By
Andy Watson
February 8th, 2024
Before the sale, it took experts from different corners of the world three years to transform the jewel into a 55-face gem.
The world’s largest diamond has a new owner. Widely regarded as “The Enigma,” the over two billion-year-old black diamond, which weighs 555.55-carat gem, was sold at around £3.16m ($4.3m) in an online sale held by famed London auction house Sotheby’s.
Speaking after the sale, the lead Auctioneer, Sotheby’s, explained that the buyer, who he did not state, decided to pay for the purchase of the very rare gem through cryptocurrency.
However, it did not take long to figure out who this buyer was. Following the completion of the sale, foremost cryptocurrency entrepreneur, Richard Heart, announced on his official social media account that he was the buyer of The Enigma.
He explained that once he takes full possession of the diamond, it would be renamed HEX.com diamond. This new name, an in-depth review has shown, is in direct reference to the blockchain platform he founded, HEX.
Beyond the numbers, the reason for the prestigious value of the diamond is in its long and rich history. It’s created from carbonados, a form of gem believed to have originated from the surface of the Earth, is an indication that the diamond has some sort of extraterrestrial origin.
This particular type of black diamond is thought to have been created by meteoric impacts that caused natural chemical vapor deposition or of extraterrestrial origin — from supernova explosions that formed diamond-bearing asteroids that eventually collided with Earth, the auction house was quoted saying while giving an insight into the gem’s value.
Before the sale at Sotheby’s, it took experts from different corners of the world three years to transform Enigma into a 55-face gem.
Ahead of the sale, it was exhibited in Dubai, Los Angeles and London, which is a rare occurrence because, for several years, the former unnamed owner never brought it into public space.
The shape is inspired by the palm-shaped symbol of power and protection in the Middle East, the Hamsa, which is also associated with the number five.
Notably, this is not the first time that Sotheby’s will be accepting crypto payments for its auctions. We reported that the leading auction house saw a $20 million bid for its Bored Ape NFT collections.
Apart from that, we also reported that the growth of the NFT space led to the British auction house making as much as $100 million throughout the previous year.