In Brief:
- Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel had paid $43.2 million to buy the first-edition copy of Constitution.
- Griffin plans to lend the piece to a free Arkansas art museum.
As reports reveal, Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel had paid $43.2 million to outbid a group of cryptocurrency investors and bought the first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction in “an eight-minute bid battle”.
It is worth noting that the “huge bid” exceeds the $15M – $20 M range that was estimated for the rare copy. Consequently, the amount of $43.2 marked a world auction record for “any book, manuscript, historical document, or printed text,” according to Sotheby’s.
A Citadel spokesperson revealed that Griffin plans to lend the piece to a free Arkansas art museum.
In a statement, Griffin said,“The U.S. Constitution is a sacred document that enshrines the rights of every American and all those who aspire to be”. “That is why I intend to ensure that this copy of our Constitution will be available for all Americans and visitors to view and appreciate in our museums and other public spaces.”
Although ConstitutionDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization had raised over $47 Million in a matter of few days to buy the rare copy of the US Constitution, failed to win the auction. The goal was to preserve the document for the people and also to “fractionalize, mem-ify, NFT-ify”.
Nevertheless, it was the largest crowdfunding initiative ever put together as per Sotheby. ConstitutionDAO, a group of 17,437 crypto-enthusiasts termed it as, “We broke records for the largest crowdfund for a physical object and most money crowdfunded in 72h”. Even though it could not win the Constitution, it did create history.
