The owner of two rare Casascius coins released 2,000 idle bitcoins. These physical collector’s pieces moved funds currently valued at $179 million. The owner bought them when the pioneering digital currency cost less than $12. Now, they are worth millions.
The coins Casascius are physical collection pieces created between 2011 and 2013 by Mike Caldwell in the United States. Each one contains a private bitcoin key hidden under a tamper-proof hologram; As long as the seal is intact, the bitcoins remain motionless and the coin is worth its digital content plus its rarity as an object. Scratching off the hologram reveals the BTC, they are transferred and the piece becomes simple empty metal. That is why they are known as “bitcoins in the form of real currency.”
The Casascius coins consumed this December 5, 2025 They kept 1,000 bitcoins each. This is one of the rarest variants: only 6 coins of this specific design were minted. If we add the 16 golden bars of the same denomination, they barely exist 22 pieces of 1,000 BTC among the almost 28,000 physical items in the Casascius collection.
Caldwell stopped sales of its pieces in November 2013 due to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) rules. That agency saw its work as unlicensed money transmission, forcing it to go out of business and turning existing pieces into instant relics of an unrepeatable era, since they were created during bitcoin’s early history.
The dilemma of owning and exchanging these pieces became evident in June 2025, as reported by CriptoNoticias. That’s when collector John Galt broke the seal on a 100 bitcoin bar. Galt explained on Reddit that it was quite difficult for him to maintain an asset valued at more than $1 million, until he finally sold them, for a figure that exceeded $10 million.
His experience exemplifies the psychological pressure that pioneer hodlers face. To date, more than 10,000 coins have been redeemed, but about 18,000 remain intact, collectively holding hundreds of millions of dollars, according to data of the Casascius tracker. For their owners, keep them sealed It’s a test of endurance about saving in BTCsince the exchange always carries the risk of regret if the price of Bitcoin continues to climb.