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British Island Wants to Make Physical Bitcoins with UK Royal Mint Deal

http://www.coindesk.com/british-island-physical-bitcoins-uk-royal-mint/

They are made of gold so when the price collapses you can melt it down to recover some of the investment.
I find this not the least but ironic.

that article is weird, it says they wont have the private key on them. So it's just a lump of gold with the bitcoin symbol on it?

Not sure but it does sound bizarre. The original Financial Times article might give more details but it's behind a paywall... anybody have access?

It says an independent company would hold the coins' private keys in escrow ready to be exchanged by paying a visit to the island. Can anyone else see the problem with this? Doesn't this open the door to fractional reserve? What's to stop them issuing more coins than they have keys?

Paying a visit to Alderney is not exactly easy....! Seems daft the Bitcoin will probably be worth more than the coin, but you need to turn up in person to a tiny Island in the English Channel to redeem the Bitcoin part of it. Odd. Not very 'digital' is it!

Nope. I'm from the UK and can say I've never been to Alderney, and I can't imagine going there to exchange a bitcoin.

What a bizarre concept.

As of April 2013, the island has a population of 1,903 people - and no direct flights from the UK(you have to fly in via Guernsey or Jersey.

Imagine turning up in ten years time:

"Hi, I have come to redeem my Bitcoin, I understand it's held in your digital vault?"

"Ooh, digital vault - I can't remember where we put that, Sir. Er... hold on, better check at the post office see if they know about it... Bit coin, you say, eh? You're not from around here are you..."