Crypto Stamp - A Postage Stamp Revolution

Don - I think you're being a bit harsh in this case.

Regardless of what we think about them, these are valid postage stamps - issued by the official postal service of Austria. Therefore, they absolutely have a place in our community.

The 'irrational exuberance' being displayed over them - good/bad or indifferent - is most definitely a topic worthy of discussion in our community. (We should sell the topic to the most popular sociology forum!) (Is there a sociology forum??)

The folks paying exorbitant premiums will eventually meet the 'slabbed' stamp collectors, and they can commiserate together as they trample over the gold-leaf FDC collectors. Our hobby is nothing if not consistent in its ability to separate collectors from their money...this is just the latest example, and it won't be the last...

I am not being harsh. I have not commented on the stamps, do not care, it is not my area of interest. Mods invest large amounts of time in making sure that our community stays free of people who simply want to use it for personal gain, most of which is not public.

I do not know what the OP intentions are, time will tell. If he contributes and posts additional threads on other stamps, all is fine. If he stays with just promoting just these stamps, I will remove the thread and lock his account.

If anyone thinks that I do not know what I am doing, or that I am doing a poor job, tell Bobby and volunteer to spend 20+ hours per week of your time doing this job.
Don

I don't see how crypto stamps will improve the movement of mail or the purchase of postage, but, like 'em or not, this topic has generated two plus pages of comment in 24 hours with probably lots more to come!

Don

Don -

You're doing a great job. Beyond comprehension fantastic. Between this board & stampsmarter, in my mind, you've firmly established your legacy within our hobby and your name will be spoken with reverence for centuries.

I would be honored to author a piece detailing your contributions to the hobby that will forever be maintained within our community.

This new member 'aint doing nothing. He's not promoting anything. He has nothing to gain. I assume he's not the postmaster general of Austria.

Compared to the numerous other one-post wonders we get, he's harmless & seems to be genuinely interested & an avid collector. Some folks collect revenues. Some collect holograms. Others on our site collect stamps with pictures of 'frickin corn on them! (Barbed Wire?!?!?)

Whatever. Collect what you want. As long as they're 'stamps'?!??!?!!

I imagine that the person who opened this thread, if he has not already lost interest, will shortly do so. The grousing about his supposed motives is unnecessary. If readers are not interested, they can flick to the next topic. There are, I imagine, many people here who post about stamps in an area that they also sell in, or who hope that those stamps will show a gain over time, part of which entails increasing interest in their collecting area.

Neither is self-pity. The OP expressed his opinions but feels unwelcome when others express their opinions?

Grow a pair, and have fun here.

It is interesting the way perforations are still simulated, as they are on most peel and stick stamps too! Especially when not needed, seems we have a fondness for them?

They do fit in nicely with the endless stream of postal "products" which are designed never to be used, and thus representing a great deal of profit for postal services.

But, to each his own.

Those classic "Colombians" (products) received a similar start and welcome!

I sincerely wish you the best of luck and enjoyment with your crypto stamps.

Mdroth, you got me on my comment about which country wouuld accept them. I did not even see the country name on the left side. After reading your post I went back and blew up the images and, uh oh.
So Austria it is. Still feel like some others, that it is about making money for the post office and not necessarily about franking actual letters or parcels. Postally used comercially on cover within the time period will no doubt be difficult to obtain as others mention.Time will tell.

Martin, as for not feeling welcome, and you truly just want to discuss stamps; take a deep breath, shrug off those negative feelings and keep going forward. I am sure you are as welcome as anyone else on this forum, and just keep posting and discussing topics that are of interest to yourself. You did mention about hologram stamps, and while they are interesting along with lenticular stamps as produced in Canada, why not try a follow up on that topic. Don is right in that there have been some that try to use the forum to their advantage,for promotion and sales and seldom contribute much useful information.

The posts on this forum are as varied and more so than there are stamps in this world I am sure. As I am brutally honest, and my own opinion may seem harsh and cynical, but after all its because of all the crypto hype and deflation and missing money, I can't help but be skeptical too. That does not mean I looked at your post with discern, but rather just that I do not like crypto at all. And the Unicorn, on the stamps! It is all Mystical, although others will embrace it. Just not me.

Mike

As someone with an interest in technology, and the potential of cryptocurrency to change the way many things work, I find these stamps to be fascinating and am glad it was posted about here. It makes sense that Austria would be the country that issues these, as the Austrian Post Office has been a proponent of cryptocurrency. They allow customers to buy cryptocurrency with cash at the post office, through an exchange called BitPanda. You walk up to the post office, hand over your cash and can get the cryptocurrency. To my knowledge they are the only postal service with this service.

Today those Austrian stamps are on the Ethereum network with a tiny bit of Ethereum attached to them, if I understand correctly. That is completely useless, but that doesn't mean there could not be more valuable integrations between cryptocurrency and postal administrations in the future. Imagine if instead of Ethereum, which has transaction fees and scaling problems, they used the cryptocurrency IOTA which has no transaction fees and is designed for the internet of things which means it must scale well with low power requirements. IOTA allows you to send 0 value transactions which only contain informational messages. A stamp with an IOTA cryptocurrency address could be scanned by the sender after he puts the stamp on the letter, and he could have an app on his phone that automatically tracks the letter or package as it goes to it's destination. There tracking would be tied directly to the stamp, and if IOTA succeeds in becoming widespread anyone could scan it with geotagged coordinates at any time which means other postal administrations and delivery subcontractors would automatically be tied to the ledger. Nobody needs to be connected to the originating post office, so tracking information need not stop working at international borders. What's more, as a post office customer, you don't have to go to the post office any more to get a tracking number when sending packages, you get it automatically when you use the stamp.

This is a long post, and only scratches the surface on what's possible, and that's why I am excited about what the future could bring.

stamperJD and all,

Yep, now your service provider can require you to "pay" postage on each email you send via crypto stamps in the loose meaning of terms postage and stamps. Is there a special rate for bulk spamming use?

Crypto stamps - really revolution from the Austrian post. The prices are going up in the sky and all stamps collectors should buy this stamps now or never. I"m afraid of the price of this stamps in +10 years from now on. This crypto stamps will popularise philately. Hope other countries will follow Austrian post and issue crypto stamps.

As they say (loudly) on U.S. television commercials, "Pick up the phone and call now!"