Kong
Finance and crypto
physical cryptocurrency
SHOW HN2019
How HN took it
25 positive, 97 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 96 critical, out of 222 comments about the project. Thread score -0.36.
Idea: 16 for, 55 againstDesign: 7 for, 8 againstExecution: 1 for, 14 againstPricing: 0 for, 9 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 5 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
Objections
Breaks the double-spend security model; offline verification is weak
From 2 comments
IMO this breaks the entire security model of cryptocurrency. If these bills are intended to be spent hand-to-hand in meatspace without cryptographic validation on a computer,…
zelly on HNToday, Kong's printing is centralized to the Kong project (similar to a premine) because we cannot guarantee that someone else will use a secure element which conforms to section…
ccamrobertson on HN
Taxation of each transaction would be burdensome
From 1 comment
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…
ISL on HN
Physical durability concerns, such as washing and flexing
From 2 comments
This seems like a VERY cool technical solution in a desperate and fruitless search of a problem. > They consist of a flexible circuit board, specialized secure element chips and…
dmitrygr on HNI doubt this version would hold up well in a salt water environment. The chips will ultimately have a conformal coating leaving only gold contacts which should fare better. We…
ccamrobertson on HN
Little real utility; no place to spend it
From 2 comments
I don't get it. Is it some sort of concept art? What's the point? Sure, it can be used as money (assuming what authors say is correct). Virtually any physical items that are hard…
krick on HNKong seems worthless to me. ETH has demonstrated it's not a reliable store of value, if the DAO hack can just be reversed. Instead of garbage paper tokens, here's a thing that…
tossAfterUsing on HN
Questions
How counterfeiting is prevented without online validation
From 2 comments
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…
mNovak on HNI don't know enough about Monero's construction; wouldn't this be trivial to counterfeit? Can you use this key to ultimately transfer the funds?
ccamrobertson on HN
Regulatory status and legal tender concerns
From 2 comments
Have you considered how this will fare in the current regulatory environment? European countries banned Libra because they didn't want it to compete with the Euro and the U.S.…
Jaxkr on HNSo, 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…
GordonS on HN
Alternatives named
Casascius physical bitcoins
From 1 comment
> Kong is the first crypto-cash No it's not. - https://casascius.com/ - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Casascius_physical_bitcoins It looks like Kong might be the first crypto-cash…
toomim on HN
Opendime
From 1 comment
Kong seems worthless to me. ETH has demonstrated it's not a reliable store of value, if the DAO hack can just be reversed. Instead of garbage paper tokens, here's a thing that…
tossAfterUsing on HN