A physical 1 BTC Casascius coin, identified as S2-COIN-1-2012, was recently redeemed after sitting idle for more than a decade. When the private key stored under the security hologram was used to transfer funds, the movement was recorded on the Bitcoin network.
Operation detected by on-chain monitoring system And the sweep of addresses was recorded by transaction 6bcc597fcd9a51e710f089ab0112e30897c1a55d587e6c76e8adf5dad165811e in Bitcoin block 951751 on May 30, 2026.
The pieces exchanged correspond to Series 2 coins issued in 2012. Bitcoin They were typically quoted between $5 and $15 per unit.a very far cry from the $73,000 that BTC contained in the currency at the time of redemption. That is, an increase of approximately 7,300 times. This means that the assets in custody have multiplied in value by thousands of times in the approximately 14 years that they have been sealed.
Transaction data shows owners moved virtually all of their Bitcoin You can send to a current SegWit address for a fee of less than $1. This move confirms that the hologram has been removed and that the private key, hidden since the piece’s creation, has finally been used.
The Casascius coin is considered an early relic of Bitcoin. They were created by Mike Caldwell between 2011 and 2013 as a way to physically store Bitcoin. Each piece contained a private key hidden under a tamper-proof hologram and linked to the public address where the funds were deposited. As long as the seal is intact, the coin retains both its monetary value and the Bitcoins stored inside.
The debate over whether to keep or redeem Casascius’ work was reflected in an incident that occurred in June 2025. At the time, collector John Galt decided to remove the seal from the physical bar where 100 BTC was stored. As he later reported on Reddit, Keeping assets worth more than $1 million under management has become increasingly complex.until they finally decided to sell it for over $10 million.
His experience illustrates one of the challenges faced by early Bitcoin investors. Thousands of Cassasius coins have already been opened to claim funds;According to Casascius tracker data, more than 7,000 1BTC coins have been opened so far and more than 12,000 are active. For many owners, keeping these pieces sealed means making a long-term bet on Bitcoin, but it also means living with the uncertainty of deciding when, or if at all, to make the private keys public and convert the asset into liquidity.
