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A supplemental review of the batch 2 solid silver Monero Cry[...]

This brief review is intended to supplement fluffypony's review of the batch 2 physical Monero found here. I intend to focus on the functionality of the coin as a means of cold storage, since there is very little info out there at the moment.

  • Physical appearance/properties: I have little to add. The coin is stunning and pristine. I will not post pictures unless requested, since mine looks exactly or almost exactly like the one in fluffypony's review. It has a nice weight to it. It was advertised as 1.08 oz. of pure (99.9%) silver, and my kitchen scale actually registers it at 1.2 oz. I have no reason to believe it's not solid silver, but I should note that I don't know how to do a specific gravity test or anything like that. Overall I could not be happier with the way it looks and feels.

  • Ordering from Cryptonic.net: Payment was easy (only payable with Monero at that time, but it looks like you can buy with Bitcoin now as well.) I instantly received confirmation on the site itself that they received my payment, as well as a message saying they would email me a confirmation. No confirmation email was sent out; I'm told this was just a bug. No big deal (see next bullet.)

  • Cryptonic.net customer service: No complaints. I had a question for them and they answered very quickly (less than a day.) They sent my coin in less than a couple of weeks and I received it well within the time frame they gave me. Pleasant experience.

  • Functionality: I'll come right out and say that CURRENTLY* the coin is virtually useless on its own. You need their site to provide any semblance of functionality. Here's how it works. The coin has a code engraved on its edge (where the ridges would be on a US quarter or dime.) This code is NOT a Monero or BTC or any other crypto address, but is rather a "coin ID" of sorts. They email you an activation code, and when you get the coin you use that code along with the engraved "coin ID." You can then "link" the coin to any one (each) Monero, Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin address of your choosing. These are public addresses, so naturally the coin is "deposit only." The key here is that to retrieve and view these addresses, you must log into the Cryptonic.net site. So unless I'm missing something, there is practically no use for the coin itself (except to unlock this feature on the site) since it's really the website you're using to keep track of your addresses. Even then, there are numerous other ways to have all of your addresses in one place.

*Fluffypony has said that in the future there might be a way to generate an address from the "coin ID" plus a password. This would change everything.

So overall I am very happy with the product. When I was buying it, there was very little info on the functionality of the coin so I hope you all find this useful and decide to support this company by picking up a coin or two. They have some much more affordable silver-plated brass BITCOINS right now as well. Feel free to post with criticisms of my review or whatever, or if you think I'm missing something in my final point. Thanks.

UPDATE Jan 11, 2016: There is now a functionality for user-supplied entropy for the wallet generator at moneroaddress.org. Thus, you should now be able to enter the "coin ID" plus a password/phrase of your choosing, and obtain a wallet address which is truly tied to the coin. I have not yet tried it, however.

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