According to Bloomberg, a yellow legal pad with 'Buy Bitcoin' scribbled on it, which was flashed by an intern during a 2017 Congressional testimony, has been auctioned for $1.027 million. The sign, which was displayed during then-Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony, became a symbol for the burgeoning community of cryptocurrency developers and investors. Since that time, Bitcoin's value has skyrocketed from approximately $2,300 to a record-breaking nearly $74,000 in March. This surge has been fueled by financial giants like Fidelity and BlackRock endorsing the digital asset, and retail investors returning to the crypto market after years of instability and fluctuating prices.
The sign was auctioned off by Christian Langalis, a former intern at the Libertarian think tank Cato Institute. Langalis was seated behind Yellen during her appearance before the House Financial Service Committee in July 2017 and quickly wrote the message on the pad. After the sign was seen on television, Langalis was promptly escorted out. The auction site, Scare City, described the item as an 'Ink Drawing on Legal Pad' that weighs half a pound and includes Langalis's notes from the hearing. The page with the sign was removed from the notepad shortly after the hearing and has since been reattached with clear archival wire.
The winning bid of 16 Bitcoin was made by an anonymous buyer. There was a brief confusion during the final minutes of the bidding when an error made it seem like $6.4 million was bid. However, this was soon recognized as a mistake, and the price was corrected. Langalis intends to use the proceeds from the auction to fund a Bitcoin software project.
