After more than a decade in storage, one of the iconic Casascius gold bars loaded with 100 BTC has finally been unsealed. While the move unlocked massive value, it also led to a surprising twist: the owner accidentally lost tens of thousands of dollars in forked cryptocurrencies.
🔐 Private Key Revealed – Coins Moved to New Wallets
The owner, who originally purchased the bar back in 2012 for just $500, decided to activate the BTC stored inside. After peeling off the holographic seal, they retrieved the private key (mini-seed) and split the coins between 10 new wallets.
The redemption came as Bitcoin’s price soared past $106,000 per BTC, turning the bar into a $10 million treasure.
🪙 Casascius Bars – A Collector's Relic of the Past
The Casascius gold bars and coins became popular among early Bitcoiners because they combined physical gold with a real BTC value, securely embedded inside. Sales of funded items stopped in 2013, and today they are traded mainly as collectibles on eBay – some with premiums reaching 125 BTC.
Currently, there are only 35 known unopened 100 BTC bars, representing more than $3.9 billion in value based on today’s BTC price.
💸 High Value, High Risk
Instead of selling the bar outright, the owner opted for a safer approach – distributing the funds across multiple wallets. This reduced the risk of theft, a serious concern for physical wallets with exposed seeds. As recent hacks even target Ledger users, security is more crucial than ever.
Using a specialized tool, the owner converted the mini-seed into a full key with a QR code, enabling a secure and user-friendly BTC transfer.
⚠️ A Costly Mistake: Lost BCH
Unfortunately, the owner made a critical error – they posted the mini-seed on the Bitcointalk forum before claiming the forked coins like Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and others.
The result? A swift attack: someone immediately transferred 100 BCH (worth around $50,000). A user named Nexusrushrush later admitted to taking the coins but said they returned them to the original – now compromised – wallet. Still, no new compensation has been offered to the bar’s original owner.
📦 Rarity Rising – Casascius Bars Remain Legendary
Besides the 100 BTC bar, there are also two known Casascius bars with 1,000 BTC that remain unclaimed. These gold-backed artifacts are now sold solely as historical collector’s items, both funded and unfunded.
🧠 Summary: Golden Treasure, Bitter Lesson
The story of this Casascius bar is a powerful reminder of how time and technology can change both value and vulnerability. What was once a golden relic of crypto’s early days has become a collector’s item and a security challenge.
One thing is certain: in crypto, if someone knows the seed – they own the coins, even after 13 years.
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