Bitcoin Bar Turns $500 Investment into $10 Million Fortune, $40,000 Stolen in Hack

JohnGalt, a user on the BitcoinTalk forum, recently turned a $500 investment into a $10 million fortune by unlocking a 2012 Casascius Bitcoin bar containing 100 BTC. The bar was purchased in 2012 when the price of Bitcoin was around $5, making the initial investment approximately $500. JohnGalt held onto the bar for over a decade, resisting the temptation to sell it despite several attempts to auction it off. The rarity and uniqueness of the physical Bitcoin bar made it difficult to find buyers willing to pay millions for it when they could simply purchase Bitcoin directly.

In the present day, with Bitcoin's price surging to around $118,000, JohnGalt's 100 BTC became worth approximately $10 million. Feeling that holding onto such a valuable asset was too risky, he decided to crack open the bar and transfer the coins to his wallet. This action converted the collector's item back into pure Bitcoin, instantly valued at around $10 million.

However, the story took an unexpected turn when someone noticed a partially exposed private key in a photo JohnGalt posted online. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash share the same private key system, allowing the individual to drain about $40,000 worth of Bitcoin Cash within nine minutes before JohnGalt could secure his assets. This incident highlights the importance of maintaining the security and privacy of cryptocurrency keys, even for those who have held onto their investments for many years.