Coins

[indolering]

So, I have been wanting to produce some "official" namecoin coins to help fund code bounties. I've gotten some quotes from vendors and the prices are very reasonable (although it would come with a ~$2,000 upfront investment). But last night one of the Bitcoin guys had some Trojan coins with the holographic anti-theft sticker on them. On the outside is the public key/address, on the inside the private key.

So then I got to thinking about 3d printing the coins, what if we could print the private key on the inside of the coin? Then you would have to physically break the coin ... but it would also be much easier to copy the coin.

Some googling turned up Physical Unclonable Functions: basically stuff made using processes that create a signature that is too complex to duplicate. There are plenty of RFID-type solutions, but many involve simple tests of resistance and magnetic signatures.

We can store the signature in the blockchain, a great example of the extended capabilities of Namecoin vs traditional crypto currencies!

I've emailed a friend who does mechanical engineering and the idea probably won't go anywhere for a while, but it would be really cool!

[snailbrain]

So, I have been wanting to produce some "official" namecoin coins to help fund code bounties. I've gotten some quotes from vendors and the prices are very reasonable (although it would come with a ~$2,000 upfront investment). But last night one of the Bitcoin guys had some Trojan coins with the holographic anti-theft sticker on them. On the outside is the public key/address, on the inside the private key.

So then I got to thinking about 3d printing the coins, what if we could print the private key on the inside of the coin? Then you would have to physically break the coin ... but it would also be much easier to copy the coin.

Some googling turned up Physical Unclonable Functions: basically stuff made using processes that create a signature that is too complex to duplicate. There are plenty of RFID-type solutions, but many involve simple tests of resistance and magnetic signatures.

We can store the signature in the blockchain, a great example of the extended capabilities of Namecoin vs traditional crypto currencies!

I've emailed a friend who does mechanical engineering and the idea probably won't go anywhere for a while, but it would be really cool!

very interesting.

off topic.. got my thinking.. maybe you can store a key in DNA or some other biological "thing"