This Bitcoin Drama Will Break Your Faith (Or Your Wallet): 200 BTC Bars Finally Peeled!

by

Ah, April—a month haunted by caprice and financial tremors! Into the catacombs of this cruel spring, a spectral figure awakens, disturbing two ancient sarcophagi: behold, 200 BTC are dragged from their Casascius tombs into the harsh modern glare, their first stirrings since the wintry year of 2012. You will laugh, you will groan, you may even curse your existence… for indeed, these were not mere coins, but bars containing 100 BTC each—a sum Dostoevsky wouldn’t trust his own double with! 😳

Historic Bitcoin Peel: Two Rare Casascius Bars Cashed In as BTC Dipped Below $80K

Some poor soul—perhaps a gambler, perhaps a philosopher entering the fourth stage of basement existentialism—has taken it upon himself to violate not one but two Casascius bitcoin bars, disemboweling 100 BTC from each, approximately $19.2 million total, which probably sounds like a joke to anyone already in finance. These bars, the bastard offspring of Mike Caldwell (a man who must be haunted by the ghosts of spent wallets), were part of an elite class: bars minted in denominations so high they could only be appreciated by those who know the taste of bitter poverty… or sublime boredom. Series 1 (S1) alone once boasted 57 such bars: a mere seven remain unmolested—clearly, humans prefer peeling things even more than bananas.

The 200 BTC from 2012 spent was also caught by blockchain parser platforms like btcparser.com. You know, for when our secrets need to be public and our wallets empty. 🕵️‍♂️

This double desecration hails from Caldwell’s Series 2 (S2) masterpieces, of which 81 were created—now only 30 remain, tracked obsessively by casasciustracker.com (a website that’s equal parts Indiana Jones and Schopenhauer in spirit).

Around thirty 100 BTC bars have not been spent. It’s almost enough to give one hope. Almost. 🙃

Prior to this melodrama, the last sacrificial offering of a 100-BTC bar occurred in October 2024, another S2, while before that the ritual had lain dormant since October 2021. Such peels are the financial equivalent of Russian roulette: infrequent, devastating, and always a little bit philosophical. The vast majority remain unsullied, as if the threat of peeling might awaken one’s own idle demons.

For those with an appetite for myth, the legendary 1,000-BTC bars remain shrouded in near-total abstinence: only 16 exist, and two persevere, untouched by mortal greed or tax authorities. The last time such a beast was opened, the year was 2014, and the world was perhaps less weary. Across this grand Casascius experiment, 27,929 coins and bars sprang into existence; 18,042 still refuse to capitulate, though roughly 20 lost their holograms in April alone—proof that when temptation calls, even security stickers tremble.

Consider: those 27,929 wonders collectively contained nearly 91,263 BTC. Of these, 52,569 have finally been emancipated, but 38,694 BTC remain in silent captivity—that’s $3.64 billion in today’s hollowed-out currency. Ironically, the latest peel—April 8, for the chronically superstitious—occurred as bitcoin (BTC) wallowed at $76,000, only to rise the following day. Clearly, markets too enjoy a little Dostoevskian irony after midnight. 😏

Read More

2025-05-01 16:33