Bitcoin has gained a reputation for being unsafe to store online; as evidenced by the number of thefts from major Bitcoin wallets. Dutch entrepeneur Martijn Wismeijer has decided that the most secure place for his hard earned Bitcoin is literally in his own hands.
Wismeijer has had two NFC chips embedded in him, one in each hand. One is used as a business card of sorts and allows him to exchange contact information with NFC enabled phones by simply holding the device. The other is used as what is called a cold storage wallet; essentially it contains the encrypted private key to his Bitcoin stash.
Each chip is capable of storing 880 bytes of data, which is just about enough for this sort of thing and little else. It didn’t cost much either as the tiny device can be bought preloaded into a syringe for easy insertion into humans (or anything else really). DangerousThings.com – the site from which the NFC chip was bought – lists the kit for US$99 but also warns that it has not been certified by any regulatory body. In other words, this is by no means a safe thing to do.
That being said, with the fluctuating price of Bitcoin these days it is likely that the NFC chip will end up being more valuable than the currency it holds.
High tech augmentation is not confined to just Wismeijer, Amal Graafstra, the founder of DangerousThings.com has also installed an NFC chip into his hands. However, in this case it serves as an electronic key for house; removing the need for keys. Considering how convenient this would be, it is a wonder at why the idea hasn’t caught on.
[Source: Ars Technica]
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