Two long-dormant Casascius physical Bitcoin collectibles — each containing 1,000 BTC — were activated on Friday, releasing more than $179 million that had been locked away for over 13 years. Onchain records show one coin was minted in October 2012 when Bitcoin traded at about $11.69, and the other in December 2011 when Bitcoin was roughly $3.88. The older coin’s theoretical return since minting is on the order of 2.3 million percent, excluding minting costs.
Casascius coins were produced by Utah entrepreneur Mike Caldwell between 2011 and 2013. Each coin or bar contained a paper private key covered by a tamper-evident hologram and represented a specific Bitcoin denomination — examples ranged from 1 BTC up to 1,000 BTC. According to available records, only 16 of the 1,000 BTC bars and six 1,000 BTC coins were ever made, making them extremely rare.
Caldwell ceased operations after receiving a FinCEN letter concerned he might be operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The physical coins remain prized collectibles: the first person to reveal the private key by breaking the hologram redeems the Bitcoin value, after which the physical piece no longer carries on-chain value.
Redeeming a Casascius coin does not automatically mean a large amount of Bitcoin will be sold on the market. Some collectors redeem and transfer funds to hardware wallets for safety and accessibility rather than to liquidate. For example, a 100 BTC coin owner known as “John Galt” moved his coins to a hardware wallet for easier access but stated he had no immediate plans to cash out.
