I'm new here and don't know much about bitcointalk forums. But I thought about Bitcoin for a while. At one point I wondered what it would be like if Bitcoin was a physical currency instead of a digital currency. It would not have gained so much popularity, and its price would not have increased so much. If it were a physical currency, it would be very difficult to buy, how would you buy? And had to go to different stores to sell or buy. How difficult it would have been then. Are you thinking about this?
What inspire you to think this way? I can confidently say that you don't know what bitcoin stands for by bringing up this conversation. If bitcoin were to be a physical coin then it is not longer different from traditional currency. Bitcoin is digital for a reason and if Bitcoin were to be turned into a physical coin, it would lose some of the features that make it unique. For example, it would be subject to the same limitations as traditional physical currencies, such as the need for secure storage and the risk of theft. It would also no longer be decentralized, since it would need to be physically minted and distributed by a central authority.
You are right but what if physical bitcoin has all the characteristics of the digital one? It will be quite challenging and as you have said it will be centralized at least at the beginning due to the necessity of central authority to mint and distribute. It seems hard to have a decentralized currency in its physical form, isn't it? Or perhaps we can have one only by changing the nature of the currencies or setting some rules.