Physical bitcoin

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A special type of Bitcoin wallet that works as a bearer instrument that can be used to store bitcoins more safely or for trade offline.

A physical bitcoin holds the coin's public address and a hidden private key. The intention with a physical bitcoin is that the value of the coin has not and cannot be spent as long as the private key remains hidden, which is likely achieved through the use of a tamper-evident seal.

The earliest physical bitcoin, the Bitbill, was shaped liked a credit card but that was then followed by the Casascius physical bitcoin which was affixed to a round medal. As of Nov 27, 2013 Casascius has suspended sales of items that contain digital bitcoins due to the strict regulation of United States. Since then, there have been several new coin manufacturers and one of them is Denarium Bitcoin. PrintCoins is creating cheques and denominated bills.

See Also