PHYSICAL CRYPTO AT BITCOIN 2025 CONFERENCE

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 23, 2025, Article 25

Stack's Bowers Director of Consignments and Numismatics James McCartney displayed some physical cryptocurrency at the recent Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas. -Editor

Remember when Bitcoin was only $30? In the early 2010s, people struggled to understand the concept of digital money. To make it more tangible, physical tokens were created, coins with actual Bitcoin embedded inside. Each token carried a public address and could be redeemed like any digital wallet. What began as a way to explain Bitcoin has become something much more.

At the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas, we showcased highlights from our upcoming June Showcase Auction. Most attendees had never seen a physical Bitcoin token in person and many didn't know they existed.

Our next Physical Cryptocurrency Session runs this June and features loaded and unloaded cryptocurrency. Here are just a few of the pieces crossing the auction block:

Lot 3002: 2013 Casascius 1 Bitcoin. Loaded. Firstbits 13G3km4s. Series 2. Brass. MS-62 (PCGS).

Lot 3006: 2017 BTCC "Poker Chip" 0.005 Bitcoin. Loaded. Firstbits 1DWKaBNciU. Serial No. E01624. Series C. Clay Composite. MS-70 (PCGS).

Lot 3029: 2020 Polymerbit 0.001 Bitcoin Banknote. Loaded. Crypto Valley Edition. Serial No. A000049. Series 2A-U (ND). Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 PPQ (PCGS).

Lot 3036: 2020 Ballet 12.5 Litecoin Card. Loaded. Firstbits LQgcZb5. Serial No. AA063020. 50g of .999 Fine Silver. Genuine (PCGS).

It's now 2025, and Bitcoin has reached over $100,000. Those early tokens from the 2010s are now considered rare and highly collectible. If you were early to Bitcoin, you saw something before the world caught on. And even now, this story is just beginning. Imagine holding one of these physical tokens thirty years from now! Register to bid and own a piece of Bitcoin's early history.

Earlier this week I remarked to an E-Sylum reader that "I sure wish I'd collected physical bitcoins back in the day." We agreed that hindsight is 20/20. The reader's story is amazing. -Editor

"I'm a cypherpunk and was mining them on unused server time and spare computers when they were just tokens for nerds. I remember being excited that Mt. Gox opened and they were trading for US$0.04.

"A year later I spent 8 BTC on a pizza just to prove you could do it. I gave away lots of them and eventually sold most to "rebalance my portfolio".

"Back when they were a dime, a friend told me I should just buy a bunch since they were so cheap. "Why would I do that when I can mine them for free?" was my response."