How to verify a Casascius coin is still funded?

[otrkid70]

How can you tell if a casascius coin still has the BTC funded with just the few numbers and letters on the hologram?

[BurtW]

How can you tell if a casascius coin still has the BTC funded with just the few numbers and letters on the hologram?

Google something like "lookup casascius  bitcoin address"

https://casascius.uberbills.com/

https://casascius.appspot.com/

[otrkid70]

How can you tell if a casascius coin still has the BTC funded with just the few numbers and letters on the hologram?

Google something like "lookup casascius  bitcoin address"

https://casascius.uberbills.com/

https://casascius.appspot.com/

Wow that was easy and you just saved me from being potentially being scammed.

Thank you Burt

[DannyHamilton]

Wow that was easy and you just saved me from being potentially being scammed.

Thank you Burt

Keep in mind that even if the numbers you see are "funded", it is possible that someone may have found a way to tamper with the coin and remove the original private key from inside without disturbing the hologram.

[otrkid70]

Wow that was easy and you just saved me from being potentially being scammed.

Thank you Burt

Keep in mind that even if the numbers you see are "funded", it is possible that someone may have found a way to tamper with the coin and remove the original private key from inside without disturbing the hologram.

When i went to that site Burt provided it was clear as day the coin was "Redeemed" even though the hologram seemed intact.  Good thing i asked this Question.

People are very clever with this crap.

[DannyHamilton]

When i went to that site Burt provided it was clear as day the coin was "Redeemed" even though the hologram seemed intact.  Good thing i asked this Question.

Certainly.  But my point was that in the future, even if you find a coin that the site doesn't indicate is "Redeemed", it would still be possible that the real private key is no longer inside the coin. You should be extremely careful about purchasing Casascius coins.  It's even possible that a seller doesn't know that they are selling you a bad coin if they were tricked into buying a bad coin a few years ago.

People are very clever with this crap.

Yes. Very.

[Blazed]

How can you tell if a casascius coin still has the BTC funded with just the few numbers and letters on the hologram?

Google something like "lookup casascius  bitcoin address"

https://casascius.uberbills.com/

https://casascius.appspot.com/

I would not rely on some third party website to be accurate.

First thing I do is bring up the list of all addresses -> https://www.casascius.com/fulllist.txt Search that page and find the full address and verify it against whatever explorer you prefer (use the search feature in your browser and type in first bits on coin). You should be able to google plenty of images of intact coins and just compare the holograms to make sure it is legit.

[naypalm]

Very true Blazed, there's a chance that the websites are not displaying the most recent info. Always use more than one source for data.

Kinda related: An issue was brought up to me about a few casascius coins, however the coin was still showing up as unfunded. I checked the address against a few block explorer's and sure enough, no BTC. PM'ed casascius about it and it was a simple matter of funding the coins and Human error. It happens too

[gentlemand]

I'm very curious to see what these coins get up to in future. Is there going to be an avalanche of proper fakes? Will there be so many that unless you've  got major provenance you won't be able to do much with a genuine coin? I don't think many owners are paying enough attention right now. They should be locking in their legitness now.

[owlcatz]

I'm very curious to see what these coins get up to in future. Is there going to be an avalanche of proper fakes? Will there be so many that unless you've  got major provenance you won't be able to do much with a genuine coin? I don't think many owners are paying enough attention right now. They should be locking in their legitness now.

I don't know about the future, no one does, we are all just as curious.

Fakes? maybe, depends on a lot as you know I'm sure.

I have a few coins. I have the PGP info for the cas coins, or at least records of the trail back. But... Considering the latest SN saga with CSW,.... what is truly good enough? Also, has ANACs been fooled yet? I think not, but I don't know... 

Good questions... thanks!