Ken Griffin buys copy of US constitution after bidding war with crypto traders

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Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Citadel, was revealed on Friday as the buyer of a rare first draw of the US constitution, beating an impromptu collective of cryptocurrency traders with a payout of $ 43.2 million .

The document was the subject of a nearly eight-minute auction Thursday at Sotheby’s in New York City, where Griffin clashed with more than 17,000 cryptocurrency traders who had banded together to try to fund a crowdfunding. .

The winning price was a record for a manuscript or book sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s. It is one of 11 known copies of the 234-year-old document and the only one owned by an individual.

“The US constitution is a sacred document that enshrines the rights of every American and all who aspire to be,” Griffin said.

Griffin said he would loan the constitution to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which was built in 2011 by Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune. The location of the free museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, is also the home of the US retailer.

“I intend to make this copy of our constitution available to all Americans and visitors to view and enjoy in our museums and other public spaces,” he said.

Griffin paid more than double the presale estimate of $ 15-20 million for the constitution, beating out a group called “ConstitutionDAO,” the cryptocurrency collective that organized online to bid for the document. The campaign, launched on November 11, garnered a median cryptocurrency donation of $ 206 from members, according to a post after the loss.

“We have incorporated this into reality. We have made history, ”the collective wrote on Twitter after the auction.

Chicago-based Citadel is one of the largest hedge funds in the world with approximately $ 34 billion in assets under management. Griffin also founded the largest equity market maker in the United States, known as Citadel Securities.

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Citadel Securities’ central role in the U.S. stock markets put it in the spotlight during the frenetic trading of GameStop shares earlier this year. Griffin was called to testify before Congress on the upheaval.

Griffin, whose personal fortune on Forbes is estimated at around $ 21 billion, has become an avid collector of leading art. He had already bought a Jean-Michel Basquiat for $ 100 million last year and spent a record $ 300 million on a Willem de Kooning in 2015.

He is also outspoken in US politics and a major donor to Republican candidates.

During a panel earlier this month, Griffin announced his intention to do everything possible to support a candidate who could defeat the current Democratic governor of his home state of Illinois, fellow billionaire JB Pritzker. , in 2022.

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