Two Casascius Coins Holding 2,000 BTC Moved After More Than a Decade of Inactivity
Two long-dormant Casascius wallets containing 2,000 BTC, valued at approximately $180 million, moved for the first time in more than thirteen years. Casascius coins, created by Mike Caldwell starting in 2011, are physical offline cold storage devises embedding private keys within tamper-evident holograms. These coins came in denominations ranging from 1 to 1,000 BTC, with about 90,000 total coins circulated mostly holding small amounts; notably six coins and sixteen bars were minted with 1,000 BTC each.
The project effectively ended in 2013 when FinCEN labeled Caldwell an unregistered money transmitter. The recent transfers—a rare event since the coins last saw activity between 2011 and 2012 when Bitcoin traded under $15—were confirmed using a blockchain explorer while current BTC prices near $90,000. The reasons behind these transfers remain unclear and may reflect internal reorganization, sales, or precautionary steps to maintain access as the coins’ physical components degrade.
A 2025 Bitcointalk anecdote related to Casascius coins describes a 100 BTC bar owner experiencing challenges importing the key after removing the hologram, ultimately moving the funds to hardware storage. Those coins are now worth about $9 million.
