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Two long-dormant bitcoin wallets tied to physical Casascius coins moved a total of 2,000 BTC, worth roughly $180 million after more than a decade of inactivity.
The coins had been untouched since 2011 and 2012, when bitcoin was trading for less than $15 versus today’s price just shy of $90,000. The movement was confirmed by a blockchain explorer tracking the addresses.
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Casascius coins are physical collectibles containing embedded private keys, made by Utah-based entrepreneur Mike Caldwell beginning in 2011. The coins, issued in denominations ranging from 1 to 1,000 BTC, were designed as offline cold storage.
Each coin came with a tamper-evident holographic seal to protect the key underneath. Caldwell stopped producing pre-funded coins in late 2013 after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) labeled him an unregistered money transmitter.
That regulatory pressure effectively ended the Casascius project, leaving around 90,000 coins in circulation, most holding small amounts of BTC. A handful, just six coins and 16 bars, were minted with 1,000 BTC.
It’s unclear whether the recent transfers were sales, internal reorganizations or simply precautionary moves to preserve access. The transfers could be linked to degrading physical components.
In a similar case earlier this year, a user on Bitcointalk claiming to be the owner of a 100 BTC Casascius bar reported difficulties importing the key into modern wallets after peeling the hologram. He eventually moved the funds, now worth about $9 million, to hardware storage.