‘Buy Bitcoin’ sign held at Janet Yellen’s 2017 speech sells for $1 million

A piece of notebook paper emblazoned with the phrase “Buy Bitcoin”, which was famously seen in the background during a broadcast with then US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in 2017, has sold for 16 BTC , equivalent to approximately $1.027 million.

The auction, held at PubKey, a Bitcoin-themed bar in New York City, was organized and facilitated by auction house Scarce.City.

Iconic “Buy Bitcoin” sign sold at auction

The highest bidder, known by the pseudonym “Squirrekkywrath”, acquired the sign in a week-long auction. The auction was organized by Christian Langalis, also known as the “Bitcoin Sign Guy”, who posted it on the Scarce.City auction platform and attended the event himself.

Scarce.City noted that the transaction set a record amount for the platform. After deducting Scarce City’s 15% fee, Langalis is expected to receive approximately $875,000, equivalent to 13.6 BTC.

And that’s a wrap on one of the most ICONIC pieces in Bitcoin history. 🏆🍾

We made some history…meet the new official record https://t.co/rNz9DWL5WE. 🏅 pic.twitter.com/3ixQmEHbd0

— Scarce.City (@scarcedotcity) April 24, 2024

The iconic “Buy Bitcoin” sign on a yellow legal pad symbolized Bitcoin’s arrival on the global financial landscape. This physical artifact is one of the few widely recognized symbols of Bitcoin, given its primarily digital nature. The auctioned notebook also includes Langalis’ original notes and sketches of the sign from that historic day.

At the time of the famous incident, Langalis was a 22-year-old intern at the Cato Institute. Funds raised from the auction will support Langalis’ new company, Tirrel Corp, which is focused on building a Bitcoin Lightning network wallet on Urbit.

“Buy Bitcoin” sign replicas sell for 0.8 BTC each

In 2019, Langalis created and sold 21 replicas of the iconic “Buy Bitcoin” sign, which fetched an average price of 0.8 BTC each. Today, that would be valued at roughly $51,300 a piece.

According to the listing, these replicas are proudly displayed in the offices of venture firms such as Paradigm, Blockchain Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and the think-tank Crypto Coin Center.

After Langalis held up the sign during a 2017 House Financial Services hearing, he was escorted out of the building for violating committee rules. However, the image of the sign quickly spread across the Internet. After the event, the price of bitcoin rose by 3.7% at the time of issue.

Since then, bitcoin’s value has soared, rising from about $2,700 in July 2017 to a high of more than $73,000 last month. This increase has been due in part to major regulatory decisions in the United States, including the possible launch of Bitcoin cash exchange-traded funds earlier this year.

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