Diamond auctioned for $12 million worth of crypto at Sotheby’s

12 July 2021

in Bitcoin

Reading Time: 2 mins read

Sotheby, a leading auction house, has announced that it has sold a diamond worth $12 million, and its buyer paid in an unspecified cryptocurrency. According to the firm, the diamond is the second-largest pear-shaped diamond, tagged Key 101.38, to be sold in public.

Kyrgyzstan Pushes Bitcoin Reserve With State Mining Plan

10 September 2025

Is The Bitcoin Bull Market Over? Pundit Warns Investors Of 30-Day Window To Take Profit

10 September 2025

“Key 101.38”

While the auction house has declined to release information about the buyer, available information has shown that the buyer paid with an undisclosed crypto asset. Earlier in the year, Sotheby had made the news with its revelation that it was going to start accepting payments in crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

[crypto-donation-box]

Per Sotheby’s announcement, the diamond upon its chemical analysis was discovered to be a Type IIa diamond —a rare type that is often classified to be the most chemically pure type of diamond. It was also delivered with a “certificate of authenticity” and a monograph.

“Accompanied by a GIA report no. 6193169635, stating that the diamond is D Colour, Flawless; also accompanied by a diamond type classification letter stating that the diamond is determined to be a Type IIa diamond,” reads the diamond’s catalog.

“Type IIa diamonds are the most chemically pure type of diamond and often have exceptional optical transparency. The GIA report is further accompanied by a monograph.”

The now-auctioned-off diamond holds the distinguished record of being the most expensive physical object that has ever been sold with crypto. However, the record of the most expensive product ever paid for with cryptocurrency belongs to Beeple whose digital artwork, minted into an NFT, “The First 5000 Days” was sold for $69 million. This sale made Beeple one of the top 3 most expensive living artists.

Crypto is finding use cases in art

While many would think crypto use cases would be limited to the financial sector alone, many in the art industry have left them in their wake as they are now finding a use for crypto within the space too.

With the advent of non-fungible tokens and the acceptance of crypto payments by various artists and auction houses, the space is rapidly enjoying the benefits that come with the crypto space.