Recently, a collector decided to open two physical Casascius bitcoin bars, each containing 100 BTC, with a total value of approximately $19.2 million.
Entrepreneur Mike Caldwell created the Casascius line, issuing not only coins of various denominations but also hefty bars calibrated at 100 BTC, 500 BTC, and 1000 BTC. For example, in series 1 (S1), Caldwell issued 57 bars of 100 BTC, and only seven of them remained untouched.
The 200 BTC spent in 2012 were utilized by blockchain analysis platforms such as btcparser.com.
Of the pairs opened last month, the bitcoins were transferred elsewhere. Both contained 100-BTC and were part of series 2 (S2). Caldwell produced about 81 of such bars, and according to casasciustracker.com, 30 of them are still unopened.
About thirty bars of 100 BTC were unspent.
Prior to this, the last expenditures of 100 BTC bars occurred in October 2024, with an earlier episode taking place in October 2021.
The 1000 BTC bars have an even more complex history: only 16 were issued, and only two remain sealed or unspent. The last time anyone opened a 1000 BTC bar was in August 2014.