On Friday, as bitcoin slipped beneath the $90,000 threshold, a long-dormant 2012 wallet stirred back to life, dispatching 1,000 BTC valued at $89.4 million at today’s rates — its first activity in 13 years and 49 days. Moments after that coin moved at block height 926566, the next block disclosed a second 1,000 BTC shift linked to a 2011 address. What makes the moment especially striking is that both transfers originated from two physical Casascius bitcoins, peeled for the first time in well over a decade.
Casascius Classics Awaken: 2,000 BTC From 2011–2012 Shake off 13 Years of Sleep
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Vintage Casascius Bitcoin Vaults Peeled
Two sizable troves of BTC from crypto’s early era shifted in rapid succession, and both movements traced back to physical bitcoins from the Casascius collection. Casascius bitcoins are tangible metal pieces — usually brass, silver, or gold-plated — created by Mike Caldwell beginning in 2011, each containing a private key sealed beneath a tamper-evident hologram so they could function in person until redeemed.
These two specific coins came from Caldwell’s Series 1, with each carrying 1,000 BTC. The first transaction appeared at block 926566, spending 1,000 BTC from a 2012 wallet, while the second surfaced at block 926567. That latter transfer, however, originated from a coin first loaded in 2011. The activity was flagged by several onchain parsers, including Sani’s Timechainbot, Whale Alert, btcparser.com, and casasciustracker.com.
The first transfer was forwarded to a Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH) destination now holding 1,000 BTC. The second batch of bitcoins from 2011 moved into a Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) wallet, which likewise contains 1,000 BTC at the time of writing — simply stored under a different address format. As for the 2012 coins, on the day they were acquired, the entire 1,000 BTC stash was valued at $12,350.
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At $89.4 million today, the holder has watched that cache climb an astonishing 724,695%. As far as the 2011 Casascius bitcoin, BTC was priced at $4.80 per coin on Dec. 21, 2011, the date the stash was obtained. This means the 1,000 coins were valued at a modest $4,800 back then. Last month, a total of 2,443.25 BTC moved from long-dormant addresses created between 2011 and 2017.
With this latest 2,000 BTC shift, December is already showing a bit of flair from OG holders, and a 2010 coinbase reward has also stirred this month as well. While these specific coins do not appear headed for immediate sale, they’ve slipped off the dormancy radar and can now travel freely without drawing much analytical fuss. The fact that they were physical Casascius bitcoins makes the spends even more special.
FAQ ❓
- What moved in these transactions? Two long-dormant Casascius physical bitcoins totaling 2,000 BTC were spent across two consecutive blocks.
- Why are Casascius coins significant? They are physical coins loaded with sealed private keys created by Mike Caldwell beginning in 2011.
- How old were the wallets involved? The spends came from 2011 and 2012 addresses that had not moved BTC in more than a decade.
- Does this activity signal selling pressure? The coins haven’t been sent to exchanges, suggesting no immediate plan to convert them.
