Ontario-based cryptocurrency exchange, The Board of Arbitrade, is reportedly buying what’s believed to be the last remaining gold castings of Nelson Mandela’s hand for $10 million in Bitcoin, according to Bloomberg.
Th set gold castings, weighing 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, contains a trio of “life-sized impressions” of Nelson Mandela’s hands, with one of the pairs having his palm and fist included. The seller, Malcolm Duncan, is a Canadian entrepreneur who knew Mandela, and reportedly paid 3.6 million South African Rand for the set.
Back in 2007, Duncan attempted to sell the set, but his attempts were squashed by controversy. This time, he sold to the Ontario-based crypto exchange, which according to its chairman Len Schutzman is about to launch an ICO, and is building facilities in Waterloo, Ontario.
The gold castings are valuable for various reasons, and are unique as other sets were destroyed under Mandela’s own orders. Among them are publicity value, and being a means to educate the world about Nelson Mandela. Arbitrade is set to take advantage of this, as it’s reportedly launching a “Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela” tour.
In the tour, Arbitrade will teach millennials about the abolition of apartheid that Nelson Mandela led. The company is essentially using the chance to get all eyes on it, while spreading Mandela’s message throughout the world.
Paying for the gold castings in bitcoin
Arbitrade will certainly benefit from the “Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela” tour, as its ICO will benefit from the attention it’ll garner. Its Dignity (DIG) coin will be backed by gold, in the form of coins and bars. The company will also build a mining operation.
To pay for the gold castings in crypto, Arbitrade has provided Duncan a $50,000 deposit in bitcoin that’s been converted into fiat currency. The rest of the funds are set to be delivered in quarterly installments of at least $2 million per one of the set’s pieces.
The exchange will notably only get the gold castings once the money has been converted from bitcoin to fiat on the seller’s bank account, as he insisted the company guaranteed the value in US dollars, not BTC.
He said:
“They take possession when I have the dollar amount in the bank. At two-and-a-quarter million at a time, they take one hand at a time.”
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