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World-renowned auction house Sothebys has announced its latest sale to integrate cryptocurrency. Bids for a 101.38 carat diamond named The Key 10138 will be accepted in cryptocurrency.
The auction at Sotherbys will be for an extremely rare pear-shaped diamond that could sell for close to $ 20 million. Key 10138 is a 101.38 carat pear cut with impeccable quality from GIA and is one of ten diamonds north of 100 carats ever to be auctioned.
According to Sothebys, it is one of the few faceted diamonds that weigh more than 100 carats in recorded history. Rarer still is to find one with perfect color and clarity like The Key 10138. The Cullinan 1 diamond, a 530 carat monster that is one of the British Crown Jewels, is the best known example.
Offers will be accepted in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and traditional currency. The auction listing indicates that Sothebys would be the first auction house to offer such a valuable gem with the ability to pay in cryptocurrency. Key 10138 is the world’s first major diamond to be auctioned with cryptocurrency as the accepted payment method. It was named to symbolize the unlocking of a new era in commerce and technology, and therefore is a key to history.
Sothebys continues to bring high-end auctions and crypto closer together
While the sale of The Key 10138 is a monumental moment for any fan of gemstones, it is a far cry from Sothebys’ first foray into blockchain auctions. After selling their first NFT in April to anonymous digital artist Pak, they held a similar auction for Banksy in May. Those sales grossed $ 16.8 million and $ 12.9 million respectively and helped fuel the 2021 NFT craze.
Following the success of these two auctions, Sothebys recently sold a rare CryptoPunk NFT for $ 11.7 million. Besides The Key 10138 which will go live on July 9, Sothebys is holding another notable crypto-related auction on June 23 for the original World Wide Web source code as NFT.
The winning bidder will also win a digital poster containing each of the 9,555 lines of code as well as a handwritten letter from the inventor, Tim Berners-Lee.
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