Sotheby’s has now set a world record for the most expensive jewelry sold in cryptocurrency last Friday. The global auction house announced its intention to auction this 101.38 carat rare diamond earlier this year. Sotheby’s announced that the auction will use cryptocurrency as the purchase currency. It means that interested parties can bid in Bitcoin or Ether.

Since the cryptocurrency world anticipated this unprecedented event in the history of cryptocurrency, the announcement has attracted widespread attention. The event was held in Hong Kong on Friday, and the auction was a single auction. Before the auction, Sotheby’s estimated that the price of the diamond was between US$10 and US$15 million, and it seemed that they were right.

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This pear-shaped diamond was the second diamond allowed to be opened to the public, and it was eventually sold for $12.3 million. It’s right in the middle of the price estimate given by Sotheby’s.

Draw a new course with encryption

As we all know, Sotheby’s used to accept encrypted payments for artworks. In early May, the 300-year-old auction house sold a Banksy artwork for $12.9 million. This global auction house is also involved in NFT sales. But never did such a thing before.

Sotheby’s has never accepted a traditionally sold cryptocurrency like this, which is why it is so interesting. With the price tag on the diamond, Sotheby’s effectively set a new world record.

According to the vice chairman of Sotheby’s Asia Jewelry Department, Sotheby’s wants to hint at the key function of digital keys in the NFT and encryption world.

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Although the auction house announced earlier that it would accept bids for bitcoin or ether, it did not disclose the currency in which the diamonds were ultimately purchased.

Payments for 101.38 carat diamonds will be processed by Coinbase Commerce. A service provided by Coinbase to merchants that enables them to accept payments for goods and services in an encrypted manner.

The auction shows that Sotheby’s has now added cryptocurrency as a supported payment system.

A new generation of collectors

Sotheby’s acceptance of cryptocurrency indicates that the company aims to attract a new generation of collectors. More and more millennials prefer cryptocurrency rather than traditional payment methods.

By opening the door to cryptocurrencies, Sotheby’s effectively uses this to open up the emerging collector market. Young people who want to be able to buy and sell things with cryptocurrency. Therefore, they hope to be able to buy collector’s items.

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The marketing method of a diamond auction is to explain that it will be the most valuable item or jewelry ever purchased with cryptocurrency.

Although Sotheby’s offers cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment methods for bidding, it also retains other traditional diamond payment methods. Sotheby’s goal is not to open the door to cryptocurrency by completely shutting out collectors who prefer traditional payment methods. On the contrary, its purpose is to open the door to more collectors, and it seems that it does just that.

According to Sotheby’s, only 10 diamonds larger than 100 carats were offered to the public at the auction. And only one diamond larger than 100 carats has ever been offered to be purchased with cryptocurrency.

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The pear-shaped diamond named “The Key 10138” was finally sold for 95.1 million Hong Kong dollars, and the gem was sold to an anonymous private collector.

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