An early bitcoin investor using the alias 'JohnGalt' recently successfully unsealed a Casascius physical bitcoin gold bar that he had cherished for 13 years, extracting the 100 bitcoins stored within, unlocking over 10 million dollars in wealth, yet due to a momentary lapse, he lost bitcoins cash (BCH) worth about 40 thousand dollars, becoming the most regrettable episode of the entire event.
Bought for 500 dollars 13 years ago, now worth over ten million
JohnGalt posted on the bitcoin forum Bitcointalk, stating that he initially bought this gold bar for 500 dollars in 2012, when each bitcoin was only about 5 dollars and hardly anyone cared; now, it has appreciated to become a life-changing asset worth millions.
‘Actually, I have never been very willing to withdraw it. For me, the unopened physical bitcoin gold bar has a collection significance that transcends money,’ he candidly admitted in a post, mentioning that he had attempted to sell the gold bar multiple times over the years and even considered auctioning it off, but often could not successfully complete the transaction due to disputes over valuation and trust issues.
Now, as bitcoin breaks through 100,000 dollars, JohnGalt feels that continuing to hold a physical asset worth ‘eight-digit dollars’ has become too risky, which is why he decided to withdraw these 100 bitcoins.
Tearing open the anti-counterfeiting film, 100 bitcoins are officially unsealed
JohnGalt shared the withdrawal process on Bitcointalk, carefully tearing open the anti-counterfeiting film, obtaining the private key, and transferring the 100 bitcoins to the new wallet address, with the transaction successfully recorded on the blockchain, becoming the largest physical bitcoin withdrawal record to date.
JohnGalt revealed that he initially tried to use the Electrum wallet on his Android phone to transfer funds, but was impeded because it did not support the mini private key format.
In the end, he switched to bitaddress.org to convert the mini private key into standard format and created a new wallet through Trezor Suite, which allowed him to transfer the 100 bitcoins to a secure address.
Only after confirming everything was correct did he feel at ease to publicly post the photo of the Casascius gold bar and the redemption process, witnessing this historic moment with the cryptocurrency community.
Image source: Bitcointalk
A photo gave away 40 thousand dollars in $BCH
Unexpectedly, just as the entire operation was nearly perfect, JohnGalt made a fatal oversight at the last moment, and disaster quietly struck right after he shared the photo of the gold bar.
Due to the hard fork back then, bitcoin cash ($BCH) and bitcoin still use the same private key mechanism. JohnGalt had not yet had the chance to withdraw $BCH when a sharp-eyed user spotted the private key in the photo and quickly withdrew the $BCH worth 40 thousand dollars, completing the entire process in just 9 minutes.
Even so, the experience of this veteran player has earned high respect from the cryptocurrency community, with many netizens praising him as a ‘legend who survived the most turbulent 13 years of bitcoin’ while also expressing regret for his loss of $BCH.
At the same time, many shared their anxiety about holding physical bitcoin gold bars, including risks such as fire, flood, aging of the film leading to the loss of private key readability, and any slight misstep could result in the destruction of substantial assets.
JohnGalt stated that although the bitcoins have been successfully transferred, he will retain the unsealed gold bar as a testimony and commemoration of a historical moment.
This article is authorized for reprint from: (Block Media)
Original title: (Bought 'this gold bar' for 500 dollars 13 years ago! He successfully withdrew 100 bitcoins, holding tens of millions of dollars)
Original author: Block Sister MEL
‘Bought this gold bar for 500 bucks 13 years ago! He withdrew 100 bitcoins, transforming into a millionaire worth tens of millions’ this article was first published in ‘Crypto City’
