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Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

kong.cash

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Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#51

Post by paulgerhardt »

aazaa wrote: post #49

I really like the concept of physical electronic cash, but in practice nobody has figured out how to make it work. There are many attacks to consider. The most obvious is to obtain the private key. If you did so, you could give the note to someone else in an environment lacking network access. This would enable double-spending - the main problem Bitcoin solves. The attack can range in complexity from breaking into th…

We have considered both of those attacks and address them in section 2.2 and 3.2 of the white paper respectively[1]. The short version is the key extraction attacks on this specific hardened chip are more expensive than the value they escrow, and in the event a key was extracted it creates a race condition at the period of claim not during the lifetime of its use - still providing some utility. What Kong does that Casascius didn't is provide guarantees that the minter never saw the private key.

[1] https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmRNRCocj4PwKMXrd1jeUGw7ASQSuEk7BDJu5Ks...

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#52

Post by luminiferous »

Question: since bills can be either loaded or unloaded (either because they haven't been put in circulation yet, or because they're counterfeit), doesn't that mean that e.g. a vendor taking my Kong who has no trust in me would have to individually check each bill via NFC or i2c to make sure that the contract backing the bill is valid (and the correct amount, etc.)? And that I would have to do the same for all the bills I get back as change? As a completely trustless transaction, this seems like it could be entirely too slow for most applications, without some kind of device to quickly verify multiple bills.

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#53

Post by ISL »

After I buy a grilled cheese sandwich with Kong, how do I handle my taxes? It makes every transaction have possible capital-gains tax implications.

The taxation difficulty is the single biggest reason why I stopped making small transactions with Bitcoin. The paperwork, come April, was awful.

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#54

Post by GordonS »

So, I'm Scottish, and still often have problems in London (and indeed abroad!) when I hand over a Scottish bank note. Scotland and England are of course both part of the UK, and while, yes, technically Scottish bank notes are not legal tender, they have been defacto legal tender since forever.

How do you plan to tackle this mentality, where there is such hostility to anything in the slightest bit unusual?

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#56

Post by tehwebguy »

undersuit wrote: post #46
mNovak wrote: post #39

So in theoretical use, is everyone expected to validate authenticity of each note exchanged? That seems painful for small transactions, but without it you lose absolutely all the security benefits of crypto, right? (e.g. vulnerable to good old fashioned counterfeiting)

Just do it like we do it in the US, $50s and $100s get checked consistently for counterfeits, $20s sometimes, $1s, $5s, and $10s never, and $2s are automatically assumed to be fake.

Yeah but what the hell is a Kong worth at the moment of sale?

Unless the price is listed in this particular crypto people will have to do a live conversion to even know what this space cash is even worth.

Also, very funny (and accurate) about the $2

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#57

Post by aey »

GordonS wrote: post #54

So, I'm Scottish, and still often have problems in London (and indeed abroad!) when I hand over a Scottish bank note. Scotland and England are of course both part of the UK, and while, yes, technically Scottish bank notes are not legal tender, they have been defacto legal tender since forever. How do you plan to tackle this mentality, where there is such hostility to anything in the slightest bit unusual?

Just personalize the currency to your bank teller. Would Mark reject a deposit in SuperMarks?

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#58

Post by paulgerhardt »

fatjokes wrote: post #44

Why would drug cartels prefer this over existing cash? I'm phrasing the question facetiously but the underlying intent is there: how is there more anonymity, usability, etc.?

We're not interested in doing business with drug cartels.

What is a lovely property of Kong is the only digital breadcrumb is leaves is when notes are loaded at creation and unloaded at de-circulation. Every person to person transaction of the instrument leaves no digital record or footprint. Usability is superior for new users - everyone understands how cash works.

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#59

Post by Twixes »

ISL wrote: post #53

After I buy a grilled cheese sandwich with Kong, how do I handle my taxes? It makes every transaction have possible capital-gains tax implications. The taxation difficulty is the single biggest reason why I stopped making small transactions with Bitcoin. The paperwork, come April, was awful.

It should be just like normal, non-blockchain backed currency, should it not?

Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency

#60

Post by 3saryHg6LP2e »

GordonS wrote: post #54

So, I'm Scottish, and still often have problems in London (and indeed abroad!) when I hand over a Scottish bank note. Scotland and England are of course both part of the UK, and while, yes, technically Scottish bank notes are not legal tender, they have been defacto legal tender since forever. How do you plan to tackle this mentality, where there is such hostility to anything in the slightest bit unusual?

I mean they are not "not technically" legal tender, they are not legal tender and that is why you have problems with them being accepted (because they don't have to be!)
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