A crowdfunded cryptocurrency group failed to outbid a private investor for a rare first-edition copy of the US Constitution Thursday.
An unnamed collector scored the document with a winning phone bid of $41 million, more than the $40 million the ConstitutionDao collective had offered, according to footage of Sotheby’s Manhattan event.
It was unclear why the outfit, which had raised some $47 million in the cryptocurrency ethereum from over 17,000 investors, did not pony up more crypto cash on one of the 13 surviving official copies of the historic document.
ConstitutionDAO, which stands for a decentralized autonomous organization, invited donors to use blockchain technology to “self-govern with unparalleled levels of autonomy and freedom.” The cryptic group had pledged to secure the 1787 artifact in a public space if it won the auction.
“While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, we still made history tonight with ConstitutionDAO,” the group tweeted. “This is the largest crowdfund for a physical object that we are aware of — crypto or fiat.”
The first-edition copy of the Constitution was valued at $15 to $20 million by the auction house. It last sold for $165,000 in 1988 to real estate developer S Howard Goldman.
The sale will benefit his widow Dorothy Tapper Goldman’s charity, which promotes the public’s understanding of democracy, Sotheby’s said.
With Post wires