Hi folks, I’m one of the contributors at Kong — https://kong.cash/ . Kong is a physical cryptocurrency that looks, feels and works like traditional cash. You can think of it as an ultra-secure, time locked cryptocurrency wallet with a fixed face value — no one can access the token except for the holder of the note after a period of several years. It consists of a secure element and NFC chips mounted on a flexible PCB…
Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
131–140 of 395 posts
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#132After 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?
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
Current cash instruments are centralized.
Hmmmm and where do you get the machinery to create said Kong bills? Seems more convoluted than connecting a gaming pc to a network (please don’t say bitcoin can’t do that now, you could initially)
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, why not apply this to an existing coin, like Bitcoin, rather than inventing yet another freaking asset? Oh yeah, because then the founders can't get rich in the ICO. Yuck.
There is no ICO. There is no token sale. Bitcoin script does not give us enough operations to do the validation. Using the EVM was the next best candidate. We're selling an extremely limited number of packs to validate the concept and cover manufacturing costs. Section 4.1 of the paper goes into details of why a purpose built token is more suitable than one designed for other purposes[1]. [1] https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmR…
You're converting me into a fan.
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmmmm and where do you get the machinery to create said Kong bills? Seems more convoluted than connecting a gaming pc to a network (please don’t say bitcoin can’t do that now, you could initially)
I don't buy the argument that it's "turtles all the way down". Trust begins and ends at the chip level. I think its possible to make an open root of trust chip better than any solution on the market available today. I think the chips available on the market today are good enough for this specific application but not others.
I do agree that people can’t picture or visualize in their mind a “bitcoin”, and so this solves that part. But then you’re left with the, how do people print this tangible pretty currency part.
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#136I immediately thought of the currency "Kongbucks" from "Snow Crash". I was hoping this was partially a tip-of-the-hat to Neal Stephenson.
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#137Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been working in crypto for 10 years (well, the only "crypto" that existed back then was Bitcoin) and I agree with zelly's criticism. Another simple flaw of Kong is that when I receive a Kong note, someone could have intentionally fried it with, for example, high voltage on the I2C contacts to damage the secure element without leaving any visible defects. So I need to verify each Kong note I receive by reading th…
"Another simple flaw of Kong is that when I receive a Kong note, someone could have intentionally fried it with, for example, high voltage on the I2C contacts to damage the secure element without leaving any visible defects." That would "fry" the secure element chip entirely, thus destroying it precluding anyone from accessing the token in the future (NFC would fail as well).
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#139The world is moving towards cashless/mobile payments (albeit with the U.S. strangely behind), so why do you feel physical cryptocurrency is a step in the right direction? Do you expect Kong to face greater challenges for adoption (compared to other cryptocurrencies) since it needs a higher critical mass of users?
Re: Show HN: Kong – Physical Cryptocurrency
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're handing off physically then just use cash. How is this any better? The exit to real currency will always reveal Kong transactions at some point. Real cash is more anonymous because it's seamlessly transacted everywhere.
Current cash instruments are centralized.