we suspect there would be additional regulatory challenges here.

Makes total sense now that you say it :)

In maybe the far future, when a larger proportion of the population holds digital assets, I see a potential functional value in having this type of note - it's harder to digitally fake these notes, and "burning" might be harder than just ripping up the piece of paper.

As in... Cash?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com