I want to give a friend (non coiner) some Bitcoin as a wedding gift and this is how I thought I would do it (note, it won't be a massive amount, just something to spend on their honeymoon, but I think it might help you with your question)
Depending on whether they will be interested in holding the Bitcoin or spending it, I would do it as follows:
  • Spending (most non coiners):
I would use the lightning network and create a wallet for them, writing down the seed phrase on two pieces of paper. One that I'll give to them at the wedding and the other I will keep, for now (will explain)
I would then load the wallet with the amount of sats I want to give them and log out/remove my access to the wallet
At the wedding they will get one of the two seed phrases I wrote down and in the envelope there will also be a piece of paper explaining how they can quickly and esily restore the wallet that is loaded with sats unto one of their phones and that they must confirm with me when they have successfully restored the wallet
Once I receive said confirmation, I can destroy the backup copy of the seed phrase I have, leaving only them access to the wallet (the reason for keeping a copy is just so that they don't lose the sats if they maybe lose the envelope or something like that because people new to this often underestimate how important it is)
(I might be breaking some rules here by doing it this way, but since it's a gift that I want to give them, one can assume that I won't do anything that I shouldn't with my copy seeing as it would defeat the purpose of the gift and I thought that this would be the easiest and safest way to get the sats into their possession, seeing as I don't want them to go through trouble to actually get their present)
My guess is their interest might be tickled when they use their sats on things they want to buy and you can then help them move it to self custody on the layer one blockchain if they actually want to do that with the sats they have left
  • Holding:
To a certain extent, the same approach can be followed as mentioned above, using a self custody, layer one wallet instead of a lightning wallet, assuming you will 100% adhere to the last part of the process by destroying your seed phrase copy and access to the wallet forever. This would be the easiest way, but if they are interested in holding then I would rather do the second one below, as then they would be willing to "do the work" beforehand in all likelihood:
A better approach would be to either sit down and provide them with the basics they need to know about their gift or lay it out fully in a letter or by sending them a link to a detailed video or something
After that they should create their own wallet(s) and just send you their address once available and then you can send them the gift
All and all that's how I would go about it. I think it's important for you to find out if they would want to spend or hold the Bitcoin and then take the appropriate approach, but I wouldn't recommend forcing them, for example, to hold it if they would rather spend it. A gift can only be a gift it there are no strings attached. If there are strings, then that's more an agreement/arrangement than a gift and one of Bitcoin's core values is freedom, so I think it's important for them to decide what they want to do with it and Bitcoins/sats would already be an awesome gift so combining it with actual freedom of choice/use would be absolutely stupendous!
Thanks that's a great way of thinking about it.
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