Two long-dormant Bitcoin wallets linked to physical Casascius coins have moved a total of 2,000 BTC, worth around $180 million after more than a decade of inactivity.
The coins had not been touched since 2011 and 2012, when bitcoin was trading at less than $15, compared to a current price of just under $90,000. The move was confirmed by a blockchain explorer who tracks addresses.
Casascius coins are physical collectibles containing embedded private keys, manufactured by Utah-based entrepreneur Mike Caldwell starting in 2011. The coins, issued in denominations ranging from 1 to 1,000 BTC, were designed as an offline cold storage facility.
Each piece came with a tamper-proof holographic seal to protect the key underneath. Caldwell stopped producing pre-funded coins in late 2013 after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) labeled it an unregistered money transmitter.
This regulatory pressure effectively shut down the Casascius project, leaving around 90,000 coins in circulation, most containing small amounts of BTC. A handful, just six coins and 16 bars, were minted with 1,000 BTC.
It is not clear whether the recent transfers were sales, internal reorganizations or simply precautionary measures to preserve access. The transfers could be linked to degraded physical components.
In a similar case earlier this year, a Bitcointalk user claiming to own a 100 BTC Casascius bar reported difficulty importing the key into modern wallets after peeling off the hologram. He ultimately moved the funds, currently worth around $9 million, to hardware storage.
