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This is Issue No. 1 of Bitcoin Magazine, published in May 2012, the inaugural issue of the longest-running and most influential print publication in cryptocurrency.

The cover, now iconic, features a protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask with the headline: “Bitcoin Under the Worst Possible Conditions.” Inside, it carried early essays and commentary from the movement’s pioneers, capturing Bitcoin in its raw and uncertain beginnings. This first issue has become one of the most sought-after relics of Bitcoin’s print history.

This advertisement was placed personally by Charlie Shrem in 2012 at a cost of 200 BTC, then worth only a few hundred dollars but now representing a monumental sum — making it one of the most expensive Bitcoin ads ever purchased, in retrospect.

The present copy has been signed, dated 2025, and numbered 1/3 by Charlie Shrem, confirming its authenticity and personal provenance.

The reverse, however, carries something even more significant: the first full-page BitInstant advertisement, proclaiming: “Buy Bitcoin in one hour with cash at 10,000 locations.” BitInstant, co-founded by Charlie Shrem in 2011, became one of the first and most important Bitcoin on-ramps in the world, responsible for nearly 30% of all Bitcoin transactions at its peak.

Details:

Publication: Bitcoin Magazine Issue No. 1 (May 2012)
Front cover: “Bitcoin Under the Worst Possible Conditions”
Back cover: Full-page BitInstant advertisement
Signed: Charlie Shrem, 2025, numbered 1/3
Condition: Preserved in protective sleeve
Provenance: From the personal collection of Charlie Shrem

Significance: Bitcoin Magazine Issue No. 1 represents the first institutionalization of Bitcoin into media, a moment when the movement gained its own publication of record. With the BitInstant advertisement on the back cover — placed at the cost of 200 BTC — this copy carries extraordinary historical weight, merging two of Bitcoin’s earliest institutions into a single artifact.

Very few surviving copies exist, and virtually none with this dual provenance: as both a foundational publication and a direct link to Charlie Shrem’s role in funding, promoting, and building Bitcoin’s first financial rails.