Key Points
- A “Buy Bitcoin” sign from Janet Yellen’s 2017 speech was sold for around $1 million in Bitcoin.
- The sign was auctioned off to a pseudonymous bidder, “Squirrekkywrath”, at a New York bar.
The notorious “Buy Bitcoin” sign, displayed during a 2017 speech by the then United States Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen, has been sold. The transaction was made for 16 Bitcoin (BTC), approximately valued at $1.027 million.
The Auction Event
The sign was auctioned off at the Pubkey Bar in New York. The winning bid was placed by a pseudonymous individual known as “Squirrekkywrath”. The event was held over a week-long period and concluded on Wednesday.
The original “Bitcoin Sign Guy”, Christian Langalis, also attended the event. Langalis, who was known for holding up the sign during Yellen’s speech, was the one who posted the auction on the Scarce City platform. The auctioned item also included Langalis’ notes and mock drawings from that day.
Significance of the Sign
The sign is seen as a significant symbol in the Bitcoin community. The website description for the auction stated, “Hastily drawn on a yellow legal pad, this iconic drawing marked Bitcoin’s intrusion into the global monetary landscape.” It is considered one of the few widely recognized physical Bitcoin artifacts due to the digital nature of Bitcoin.
In July 2017, Langalis, then a 22-year-old intern at the Cato Institute, was seen holding up the “Buy Bitcoin” sign behind Yellen during a televised House Financial Services Committee hearing. He was removed from the hearing room after displaying the sign. However, the price of Bitcoin rose 3.7% at the time of the broadcast.
Since then, the value of Bitcoin has increased significantly. From around $2,700 in July 2017, it reached a peak of over $73,000 last month. This surge was largely driven by the decision from U.S. regulators to allow the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.