Sotheby's, the British auction house with more than 270 years of existence, will auction an exceptional and rare 101-carat diamond using cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
On July 9th the British auction house Sotheby's will hold the auction of one of the rarest and most exceptional diamonds that exist in the world and will accept cryptocurrencies, as a form of payment.
The 277-year-old auction house reported via Twitter that the diamond to be auctioned is the “The Key 10138”, classified as a type IIa diamond, weighing 101,38 carats, of high purity, with an impeccable pear-shaped design and exceptional optical transparency.
The auction will be held at its headquarters in Hong Kong, with an estimated price between 10 million and 15 million dollars.
Every day, Sotheby's is becoming more convinced of the importance and value of cryptocurrencies and digital assets in the world. This is the second time that a physical object unrelated to the crypto industry is auctioned at Sotheby's using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. The first auction was held with the physical work of art “Love Is in the Air” by anonymous artist Banksy, which sold for nearly $13 million in cryptocurrency in mid-May.
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Diamonds with bitcoins and ethers
The auction house announced that the diamond “The Key 10138” can be purchased using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) y Ethereum (ETH), the two largest digital assets in the industry by demand and capitalization. In addition to these two innovative options, collectors and investors will also be able to use traditional means such as fiat money to bid at the auction.
Sotheby's reported that this is the first time that an extremely valuable object such as the diamond “The Key 10138” has been auctioned using cryptocurrency, marking an important milestone for both history and Bitcoin and digital assets.
Auction houses and cryptocurrencies
This auction house and its rival Christie's have been competing in the world of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. Both houses have offered entire collections and individual crypto-collectibles as non-fungible tokens (NFT), which have sold for several million dollars. In this sense, Christie's is leading the way with the NFT collection created by crypto artist Beeple, “Everydays: the First 5000 Days”, sold for nearly $70 million in March.
However, Sotheby's also has significant advances in the crypto world and has beaten Christie's to the punch on several occasions. This auction house has not only entered the NFT auction, but also launched the first Smart NFT (iNFT) of the world and opened a new art gallery in the digital universe of Dencentraland, specifically, in the Voltaire art district. This gallery is a replica of his art gallery in London and features an avatar of Hans Lomulder, the London commissioner of the auction house, who is responsible for welcoming artists, collectors and spectators who visit the new headquarters.
Sotheby's believes in the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain as new technologies that are revolutionizing art. In the case of Decentraland, one of the most important blockchain-powered metaverses in the industry, Sotheby's believes that it will become “the next frontier for digital art”; a space without limits or barriers where artists, collectors and viewers can meet, show their art and interact with each other from anywhere in the world.
Continue reading: Sotheby's launches smart NFT and opens new headquarters in the virtual world of Decentraland
