'Buy Bitcoin' Sign Sold for Over $1M at Auction
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/AWSJI2QZCZABZCUHNXUNZBJHEI.png)
Christian Langlais (left, wearing seersucker) in July 2017. (C-Span)
The iconic 'Buy Bitcoin' sign held behind Janet Yellen during her televised Congressional testimony in July 2017 has been auctioned off for 16 BTC, or just over $1 million.
Scarce.City, the auction house that facilitated the deal, said it was a record amount for the auction platform.
The auction itself was held at PubKey, a Bitcoin-themed bar in New York City.
The sign’s new owner is someone who goes by the handle of Squirrekkywrath, according to a tweet from PubKey.
Not much is known about its new owner. The head of research at Galaxy, Alex Thorn, said he’s a “bitcoin OG that no one has ever heard of.”
In a prior interview with CoinDesk, Christian Langalis, who held up the sign, said the proceeds would go to fund his startup, Tirrel Corp, which is developing a Bitcoin Lightning network wallet on Urbit.
After holding up the sign during a 2017 House Financial Services hearing, Langalis was escorted out of the building for violating committee rules – all the while, the image was going viral on the web.
Edited by Parikshit Mishra.
