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I am interested in buying bitcoins and giving bitcoins to babies as "birth gifts" and birthday presents.
Assuming I've purchased the necessary bitcoins and they are in my wallet, how do I go about giving bitcoins to someone who doesn't have a wallet?
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Probably the most appealing way to do that would be by using Physical Bitcoins - they look nice as coins, and since they can hold Bitcoins, it's another bonus. It's definitely better for casual people than giving them Bitcoins in a normal way - at least coins are something they can physically grasp, rather than trying to understand what a cryptocurrency is.
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You can use Brainwallet to generate a new private/public key pair. Click on the "recycle" symbol near "Secret Exponent", write down the private key and send bitcoins to the given address.
The private key is the only thing needed to recover the bitcoins. You can print it on some pretty support, but make sure it cannot be copied by a third party. You can even keep an encrypted backup in case the private key is later lost.
1 BitAddress now has a Brain Wallet option. – Stephen Gornick – 2012-08-04T21:17:42.300
Why would you trust a website to generate your private key? – jiggunjer – 2017-09-21T09:35:06.323
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In addition to other options, you can just print out a cool Dr Evil (or custom) styled paper wallet.
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Here are two sites which allow you to send bitcoins to an email address. Perhaps try sending yourself tiny amounts with each site to see how they work:
These seem like exchanges with an email feature. Meaning you put BTC into their wallet, then they send it to the recipient. – jiggunjer – 2017-09-21T09:42:18.237
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An additional option are bitcoin gift cards/vouchers. They have the advantage that your recipients are already familiar with the concept - everyone knows that plastic cards with an amount on them are a store of value, and they know that they can redeem it by scratching off the field on the back (similar to iTunes gift cards).
bit4coin.net is one of the services offering bitcoin gift vouchers:
They have a decent explanation on bitcoin as well.
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BitcoinGiftCard.org sells scratch-off cards which can easily be converted into Bitcoin.
Their gift cards are very easy to use, and a great way to give someone their first Bitcoins.
ThePiachu, those prices are really high.... are you aware of cheaper physical bitcoins? They just need to be physical and don't need to look so high-class. – Pacerier – 2013-08-15T14:45:56.820
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@Pacerier If you want to go really cheap, try using paper wallets - https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ for example.
– ThePiachu – 2013-08-15T15:42:54.627Casascius is not currently accepting new orders, so this is no longer a good option. – Carl Zulauf – 2013-12-10T01:24:34.943
@CarlZulauf You can still buy them from other people, so it is a good answer. There are also other physical bitcoin manufacturers out there. – ThePiachu – 2013-12-10T09:13:37.030
This would be most beneficial to people who don't actually intend to use bitcoins. But if those people are your target, you'd better not send them bitcoins in the first place. Instead, if your target are people who will likely use them, @Chris' suggestions are better. – o0'. – 2012-08-04T23:02:53.913