Sotheby’s will allow people to trade their crypto for an ‘intrinsically worthless’ rock
A diamond can be bought using cryptocurrency as its payment, according to auction house Sotheby’s.
“The Key 10138 is the first important diamond in the world to be auctioned with cryptocurrency as an accepted method of payment. It was named to symbolize the unlocking of a new era in commerce and technology, and thus is a key to history,” he explained of Sotheby’s in their digital catalog in conjunction with the diamond name.
According to a Monday Reuters report, Sotheby’s will offer a 101.38-carat pear-shaped diamond for bids in crypto and fiat starting on July 9. Buyers are expected to bid up $118 million HKD — roughly $15 million — for the stone. This amounts to more than 454 Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of publication at a price of $32,974. Sotheby’s has also accepted Ether (ETH) in previous auctions.
Nicky Oppenheimer, the former chairperson of the De Beers diamond corporation, once said “diamonds are intrinsically worthless.” The company largely maintained a monopoly on mining the stones for some time and seemingly restricted the world’s supply, driving up the price. Diamonds are apparently neither “rare” nor “forever” — they can actually delay over time, often faster than other stones. This brings new meaning to the “diamond hands” emoji popular among many crypto users, symbolizing someone HODLing an asset.
