Bloomberg
June 12, 2021
The pear-shaped diamond was sold to an unidentified private collector on Friday, Sotheby’s said in a statement.
Prior to the sale, the international auction house said it would take Bitcoin or Ether as payment for the diamond, which fetched less than the estimate of as much as $15 million in the single-lot offering in Hong Kong. The auction was livestreamed and attracted no more than a dozen bids.
Earlier in the week, Sotheby’s said it was the most expensive physical object ever publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency.
Auction houses are increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies for payment, with Phillips offering a piece from street artist Banksy last month for Ether or Bitcoin. Christie’s accepted payment in Ether in March for the record $69.3 million sale of Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5,000 Days.”
Copyright © Bloomberg 2021
Image: PxHere
