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Hotzone start time:
Sep 18, 2025, 7:10 PM
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This is an original Bitcoin scratchcard collectible, produced during the #FreeShrem campaign of 2014–2015, one of the earliest attempts to fuse the digital and physical in the history of cryptocurrency.
On its face, the card carries a denomination of 1,000 μBTC (microbitcoins), redeemable through a scratch-to-reveal private key — echoing the logic of early bearer-instrument Bitcoin artifacts. Its bold orange Bitcoin logo on white ground places it in direct lineage with Casascius coins (2011–2013) and Lealana physical Bitcoins (2013–2014), both of which pioneered the idea that cryptocurrency could be embodied in tangible form. Like those, the #FreeShrem card is simultaneously a financial tool, a design object, and now, a piece of cultural memory.
These cards were mentioned in the Wall Street Journal.
The reverse side makes this particular piece unique in the canon: it features a portrait of Charlie Shrem, one of Bitcoin’s earliest entrepreneurs and founding figures, alongside the hashtag #FreeShrem and the campaign website. Following Shrem’s 2014 arrest — the first high-profile prosecution of a Bitcoin pioneer — these cards circulated as both protest and solidarity. They were not just currency, but statements, designed to draw global attention to questions of innovation, regulation, and freedom.
This example has been hand-signed and dated 2025 by Charlie Shrem and numbered 1/10, making it among the very few authenticated survivors of the original campaign issue.
Card Details:
Provenance:
Significance: In the hierarchy of early physical Bitcoin artifacts, few items are more coveted than Casascius coins and Lealana pieces — limited-run objects that merged Bitcoin’s digital code with collectible form. The #FreeShrem scratchcards stand alongside them, but with a crucial difference: they are protest artifacts, charged not only with monetary but also political meaning.
As the first wave of Bitcoin entrepreneurs confronted governments and regulators, these cards symbolized a movement under fire. They embody Bitcoin’s rebellious ethos in a way few surviving objects can.
Only ten signed examples exist today, and this 1/10 card represents the very beginning of their public availability.
Physical Good:
No Reserve
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