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A yellow notepad with “Buy Bitcoin” written on it, which was flashed behind then-United States Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen during a 2017 congressional hearing, has sold at auction for 16 Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) — over $1 million.
The buyer, identified as “Justin” — also known as “Squirrekkywrath” — was the winning <a href="https://scarce.city/auctions/buy-bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">bidder</a> on the Bitcoin auction platform Scarce City. The auction ran for a week, ending on April 24, just after 11:00 pm UTC.
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 Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/PubKey_NYC/status/1783275932058296353" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Pubkey</a>
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The sign was offered up by <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cato-institute-ceo-says-his-daughter-married-the-bitcoin-sign-guy-from-2017-hearing">Christian Langalis</a>, who wrote it out and <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/audience-member-holds-buy-bitcoin-sign-during-yellen-testimony">flashed it</a> to the camera after nabbing a seat behind Yellen at a televised House Financial Services Committee hearing in July 2017.
Langalis was escorted out after photobombing Yellen, as signs are not allowed to be displayed during hearings.<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I7GdLQIChNA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen data-ct-non-breakable="true"></iframe>
CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/12/someone-held-up-a-buy-bitcoin-sign-during-yellens-testimony-to-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">reported</a> at the time that after the sign was flashed, Bitcoin traded 3.7% higher, reaching over $2,418.
After Scarce City takes its 15% fee, Langalis is set to pocket around $875,000, or 13.6 BTC.
In a statement under the listing, Langalis said it was “good to finally liberate this number from my sock drawer and offer it back to the Bitcoin public.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/1m-bitcoin-price-still-in-play-macro-liquidity-arthur-hayes">$1M Bitcoin price still in play amid ‘macro liquidity surge’ — Arthur Hayes</a>
The listing notes the page with the handwritten sign “was removed from the notepad shortly after the hearing” but was since “reattached with clear archival wire.”
The yellow legal pad also contains “an unseen rough draft” of the now-iconic scrawl, along with notes on the hearing monetary policy and Bitcoin. 
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 Langalis’ draft of the sign was part of the sale. Source: Scarce City
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In 2019, Langalis created and sold 21 replicas of the sign, which sold for an average price of 0.8 BTC, worth about $51,300 today.
The listing claims the replicas are displayed in the offices of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/nearly-forty-percent-canada-institutional-investors-exposure-crypto-kpmg">venture firms</a> Paradigm, Blockchain Capital and Castle Island Ventures, along with the crypto think-tank Coin Center.
Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-24/-buy-bitcoin-sign-shown-behind-yellen-sells-for-1-million-at-auction" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">reported</a> that Langalis planned to use the money from the latest sale to help fund a Bitcoin software project.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/recursive-inscriptions-bitcoin-supercomputer-defi-aws-possible/">Recursive inscriptions — Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon</a>

‘Buy Bitcoin’ sign that photobombed Janet Yellen sells for $1M

Cointelegraph

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