A Sad Day for Physical Bitcoin Collectors

[JohnGalt]

Okay, so remember how I mentioned I had one of those Casascius Bitcoin bars? Yeah, it’s a 100 BTC one, and I got it back in 2012 for like $500.

When Bitcoin went over $10k a few years ago, I started getting real nervous. I mean, holding onto something worth over a million dollars? That’s a lot of pressure.

I didn’t want to redeem it, though. To me, a physical Bitcoin that hasn’t been redeemed feels like it’s worth more than just the money. I did try to sell it a few times, but it’s hard selling something that valuable, and you really can’t trust just anyone. I even looked into auctions, but I’d be getting less than what the Bitcoin itself was worth.

Now that it’s worth over $10 million, I knew I couldn’t keep just sitting on it. So, yeah… even though I was kinda unsure, I finally redeemed it today. I didn’t sell the coins or anything—I just moved them to my hardware wallet to keep them safe.

Before:


After:


Transaction:
https://mempool.space/tx/118d50e57eedbdc37e55edd176b49fb561d2df45d16ac7aabb1365b66d100d43

Sorry...

[minerjones]

Don't be sorry sir.. the logistics of trying to sell an item like this far outweigh you redeeming this bar
Bravo for holding onto it for this long.
If you are looking to sell this, let me know.. happy to help out!

[PX-Z]

Man, you've basically been sitting on a golden Wonka ticket for over a decade! I'd have lost sleep the moment it hit 5 digits, let alone 10 million. Applause to you for not panic-selling or burying it in a backyard.

Redeeming it must've felt like opening a treasure chest. So, what now? Private island? Lambo? With a custom "CASASCIUS" plate on it?

[Kazkaz27]

  Amazing if you ask me. Must have been nerve racking pealing it open. Life changing moment

[PX-Z]

Btw knowing you posted publicly your key i hope you have redeem those bitcoin forks first especially on BCH fork, its more than $40k worth if you mention it.

[mx12.levins]

Enjoy it, that’s something! Congrats on your nerves, and what can I say… legend!

[JohnGalt]

Btw knowing you posted publicly your key i hope you have redeem those bitcoin forks first especially on BCH fork, its more than $40k worth if you mention it.

Ugh, I totally forgot about the forks, and someone else got to it 9 minutes before me... Now they’re like $40k richer. I just hope they’re not shady or anything and actually a decent person.

[MrMojoRising26]

Props to you for holding so long! One of us will buy whats left if you sell it

[inelasticsupply]

You're a total badass for hodling! I have a feeling many of us will be faced with these tough choices at some point, sooner than most think.

[elmejorrematador]

Hats off to you and nothing to apologize for.

I am in the same boat. I promised myself I would never sell or peel my coins, but now its just not worth the risk. I  was thinking after seeing those palisades fires. I know some of those people had stuff in fireproof safes, but was wondering if prolonged time at those temps could ruin the holograms or possibly cause the adhesive or something to mess up the printed private keys underneath" That would be an even sadder day to go and redeem and then find the keys underneath are not legible. Same for like a flood situation, are the holo's and keys waterproof?

Does anyone have a video of the whole process? Peeling and then inputting and sweeping the funds to another wallet?

Did you do it all in one fell swoop? or did you do a test first?

This would be a great tool to help to the community I think. The thought of doing it scares me a bit tbh.

[PX-Z]

Btw knowing you posted publicly your key i hope you have redeem those bitcoin forks first especially on BCH fork, its more than $40k worth if you mention it.

Ugh, I totally forgot about the forks, and someone else got to it 9 minutes before me... Now they’re like $40k richer. I just hope they’re not shady or anything and actually a decent person.

Damn, that's rough. As for the person who did that, i don't think i can call him/er decent unless s/he send back to you those fork coins or the equivalent amount.

[MoparMiningLLC]

Btw knowing you posted publicly your key i hope you have redeem those bitcoin forks first especially on BCH fork, its more than $40k worth if you mention it.

Ugh, I totally forgot about the forks, and someone else got to it 9 minutes before me... Now they’re like $40k richer. I just hope they’re not shady or anything and actually a decent person.

and considering they had to see it here. that means someone here was willing to run the keys and take the coin without even a peep. which negates the possibility of them being a decent person.

and if they sent to an exchange, it might not even be that hard to find out who.


congrats on the life changing moment John! and for hodling that long!

[JohnGalt]

If you are looking to sell this, let me know.. happy to help out!

Lot's of people are asking. I'm not selling.

Amazing if you ask me. Must have been nerve racking pealing it open. Life changing moment

It is a lot of money, so yeah, I was kinda nervous something might go wrong.

Does anyone have a video of the whole process? Peeling and then inputting and sweeping the funds to another wallet?

Did you do it all in one fell swoop? or did you do a test first?

Alright, so here’s the quick version. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, but since I kinda know my way around this stuff, I managed.

First, I tried using a razor to peel the sticker, but that was a mistake. Ended up just using my nail and it came off no problem.

I thought Electrum could take mini private keys, so I made a new wallet on my phone with the key, but nope—it didn’t work.

Then I found out bitaddress.org can turn a mini key into WIF, so I downloaded it off GitHub and opened the file on my laptop.

Scanned the QR code of the uncompressed key and boom, new wallet.

I wanted to split the BTC across a few addresses, but Electrum on Android doesn’t do that, so I redid everything on my laptop.

Opened Trezor Suite, made a new account, got a bunch of addresses, copy-pasted those into Electrum, and sent the BTC. Waited for it to confirm before saying anything.

Later, I remembered BCH was a thing (oops). I don’t really use it, so I had to look stuff up, found a wallet, imported the key... and yeah, someone had already used mini key in the image I posted and took the BCH. lmao

I didn’t test anything beforehand, and I wasn’t really thinking too hard about security, tbh.

[goldlyre]

I would put up a bid or two if that redeemed bar is auctioned someday.


I have a couple of 1 btc coppers from Mr. Casascius in 2012 also.
They remain unredeemed now.

[OgNasty]

Congratulations on successfully claiming your Bitcoin. That’s pretty amazing to have held so long. Are you waiting for a certain BTC price to cash them in, a certain time frame, or have you already sold? Good luck with whatever you choose to do and bummer about the forks. That makes the story even more entertaining though.

[MoparMiningLLC]

Congratulations on successfully claiming your Bitcoin. That’s pretty amazing to have held so long. Are you waiting for a certain BTC price to cash them in, a certain time frame, or have you already sold? Good luck with whatever you choose to do and bummer about the forks. That makes the story even more entertaining though.

entertaining? theft is entertaining to you? figures since you are a thief....

[Frank AlpenCoin]

Legendary. I absolutely love these OG Bitcoiner stories. Holding a 100 BTC Casascius bar since 2012 is insane. Much respect!

[MoparMiningLLC]

not just the BCH (that is the most valuable though)

there is BCL, BSV, BTG, BTX, BCD, LBTC, BIFI, BPA, BCA, BTCP, BCL and MBC - maybe more.

[spectre1989]

Bro don't be sorry, I don't think I'd ever sell a physical that big unless it was to someone I know and trust, otherwise you're just handing over $10m to a stranger and hoping you don't get robbed!

[mortare]

Respect for holding so long, epic peel this one. Enjoy life!