Gold casts of the hands of former South African President Nelson Mandela have sold for $10 million in bitcoin.
A Canadian entrepreneur sold the hands to a cryptocurrency company named Arbitrade, which according to Bloomberg news is a few weeks away from doing an initial coin offering.
The Ontario, Canada-based company will mine its own cryptocurrencies and will trade others.
Arbitrade wants to back all of its bitcoin with some percentage of physical material – including gold. Apparently Mandela’s solid gold hand is seen as a great place to start although the firm seeks to acquire actual gold bars or coins instead of art.
The set of four casts weigh 20 pounds and are made of 99.999 pure gold.
“The value of the gold is a fraction of the artifacts’ purchase price – their real value is one of publicity, says Arbitrade Chairman Len Schutzman. He hopes to use the artifacts as a means of educating millennials about Mandela — and Arbitrade — through a global “Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela” tour the company plans to launch.
