Scientists have long been perplexed with the composition of the most interesting diamond in the world, as it is composed of valuable meteorite metal particles.
At a Sotheby’s auction, a 555-carat diamond with enigmatic origins thought to be billions of years old was auctioned for $4.5 million which the buyer paid in cryptocurrencies.
The diamond’s origin has bewildered geologists, who are still unsure if it came from interstellar space or formed in the earth’s mantle. The diamond is distinguished by its hazy black color and numerous apparent pores.
Brazil and the Central African Republic are the only two countries on this planet that have carbonade diamonds. Yet, the fact that it contains a variety of metals, including the titanium nitride mineral osbornite, which is typically found in meteorites, adds to the mystery of this carbonade diamond.
While the name of the anonymous buyer was not disclosed by Sotherby’s, the entrepreneur Richard Heart took to Twitter to say that he is the unnamed individual who now owns the Interstellar Enigma Diamond.
I won the world's largest cut diamond for our #HEXican cultural heritage! It'll be called the https://t.co/mLZsmWqXG0 diamond, it weighs 555.55 carats and has 55 facets. Congratulations to all you #HEXicans with #5555 club https://t.co/mLZsmWqXG0 tattoos. Let's all win together! pic.twitter.com/37mfTGbzMe
— Richard Heart (@RichardHeartWin) February 9, 2022
Per a report in The Sun, the Florida International University professor, Stephen Haggerty, an expert of earth and environment posited that so far there has not been any convincing scientific explanation to verify the object’s genesis on Earth. He explained that “there has not been a single, scientifically sound alternative to the [extraterrestrial] origin of carbonado.”
Since October of last year, Sotheby’s has become one of the first premium auction houses to accept cryptocurrency as a payment option for auctioned items. Lloyds Auctions, an Australian auction house, said in June of last year that it will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as payment options, and in September, the auctioneer sold the rally car of McRae which was paid in Bitcoin (BTC), equivalent to $360,000.
Another renowned auction house, Christie’s, kicked things off with the sale of Beeple’s NFT, which brought a stunning $69 million in Ethereum (ETH). Since then, as cryptocurrency has gained notoriety, global adoption, and is widely accepted as a seamless payment method, more auction houses have jumped on board.
