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Mint Sells Bitcoins Direct From Miners

Amsterdam based BlockTrail recently announced Mint. The service sells freshly mined coins directly from the miner, for a premium.

Blockchain solutions company BlockTrail has launched a service called Mint, that sells bitcoins sourced directly from miners.

This will be the first service that allows consumers to purchase brand-new bitcoins, which were historically sold alongside used bitcoins on open exchanges.

These coins will most likely appeal to investors primarily as a collectible, much like the first strike of a physical coin. In an interview with Brave New Coin, Alejandro De La Torre, from BlockTrail Business Development told us that “Fresh Bitcoins are more limited in supply than used Bitcoins, anything with a limited supply usually gains in value.”

BlockTrail’s website says that there are no limits on the amount of new coins you can buy, although the larger your order, the longer it will take to fill. They do, however, state a minimum order of 0.1 BTC. Currently, the only payment method accepted for the Mint service is bitcoin, although in the future they plan to accept fiat currencies as well.

With new bitcoins currently being created at a rate of 3,600 per day, there are only so many coins to be sold. Since the service provider has to form a relationship with each mining pool or solo miner, in order to buy their coins, the number available through Mint is much smaller. De La Torre did assure us that they have already formed a substantial amount of relationships.

“Mint has relationships with Miners around the world and sources the coins directly from them.”
— – Alejandro De La Torre, Business Development at BlockTrail

The fee structure for the service is dynamic, determined by the availability of inventory and market demand at the time of your order. The exact fee rate is only displayed at the time an order is placed, immediately prior to payment.

There is an advantage to adding a considerable fee to these purchases. Doing so can make your purchase harder to track on the blockchain.

“Transacting with new coins enable you to regain your privacy by breaking free from Blockchain cluster analysis. To protect your privacy, our fee is set high enough to deter automated analysis of Mint transactions.”
— – BlockTrail

Despite being based in The Netherlands, where Bitcoin has little regulation, and even though they are only trading bitcoins for other bitcoins so far, BlockTrail has implemented the United States’ Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures. This requires you to identify yourself to them before they are able to complete your sale. This policy is likely to turn away many customers who appreciate bitcoin for its privacy.

Also highlighted by the service is the users choice of wallet. Centralized services can mix your coins with those from other accounts, trading out your fresh coins for regular bitcoins.

“Some wallet services (such as Coinbase Wallet) are not recommended for usage with Mint, as you will not be able to maintain ownership of the exact coins you purchase. We recommend storing your coins using BlockTrail Wallet, which allows you to create multiple wallets, each with their separate keychain, and all under your complete ownership.”
— – BlockTrail

For collectors, the perceived advantage of owning fresh coins reflects the limited supplies. For others, new coins without transaction histories are more desirable than used coins with longer and unknown histories. A brand new coin has no ties to illicit transaction, and has never been stolen or used to buy illegal items, unlike coins used on the Silk Road.

Both arguments make economists question the fungibility of bitcoin, which demands every unit of a currency spends just as well as every other unit. The value placed on uniquely new coins, by collectors, is not considered harmful to bitcoin’s fungibility. There are plenty of collectable collectible coins in other functional currencies. They are seen as rare editions that often command a markup in price for individual coins, or bills, but their existence never hurts the usefulness of the mainstream currency overall.

The question of bitcoins used in illicit trade, resulting in what is often referred to as tainted coins, could possibly make a big difference one day. If governments or regulators decide to enforce some kind of ban on tainted coins a significant proportion of the bitcoins in circulation could be blacklisted. In this circumstance, a hefty premium for fresh coins may one day be warranted, the holder will always know he can spend those coins anywhere.

Another scheme that regulators may try and force upon bitcoin is a whitelist, which are generally considered more safe. A whitelisted bitcoin would have had it’s entire history scrutinized before being added, a service that at least one company has attempted to create.

Using either list type on bitcoins is still pure speculation, for many of the same reasons there are no widely-used, serial-number-based lists for US Dollar bills. In some some countries, including the UK, laws protects people who receive the proceeds of crime unwittingly. “Where the funds or property have been acquired by a purchase for a proper market price or similar exchange and to cater for any injustice which might otherwise arise: for example, in the case of tradesmen who are paid for ordinary consumable goods and services in money that comes from crime,” states the UK Crown Prosecution Service.

No matter which threat to bitcoin’s fungibility comes to light, Bitcoiners shouldn’t worry much, says the Nakamoto Institute‘s Director of Research Daniel Krawisz, a noted economist and speaker in the bitcoin space. “A new coin can’t remain ‘new’ for long, as long as it gets spent.” he told BraveNewCoin. “Once those coins start getting mixed in with everything else, then there isn’t a difference between them any more.”


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