Winner Spends Crypto Assets in Sotheby’s Diamond Auction

Art and jewelry broker Sotheby’s auctioned a 101.38-carat diamond and raised over $ 10 million in crypto for the stone on July 9.

The diamond was “sold to an unnamed buyer last Friday at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for $ 12.3 million,” MarketWatch reported Monday. MarketWatch added, “It is the most expensive gem ever bought with cryptocurrency according to Sotheby’s.

News of the crypto-friendly diamond auction broke in the second half of June, with estimates predicting the diamond will hit a price somewhere in the playing field of $ 15 million. The diamond’s name, dubbed the “10138 Key,” is reportedly a tribute to crypto industry jargon. (The private key provides access to the holdings of every cryptocurrency holder.)

Anonymity and pseudonyms are not uncommon in the crypto industry. Cryptocurrency traders and social media personalities often comment on Twitter through fake profiles. Even the creators (or creators of) Bitcoin (BTC), the asset that started the entire crypto industry, is still nicknamed Satoshi Nakamoto.

It suits the crypto industry that the diamond auction attracts an anonymous buyer who pays in crypto. According to MarketWatch, the auction results do not include any digital assets that the buyer has offered for payment. Buyers have the option of placing their offers for the diamond in Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) or regional currency (Fiat).

Related: Bitcoin Price Will Break Out ‘This Week’ Says Trader With $ 38K Target

On July 9, Bitcoin price was trading between $ 32,670 and $ 34,170 based on Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin Price Index. Ethereum was trading between $ 2,070 and $ 2,180 on that day. At a price of $ 33,000 per bitcoin, the buyer would have to pay around 372 BTC for the diamond. In an ETH payment, the stone would cost around 5,857 ETH if the price of each ETH coin is $ 2,100. The actual totals are not shared, however, so the above metric is only a reasonable benchmark of potential based on the July 9th price action.