Owner peels 15-year Casascius coin, redeems 25 BTC
A Casascius physical bitcoin from 2011 was peeled Tuesday and its private key swept, moving 25 BTC (about $1.78 million) from the linked wallet on-chain.
A physical Casascius bitcoin minted in 2011 was peeled and its private key swept on Tuesday, moving 25 BTC-about $1.78 million at the time-out of the linked wallet, according to on-chain records. The wallet was emptied and the funds transferred to a new address.
The coin was funded in December 2011, when the 25 BTC had a collective face value of under $100. The coin is part of Casascius’s early Series 1 run of 25 BTC coins; 345 were produced.
Casascius Physical Bitcoins were produced between 2011 and 2013 by Mike Caldwell. Each metal coin included a Bitcoin address and a private key hidden under a tamper-evident hologram. Peeling the hologram exposes the key and allows the holder to move the linked BTC on-chain.
Casascius Tracker data shows 236 of the 345 Series 1 25 BTC coins have been redeemed, leaving dozens still unredeemed. Redemptions have occurred steadily over the years with higher volumes during strong price rallies.
Redemptions rose during late 2017 and again around recent price highs. In October, when Bitcoin reached $126,080, 46 coins were redeemed; the largest 25 BTC redemption that month was worth about $3.15 million at the time.
Recent activity includes at least one 25 BTC coin redeemed last month and three cashed in at the end of April. Unredeemed Casascius coins and unfunded collectible coins are sometimes sold on secondary markets at a premium to their underlying Bitcoin value.
Blockchain records show when owners reveal the private keys and move the associated funds on-chain, allowing the public tracing of these early physical coins and their balances.
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