An exceedingly rare and flawless 101.38-carat diamond just sold at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction for a whopping $12.3 million, and the lucky winner paid in cryptocurrency.
In an unprecedented move, the auction house announced last month that it would accept bids in typical forms of payment for the rare gemstone, as well as in Bitcoin and Etherum. Sotheby’s did not disclose what crypto the unidentified bidder used to purchase the stone, only that no other item with this type of worth has been “offered for purchase with cryptocurrency.” They called the sale a “milestone.”
Sotheby’s says the diamond, called “The Key 10138,” is the second-largest pear-shaped diamond ever to hit the market. Fewer than 10 diamonds exceeding the 100-carat mark have ever been offered for sale. The flawless gem has a “D color” classification, which is the highest grade a white diamond can be given along with the highest grade of clarity.
According to the auction house, the name comes from the fact that “Historically keys, like diamonds, have been a symbol of power and of the freedom that comes with it. Now, keys of a digital kind are critical to the functioning of cryptocurrency.”
