At a Financial Services Commission meeting in 2017, when Janet Yellen, now US Treasury Secretary, was Fed chair, a sign with the words “Buy Bitcoin” visible in the background as cameras filmed her sold for 16 BTC worth $1 million.

The winner of the auction, which took place at a bar in New York, was an unnamed person using the pseudonym “Squirrekkywrath”. Christian Langalis, who held the sign behind Janet Yellen in 2017, also attended the auction in person.

The sign, which was sold at the event organized through the auction platform Scarce City, includes other old notes and drawings by Langalis. Langalis was 22 years old at the time of the meeting and was working as an intern at the Cato Institute, a US-based think tank. He attended the meeting in that capacity.

He was thrown out

Langalis, who held this sign to the cameras during Yellen’s speech, was later taken out of the room by the staff. During the broadcast, the Bitcoin price rose by 4%.

In July 2017, when Yellen gave her speech, Bitcoin was priced around $2700. 5 months later in December, the price reached $20,000, which would be considered a historical record for that period.