Christian Langalis—the man who wrote “Buy Bitcoin” on a yellow notepad and flashed it on live television—sold the sign at an online auction over seven years after he first made the statement.
When Langalis attended a 2017 congressional hearing featuring Janet Yellen, the chair of the US Federal Reserve, she was a 22-year-old intern. However, following the incident that saw him taken off the property right away, he quickly gained notoriety, particularly among a community of cryptocurrency engineers and investors.
The sign was sold for approximately $1.027 million, or 16 Bitcoin, to the highest bidder, according to Scarce City, a platform for Bitcoin auctions.
Following a week-long auction, “Justin,” also known as “Squirrekkywrath,” was declared the winner and took home the prize. Only a few minutes after 11:00 p.m., the auction was over. UTC on April 24.
In the meanwhile, Scarce City will receive 15% of the sale as payment. This implies that Langalis will take home about 13.6 BTC, or roughly $874,000.
Langalis has a history of making money off of the yellow pad sign. At least 21 copies of such sign were made by him in 2019 and sold for an average of 0.8 BTC. Each of those reproductions is now valued at $51,420 based on current values.
He sold at the time to venture capital firms Castle Island Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and Paradigm. Coin Center, a crypto think tank, was among the purchasers.
The Iconic Bitcoin Purchase Sign
The item is described as a half-pound “Ink Drawing on Legal Pad” in the listing details. Langalis’s notes from the hearing on that fatal day are also included in the legal pad. It said in the description:
Not long after the hearing, the paper containing the sign drawing was taken out of the notepad. Since then, clear archival wire has been used to repair it.
But Langalis intends to use the money from this new sale to finance Tirrel Corp., his business. The project is purportedly focusing on the implementation and development of a Bitcoin Lightning network wallet.
From about $2,300 in 2017 to a record high of about $74,000 in March 2024, the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed. At that point, institutional investors started to support digital assets, including Fidelity and BlackRock.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae
