Coinspeaker
Man Who Flashed ‘Buy Bitcoin’ at 2017 Congressional Hearing Sells Sign for $1M
Nearly 7 years later, Christian Langalis, the man who wrote “Buy Bitcoin” on a yellow notepad and flashed it on live TV, has now sold the sign at an online auction.
Langalis was a 22-year-old intern during a 2017 Congressional hearing of the then-United States Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. However, he soon became a sensation, especially among a community of crypto developers and investors, after the act that saw him immediately escorted off the premises at the time.
According to the Bitcoin auction platform Scarce City, the sign has now sold to the highest bidder for 16 Bitcoin, around $1.027 million.
The buyer, identified as “Justin” aka “Squirrekkywrath”, went home with the prize after an auction that lasted for a week. The auction ended a few minutes after 11:00 pm. UTC on April 24.
Congratulations to Justin, A.K.A. Squirrekkywrath, winner of the #BitcoinSignGuy auction for 16 #BTC. 🏆@tpacchia Get this man a Whale! 🐳 pic.twitter.com/DPpczcEzkJ
— PUBKEY (@PubKey_NYC) April 24, 2024
Meanwhile, Scarce City is set to take a 15% cut for facilitating the sale. This means that Langalis will go home with 13.6 BTC (approximately $874,000) or thereabout.
This is not the first time Langalis would be cashing out from the yellow pad sign. In 2019, he created and sold at least 21 replicas of that sign at an average price of 0.8 BTC. By current prices, each of those replicas is now worth $51,420.
At the time, he sold to venture firms, including Paradigm, Blockchain Capital, and Castle Island Ventures. Crypto think-tank Coin Center was also one of the buyers.
The Iconic Buy Bitcoin Sign
According to the listing details, the item is an “Ink Drawing on Legal Pad” weighing half a pound. The legal pad also contains Langalis’s notes from the hearing of that fateful day. The description read:
“The page with the sign drawing was removed from the notepad shortly after the hearing. It has since been reattached with clear archival wire.”
With the proceeds from his latest sale, however, Langalis plans to fund his startup, Tirrel Corp. The project is supposedly working on a Bitcoin Lightning network wallet and implementation.
Bitcoin’s price has surged from around $2,300 in 2017 to a record high of almost $74,000 in March 2024. That is as institutional investors such as Fidelity and BlackRock joined the fray on championing the digital asset.
Man Who Flashed ‘Buy Bitcoin’ at 2017 Congressional Hearing Sells Sign for $1M
