Someone Just Redeemed a 15-Year-Old Physical Bitcoin, Scoring $1.78 Million in BTC

A 15-year-old treasure was awoken when a physical coin embedded with the private key to a Bitcoin wallet was activated on-chain Tuesday, giving the coin’s owner access to about $1.78 million in Bitcoin.

The collectible, a part of the Casascius Physical Bitcoins, contained a private key to access a wallet holding 25 BTC—which was collectively worth less than $100 when it was created in December 2011, according to data from Casascius Tracker. 

The physical coins, created by Bitcoin enthusiast and developer Mike Caldwell, were originally designed to “introduce a proof-of-concept, a conversation piece to help people talk to others about Bitcoin,” according to the coin’s website.

Each coin came built with its own Bitcoin address, along with a private key that was hidden behind a tamper-evident hologram that must be peeled in order to reveal the key—letting the owner gain access to the linked BTC.

What started as a Bitcoin talking point ended up becoming a coveted collectible and vessel for considerable sums, given Bitcoin’s precipitous rise in the years since.

Unredeemed coins, which contain sums ranging from 0.1 BTC to 1,000 BTC, are listed at a premium to their underlying value on secondary marketplaces like eBay. Even unfunded coins that never were assigned a Bitcoin allotment sell for hundreds of dollars. 

The latest redemption comes from the “Series 1” 25 Bitcoin batch, of which 345 coins in total were produced. At this time, 236 coins have been redeemed based on Casascius Tracker data, with this being the most recent redemption.

While coin redemptions have been steadily climbing over the years, the pace remains well below the end of 2017 and early 2018, when Bitcoin first rose near $20,000 for the first time. 

Last October, when Bitcoin jumped to its all-time high of $126,080, 46 coins were redeemed with values ranging from 0.5-25 BTC, or about $3.15 million at the time for the top coin. 

Last month, at least one 25 BTC coin was redeemed. Three other 25 BTC coins were cashed in at the end of April.