Is bitcoin a physical coin?

No, bitcoin is not a physical coin. It is digital money that exists only as entries on the bitcoin blockchain, a public ledger kept by computers around the world. A small number of physical bitcoins do exist, but they work by holding a hidden private key, not by being bitcoin themselves.

What does bitcoin look like?

In practice, bitcoin looks like a number in a wallet app. The bitcoin.org FAQ describes it as just as virtual as credit cards and online banking. There is no file or object that is the coin itself. Instead, the blockchain records which addresses hold which amounts.

What you actually control is a private key, a secret number that lets you spend from an address. A wallet does not store coins. It stores the keys, as the FAQ explains. Amounts are often shown in bitcoin or in satoshis, its smallest unit.

Are physical bitcoins real?

Some are. The best-known are Casascius coins, made by Mike Caldwell of Sandy, Utah, starting in September 2011, according to the Bitcoin Wiki. Each one contains a paper slip printed with a private key, sealed under a tamper-evident hologram. Peeling the hologram reveals a honeycomb pattern, so any attempt to reach the key shows.

The coin is backed by whatever bitcoin was sent to the matching address. Once someone peels the hologram and moves those funds, the bitcoin is gone and the coin becomes an empty shell. CoinDesk reports that Casascius coins came in denominations from 0.5 to 1,000 BTC, and that fewer than 20 of the 1,000 BTC coins were made.

Caldwell stopped selling funded coins on November 27, 2013. The Bitcoin Wiki says the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had told him that minting them made him a money transmitter, which needed registration. FinCEN's March 2013 guidance had said businesses that exchange virtual currency count as money transmitters.

Are Casascius coins still being redeemed?

Yes, occasionally. On June 3, 2026, CoinDesk reported that a 25 BTC Casascius coin from the 2011 to 2013 mint had been peeled and its funds moved to a new wallet in block 952,159. The article said thousands of Casascius coins across all sizes were still unredeemed, citing trackers.

Can you hold bitcoin in your hand?

Not the bitcoin itself, but you can hold the key that controls it. A Casascius coin does that, and so does a paper backup or a hardware wallet, a device that keeps keys offline.

The risk is the same in every case. Whoever reads the key can take the bitcoin, and anyone selling a physical bitcoin could have copied the key before sealing it. The Bitcoin Wiki notes that Casascius coins were designed so the key is difficult or impossible to read without visibly damaging the hologram. For wider warning signs when buying anything sold as bitcoin, see common crypto scams.