A July 1 listing on eBay showed that physical bitcoin copies are worth $99,000, Coin Telegraph reported. The item being sold was said to have been a "collector must have," and is a Casascius brass token that was created in 2011. The physical coin also has a value of 1 bitcoin behind it, which had not yet been redeemed, and the sealing remains intact, making it a mint-condition item.
The payment for the item can be in crypto or cash. The seller also made it clear that trading it for real estate is also a possibility; however, he did not go all out in craziness. He would ignore any offers of "cars and boats" according to the listing. The item, according to the seller, was bought back in 2012 and have since been kept in the seller's collection.
The seller added that the item as authentic, labeling it such that "only a few hundred remains in the ENTIRE world." Casascius bitcoins have been in existence since 2012, when their creation was invested into by a crypto enthusiast. They were created with an equivalent value in cryptocurrency. Since then, however, they had gone from the market.
Physical bitcoin is, however, getting a big boost towards their creation. LedgerX has reportedly placed registration for physical bitcoin futures contracts, along with ErisX, according to Brave New Coin. Both outlets have since been given the green light, beating competitors such as VanEck and Bakkt to the punch in offering physical derivatives.
Prior to the transaction, VanEck and Bakkt have been in the thick of the race to produce the first physically-offered bitcoin investment products. Since then, however, LedgerX and Eris X have gained contract market licenses. These came from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), who officially gave them permission to offer bitcoin futures contracts.
Bakkt COO Adam White and his company might have been left out of the race but he remained positive. He issued a statement at a conference earlier this year, saying that the "future of retail flow will not come from active daytraders." The world of bitcoin has already made sure of that, with crypto beginning to settle into a sort of secured position in that world.
Physical bitcoin may become a thing, but not in the way everyone expected. The possibility is still high for bitcoin to remain a big thing when it is trading online. In the physical world, it will only compete with the already crowded fiat currency sector.
