First, it was Digital Art, and now its gemstones! A stellar piece of 101.38-carat diamond was auctioned at Art and jewelry brokerage Sotheby for more than $10 million in crypto on July 9th, 2021. This marked the highest sale price of a gem paid in crypto.
According to MarketWatch, the diamond "sold for $12.3 million to an anonymous buyer last Friday at Sotheby's Hong Kong," it was added that "It's the most expensive gem ever purchased with cryptocurrency, according to Sotheby's,"
The auction for the crypto-friendly diamond was announced late in June, with estimations predicting that the diamond would sell for around $15 million. The diamond's moniker, The Key 10138, refers to the crypto industry's private keys, which provide access to each crypto owner's holdings. The Key 10138 is a rather befitting name for such a diamond. According to MarketWatch, the auction results did not reveal which digital asset the buyer used as payment. Buyers get the option of placing their diamond offers in Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), or regional currencies (fiat).
Anonymity and pseudonymity have become a hot-button issue when it comes to cryptocurrency. More of the buyers want to remain anonymous and stay under the radar. Crypto traders and social media influencers frequently use pseudonymous Twitter accounts to make comments. Even Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator (or creators) of Bitcoin (BTC), the commodity that launched the entire crypto-economy, remained anonymous. Due to anonymity, the actual total of which cryptocurrency was used was not shared.