Casascius coin redeemed after 15 years, unlocking $2M in Bitcoin

A physical Bitcoin token minted in the early 2010s was finally cracked open, releasing 25 BTC worth roughly $2 million onto the blockchain.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team Jun. 3, 2026

Someone just peeled the hologram off a piece of Bitcoin history. A Casascius 25 BTC coin, one of roughly 800 ever produced, was redeemed after sitting untouched for approximately 15 years, moving 25 BTC on-chain at a value of roughly $2 million.

To put that in perspective, when this coin was minted between 2011 and 2013, 25 BTC was worth somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars.

What exactly is a Casascius coin

Mike Caldwell, a software developer based in Utah, created Casascius coins as physical representations of Bitcoin. Each coin contained a mini private key hidden beneath a tamper-evident hologram sticker. Peeling the sticker, or “redeeming” the coin, reveals the key and lets the holder move the embedded BTC to any wallet.

Caldwell minted approximately 27,929 physical coins and bars in total, encapsulating about 91,263 BTC across denominations ranging from 0.5 BTC to 1,000 BTC.

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Production stopped in November 2013. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) took issue with selling pre-loaded Bitcoin tokens, viewing it as a form of money transmission. Caldwell ceased sales of loaded coins rather than navigate the regulatory gauntlet.

The growing trend of dormant coin redemptions

This 25 BTC redemption isn’t happening in isolation. In April 2025, two Casascius 100 BTC bars were redeemed, with those transactions valued at around $19.2 million at the time.

More than half of the roughly 800 Casascius 25 BTC coins ever minted have now been redeemed. Each redemption permanently destroys the coin’s “loaded” status. The hologram is torn, the key is exposed, and the coin becomes a shell, still collectible, but no longer a self-contained Bitcoin vault.

An estimated 38,694 BTC remain locked inside sealed Casascius items that haven’t been redeemed.

Collectors versus redeemers

Sealed Casascius coins routinely sell at auction for significant premiums above the value of their embedded Bitcoin. Some coins have reportedly fetched premiums of 50% or more above their BTC face value.

For collectors, every redemption makes the remaining sealed coins scarcer and more valuable. When someone peels a 25 BTC coin, the roughly 400 or fewer sealed examples left in existence become marginally rarer.

What this means for investors

Nearly 39,000 BTC sitting in physical coins represents a shadow supply that doesn’t show up in standard exchange reserve metrics or on-chain dormancy analyses. When these coins get redeemed, that Bitcoin suddenly appears as “new” on-chain activity, potentially confusing analytics tools that track whale movements and long-dormant wallet activations.

Caldwell stopped minting loaded coins because of FinCEN pressure in 2013. Physical Bitcoin tokens occupy a curious gray zone: they’re simultaneously a commodity (the metal), a security-adjacent instrument (the embedded value), and a collectible.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.