A Review of OPENDIME - The Worlds First Bitcoin Credit Stick! (tldr 10/10)

I was scrolling online a couple weeks ago and came across OPENDIME. OPENDIME is a read only USB drive that allows you to generate and fund a bitcoin address without having access to the private key. Think of it like a disposable hardware wallet. Once funded, you can then pass along the drive almost like being a "physical bitcoin". Only once the outer seal is physically broken can anyone access the private key. I liked the idea of it and wanted to give it ago.

I received the package quickly in the mail (gotta love fast shipping), and being the type of person that hates anything complicated or technical, was very pleased to see how simple it was.

Step 1. Plug in. Easy enough. To my delight, I was met with an amazing glow the OPENDIME gives off. Small things like this make a product good in my opinion. It lets me know that its working..

Upon further research the colors of the lights indicate different things, and I'm loving this product even more. From their website.

"There is one red and one green light on the Opendime. The lights will work correctly even without a computer; just connect the Opendime to a USB charger or power pack.

Lights will flash as follows:

• Green with brief flicker:
  Sealed. Your funds are secure.

• Red and green alternating:
  UNSEALED. Private key has been revealed.

• Green solid, brief flash of red:
  Not yet loaded with enough entropy (setup time).

• Green flashing (fast):
  Reading/writing to drive.

With a solid Green light meaning nothing is loaded yet, I guess it's time to change that!

After opening the USB device on my computer, there were very simple instructions. The Bitcoin keys it generates are created from an image you select. Ideally you would want a picture that is secure and original, such as one you took yourself. Once you drag and drop a picture onto the OPENDIME drive and click the index tab, it gives you the Bitcoin Public Address and QR code generated from the picture. From here you can load the Bitcoin address with the amount of Bitcoin you'd like.

For someone to check the balance they simply plug the USB drive into their computer and can have access to the public wallet info to check the balance.

The real magic happens when you want to access the actual bitcoin and need the private key. Got a thumb tack? Great, shove it through the OPENDIME. Yes, you read that right. Shove the thumb tack through the USB drive, through the small hole, and a tiny chip will be popped out of the OPENDIME, thus breaking the seal wrapped around the outside.

Once the seal is broken you can plug the USB drive into a computer. When I plugged it in I was very happy to see the red and green alternating blinking. Based on the colors, that means the OPENDIME has been UNSEALED and the private keys have been revealed.

After opening the USB drive there was a new text file named private key. When I opened it the private key was there like it should be!

All in all I love the technology and application of this product. With Bitcoin Core fees being so high these days this is an interesting application. I plan to give some of these to friends as gifts to get them into crypto. I give it a 10/10 for design, functionality, and ease of use.

If you'd like to check these out, please visit www.opendime.com