Iconic ‘Buy Bitcoin’ Sign, Featured Behind Former Fed Chair Yellen, Sells for Over $1 Million at Auction

Iconic ‘Buy Bitcoin’ Sign, Featured Behind Former Fed Chair Yellen, Sells for Over $1 Million at Auction

An iconic piece of financial history, the notebook paper bearing the legendary “Buy Bitcoin” sign, famously displayed behind former United States Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in 2017, has fetched a staggering $1.027 million at auction.

The sign, handed over to the highest bidder under the pseudonym “Squirrekkywrath,” concluded a week-long auction at the Pubkey Bar in New York on Wednesday. The auction, orchestrated by the original “Bitcoin Sign Guy,” Christian Langalis, was hosted on the Scarce City platform, with Langalis himself present at the event.

Described as “hastily drawn on a yellow legal pad,” this emblematic sketch symbolized Bitcoin’s incursion into the global financial arena. It stands as one of the few widely-recognized physical artifacts of Bitcoin, a currency predominantly existing in the virtual realm. The auctioned notepad also boasts Langalis’ original notes and whimsical drawings from that significant day.

Langalis, then a 22-year-old intern at the Cato Institute, gained notoriety for boldly holding up the “Buy Bitcoin” sign behind Yellen during a televised House Financial Services Committee hearing in July 2017. Despite being swiftly removed from the hearing room, Langalis’ impromptu action coincided with a notable 3.7% surge in Bitcoin’s value, as reported by CNBC.

Since that pivotal moment, Bitcoin’s trajectory has been remarkable. Its value has surged from approximately $2,700 in July 2017 to a peak surpassing $73,000 last month. This exponential growth has been fueled in part by significant regulatory decisions, such as the recent approval from U.S. regulators for the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.