The most valuable coin in the world isn’t the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle or a 1943 Lincoln Head Copper Penny.
It’s not really a recognized currency at all, in fact.
Instead, it’s a 1-ounce gold coin loaded with 1,000 Bitcoin worth more than $70 million (depending on the day).
Despite the inherently digital nature of Bitcoin, a software developer named Mike Caldwell decided he would take the burgeoning technology and make it back into a physical coin, restoring the tangible nature of currency.
He called it “Casascius,” embedding a private key into a metal coin that could be redeemed by the owner for crypto currency. He charged $50 for each coin issued, according to a 2013 Wired article.
The production of these coins began in 2011 — the same year Bitcoin first crossed $1 — and continued until 2013, when he was shut down by regulators who claimed he was running an illegal money transmitting service.
Over that span, around 27,675 physical Casascius coins were created, ranging from 0.1 to 1,0000, loaded with a total of more than 90,000 Bitcoin, according to data found using the Casascius Bitcoin Analyzer tool.
Now, they have become a rare bridge between crypto-friendly techies and classic numismatic collectors, each seeking the coins for their collections (and bank accounts).
Only six Casascius coins were loaded with 1,000 Bitcoin. Nicknamed the “Gold Cas,” two of them have been redeemed, both in 2012, while the rest remain loaded in the physical coin.
Little is known about their whereabouts, however, one anonymous owner submitted a Gold Cas to coin-grading service PCGS in 2021.
Remarkably, the coin was purchased for a mere $4,905 in December 2011. It’s believed to be the first one produced.
Then, it was forgotten in a desk draw for years. By the time it was brought for grading a decade later, accompanied by an armed guard escort, it was worth nearly $50 million.
As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is around $70,000, making the coin worth as much as $70 million. According to Great Collections president Ian Russell, the anonymous owner stored the coin in an “overseas bank vault” and says it’s unlikely to ever be redeemed.
Rare varieties of the coins have been known to sell for far more than their value in Bitcoin. Earlier this year, an unredeemed Casascius brass Bitcoin (loaded with one unredeemed Bitcoin) sold for $78,000, which was $17,000 more than the face value of embedded crypto currency.
A June 2023 auction at Stack’s Bowers sold more than $620,000 worth of physical Bitcoin and other physical cryptocurrency coins, nearly double the combined $320,000 face value noted at the time of the auction.
The highest price ever paid for a Casascius coin at public auction was $1.7 million.
As of today, around 40,000 Bitcoin remain unredeemed and loaded in the coins, worth $2.8 billion at today’s price of around $70,000. It has been reported by cryptocurrency trade publications, such as CoinTelegraph Magazine, Caldwell hardly made any significant money from the initial sale of the coins.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.