As bitcoiners celebrate the 10th anniversary of Satoshi’s invention, veteran enthusiasts will be aware that a lot has changed since the early days. One business that was once incredibly popular is the art of manufacturing loaded physical bitcoins. Government regulations have forced operations to cease, causing the physical bitcoin minting business to virtually grind to a halt.
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Manufacturing Loaded Physical Bitcoins Is a Lost Art
Not long after Bitcoin was launched, people managed to create paper wallets and soon the concept of physical bitcoins was born. After that, individuals took the idea to another level and minted metal bitcoins were created. Casascius coins quickly became a collector’s item with these shiny keepsakes loaded with digital currency. However, after Mike Caldwell, the creator of Casascius coins, started selling his physical bitcoins loaded with whole units or fractions of BTC, he was shut down by the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The U.S. regulator considered minting Casascius coins illegal money transmission and Caldwell had to stop selling loaded coins. Since then a number of other manufacturers have attempted to sell loaded bitcoins to investors who may find numismatic value in these physical collections.
From 2013-2016, physical bitcoins were extremely popular and demand for these coins has remained robust among collectors. Some rare Casascius coins have sold for more than 4-10X their loaded value. In the early days there were so many physical bitcoins that cryptocurrency proponent Elias Ahonen managed to author an entire encyclopedia of physical bitcoins.
