Last Minute Bitcoin Enthusiast Gift Guide for 2014
It’s been a banner year for bitcoin when it comes to new merchants adopting it as a digital currency, so it’s not difficult to figure out what to buy someone with bitcoins for the holiday, but what do you buy someone who is into Bitcoin for the holiday?
Here’s a list of products that are bitcoin-related or fit well into the community. Some of them are practical (but expensive), some of them are impractical (and very expensive), and others are cheap but impractical but hit that particular note in the lives of many Bitcoiners.
Trezor Bitcoin hardware wallet
Coming in at $119 USD, the TREZOR: The Bitcoin Safe is an interesting product that has been getting a lot of traction in the Bitcoin community. Currently there are two primary ways for people to store bitcoins: either locally in an encrypted volume (or perhaps on a USB stick) or keep them in a web wallet such as Blockchain.info, Coinbase, or Circle.
TREZOR operations on a third notion: a specialized piece of hardware designed to securely store the private keys for bitcoins so that they may be transacted safely with less risk of them being pilfered.
The device is Windows, OS X, and Linux friendly, which means no matter what operating system your gift receiver is using she will be able to connect it up and protect her bitcoins.
Bitcoin books
Bitcoin has been around since 2009, but it only recently pierced the public consciousness and has started seeing a staggering amount of merchant adoption. The result: 2014 is the year of the Bitcoin book. Everyone has been rushing to the presses to talk about the new phenomenon and give their opinion. Does your gift receiver like to read?
Mastering Bitcoin from O’Reilly written by Andreas M. Antonopoulos—this one is from a preeminent publisher for computer science books and is written by someone who could be called one of the de facto Bitcoin luminaries and educators. Any Bitcoin enthusiast would enjoy owning this book.
The Book of Satoshi: The Collected Writings of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto by Phil Champagne—being the mysterious Batman of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto is a sort of cryptocelebrity because of his (or her, or their) involvement in the early days of Bitcoin.
The NetNinja
Recently discovered by SiliconAngle, this little device that connects to TOR or a private VPN (Virtual Private Networking) service to anonymize or encrypt traffic could be an excellent gift for a Bitcoin enthusiast.
Many Bitcoiners have approached the concept of digital money not just because it’s an interesting way to pay for services, but because it provides a particular sense of security. As a result, a number of Bitcoin enthusiasts are also aware of their own personal privacy and try to stay ahead of it when logging onto the net.
For a while now, there has not been many good products on the market that enhance the ease of use of connecting to a VPN. NetNinja aims to do exactly that by providing a small device that plugs directly into the network and then takes the rest from there.
At a price of $198.96, though, it’s one of those heftier Yule gifts—but it would certainly fit in one of those oversized stockings.
Gyft that keeps on giving
Sometimes you just can’t figure out what to get someone and that’s what gift cards are for. When Bitcoin is involved: that’s what Gyft is for.
Gyft is a service that essentially digitizes gift cards, allowing you to buy, send, and redeem digital gift cards with virtually any smartphone or mobile device. The bonus: they also take bitcoins.
If you’re struggling to come up with the proper book, electronics device or latte with a bitcoin symbol on it to give to your bitcoin enthusiast giftee, then a gift card from Gyft might just do the trick. Just point out that you used bitcoins to buy it and that’ll most likely make their day.
Bitcoin mining with BitCrane or Block Erupter
The early years of Bitcoin were filled with interest in Bitcoin mining—the process of verifying transactions on the network that produces rewards for participants in the form of BTC—but now much of the mining circuit is in the hands of the strongly enthusiastic. Mining is still a bit mystifying, so it’s not a good gift for someone just getting into Bitcoin and equipment devalues fast, but it’s still an idea.
Normally, nobody should be buying mining equipment as a gift. These are included here either because of their sheer novelty or (in the case of the Erupters) potentially future nostalgia.
If you’ve got a significant amount of money to burn on a gift for a Bitcoin enthusiast there’s always BitCrane. Electronics retailer Newegg ran a gift guide in October about this product that is a one-stop-shop for Bitcoin mining.
The BitCrane T-110 Bitcoin Mining System runs at $648.00 USD on Newegg and features 1.1 TH/s with 1100W power consumption. It’s about the size of a standard PC tower, has liquid cooling, and runs quietly. It also has a fairly simple-to-use UI designed to get the mining software and running portion out of the way.
If what you’re looking for, however, is the novelty of providing someone with mining equipment you could go with buying them a Block Erupter. These tiny, USB-based Bitcoin miners can be hooked into any computer that can support mining software and run for a tiny 300 MH/s. They’re not going to net anyone a great deal of bitcoins as rewards, but then again for Christmas often it’s the thought that counts.
Due to the low mining power making these almost obsolete, you can buy a set for $18.85 on Amazon.com.
Etsy: Need a shirt or a mug?
It’s hard to go wrong with the small stuff. Bitcoin, just like every other modern meme, has a logo, a theme, and an aesthetic framework—anyone into Bitcoin will instantly recognize the B with the prongs sticking off it, or the orange field with the tilted BTC symbol. So there’s always looking down the list of Bitcoin-branded products made by smaller distributors.
For these needs there’s Etsy.com.
It’s hard to go wrong with the standard Bitcoin T-shirt in white with orange or in black with a white emblem. Want to display Bitcoin love on a wall, or store window? There’s this awesome Bitcoin logo wooden sign. Bitcoin sew-on patch for that favorite vest; and Bitcoin cufflinks for the shirt.
How about Bitcoin emblazoned six-sided dice?
Sleepy? Get a Bitcoin pillow.
When in doubt: Give them bitcoins
Sure, giving someone money as a Yule gift is considered something of a faux pas but this article is about gift giving to someone who enjoys the entire idea of virtual currency. So giving them some as a gift could make for a brilliant sort of validation of their enthusiasm.
Plus, there are some really interesting ways to gift bitcoins, including via paper wallets.
Giving a gift of bitcoins using a paper wallet sends the message that you spent time and care to deliver the bitcoins, and for the crafty gift-giver, it allows you to put that personal touch on the gift that may not be present for something simply bought online.
That also means purchasing some bitcoins yourself. To do this you’ll want to brush up with Getting Started With Bitcoin. Depending on your level of tech savvy you will then likely end up at a wallet service that sells BTC such as Coinbase or Circle.
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