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Physical Bitcoin may seem like a curious concept to those new to the cryptocurrency world. After all, Bitcoin is a digital asset, right? However, in 2011, Mike Caldwell introduced the idea of physical bitcoins, essentially physical representations of the digital currency. Before this, Bitcoin was strictly a digital currency since its inception in 2009. Caldwell is an early Bitcoin (BTC)  believer who jumped on the train before it became a frantic rush in subsequent years. There are threads of him on the BitcoinTalk forum where he used the pseudonym Casascius. Understanding physical bitcoins On September 6, 2011, Casascius posted a thread on BitcoinTalk where he addressed the reasons why he came up with the idea of real bitcoins. His major selling point was to improve the chances of Bitcoin becoming a successful currency. Caldwell explained how he wished someone would come up with a better invention of Physical Bitcoin in the future and how this invention is not lifelong work for him. His wish later came true because today, we have other physical forms of Bitcoin. Caldwell’s physical Bitcoin looked just like traditional coins. Back in 2011, the cost of sending one Bitcoin was worth 1 Bitcoin. This was because after calculating the cost of production, it was worth 1.25 BTC. Therefore, with the postage cost, he set the total expense to be worth 1btc at the time. The make-up of Physical Bitcoin BTC address were embedded on each coin. Back then, someone with the username ‘The Joint‘ on the Bitcoin forum expressed his thoughts about the innovation, saying: “These look awesome, but why would you buy this given the current state of the Bitcoin market/economy? This might be nice as an investment if there was a good indicator that your investment would give you any kind of return.”  When…

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Filed under: News - @ March 5, 2025 1:25 am