Bitcoin Investor “JohnGalt” Cashes Out $10M from 13-Year-Old Casascius Physical Bitcoin Gold Bar

Bitcoin investor and early adopter known as “JohnGalt” recently liquidated a Casascius physical Bitcoin gold bar he had held since 2012, according to Coindesk. The gold bar contained 100 Bitcoin private keys, which translated into approximately $10 million in profits amid Bitcoin’s surge to new all-time highs. Originally purchased for just $500 when Bitcoin was valued around $5 per coin, this asset exemplifies the significant appreciation of digital currencies over the past decade.

JohnGalt revealed that attempts to sell or auction the gold bar over the years were hindered by valuation disagreements and trust concerns, preventing a smooth transaction. However, with Bitcoin surpassing the $100,000 mark, he deemed holding a physical asset of such high value increasingly risky, prompting the decision to extract the private keys and secure the digital assets.

Interestingly, due to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) sharing the same private key structure, an alert community member swiftly accessed BCH worth approximately $40,000 from a publicly shared photo of the private key, accomplishing this in under 10 minutes. This incident highlights the critical importance of safeguarding private keys in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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