Design and Implementation of a Physical Bitcoin Coin

Abstract

One of the major factors hindering the adoption of crypto assets in general, and Bitcoin in particular, is the high level of complexity they present to the common user. Although physical coins are a possible solution, the need to place trust in the manufacturers (so that they throw away the private key) is a big drawback that has hampered their widespread use. The recent boom of the maker movement has brought in a significant number of users with access to 3D printing devices, as well as the supporting electronic and computing resources. We have taken advantage of these capabilities to develop an open source project that interested parties can use to easily print a physical model of a Bitcoin coin, along with the necessary software that allows the creation and validation of keys and addresses.