Since September 18, 2021, close to 250 Casascius physical bitcoins were redeemed over the last 198 days. On that day six months ago, there were 19,920 Casascius physical bitcoins left active and today, there are approximately 19,676 left to peel.
19,676 physical Casascius bitcoins remain to be peeled
Over the past six months, approximately 244 Casascius physical bitcoins have been exchanged for their digital value. The Casascius physical bitcoin collection created by Mike Caldwell is one of the most popular physical BTC collections. Rare coins are often sold for more than digital face value and today there are 19,676 untraded or active physical coins, according to statistics from casasciustracker.com.
Each physical bitcoin has a different fraction of digital BTC, as some coins carry .5 in BTC value while some hold a single BTC. Caldwell also made gold bars with bitcoins loaded onto them like the popular 100 BTC gold bar. There are Casascius physical bitcoins that hold 25 BTC and even units that carry 500 to 1,000 BTC. For instance, on March 30, 2022, an “S1-COIN-25” that’s worth 25 BTC was peeled and redeemed for the digital value of $1.14 million.
S1-COIN-25 also held 25 bitcoins cash (BCH) and 25 bitcoinsv (BSV), but these crypto-assets were not spent by the physical bitcoin owner of Casascius. Five days prior, an “S2-COIN-5” was shelled and traded for 5 BTC or $230,000. This Casascius bitcoin physical owner also saved the 5 BCH and 5 BSV, as they were not spent. While there are 19,676 physical coins from the Casascius Collection active, 8,262 have been redeemed so far.
42,516 Bitcoin Worth $1.9 Billion Remain Loaded on Casascius Physical Bitcoins, Unfunded Coins Sell for a Pretty Penny
While there’s a few hundred less than 20K physical coins left unpeeled today, the number does not account for how much BTC is left unredeemed. There are approximately 42,516 BTC (UTXOs) left unredeemed on the 19,676 Casascius coins left unpeeled. According to today’s bitcoin (BTC) exchange rates, that’s $1.9 billion worth of bitcoin.
Additionally, physical Casascius bitcoins typically sell for more than digital value in secondary markets. Even dumped coins, with the digital backgrounds washed away, can sell for a pretty penny these days. For example, an unloaded physical bitcoin of 25 BTC with the funds taken away sells for $21,000 on Ebay. In fact, it is difficult to find a loaded physical Casascius bitcoin and there are a multitude of unfunded coins on the secondary market sold only for collectibles.
On September 18, 2021, there were approximately 43,000 BTC left unspent loaded on 19,920 Casascius physical bitcoins. With 42,516 BTC left unredeemed today, that means 484 BTC worth $22.2 million has been redeemed over the last 198 days.
