Gold castings of the hands of South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela have been sold for $10m (£7m) in bitcoin.
South African businessman Malcolm Duncan sold four casts to a Canadian crypto-currency exchange firm, Arbitrade.
This is the first time artefacts of Mr Mandela have been sold in bitcoin.
Made from 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, the casts include three life-size impressions of Mandela’s hands and two others of his palm and fist, cast by Harmony Gold Mining in 2002.
Mr Duncan, who now lives in Canada, bought the casts from mining group Harmony Gold in 2002 for about $31,000.
Half of the money paid to Harmony Gold was meant to go to charity, but it remains unclear as to whether that happened, Bloomberg news agency reports.
Harmony said it had “supplied Mr Duncan with the necessary paperwork verifying the provenance as requested by his attorneys,” but declined to comment on what happened to the donation, Bloomberg reports.
The artefacts are believed to be the only ones left in the world.
A fist, full hand and a palm impression of his right hand had been cast for each of the 27 years Mandela spent behind bars before he walked out of Pollsmoore prison in 1990.
The other sets of the collection were ordered to be destroyed by Mr Mandela.
It was part of the former president’s attempt to control his copyright after a number of scandals, including forgery allegations, arose around the sale of art bearing his image and name.
The casts, which weigh around 20lb (9kg), include Mr Mandela’s hand, palm and fist. They are part of a collection meant to mark the years the former president spent in prison on Robben Island.
Madiba was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.
He was jailed for 27 years for fighting white minority rule in South Africa.He was released in 1990
Mr Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95. He had turned into a global brand, with businessmen and artists cashing in on his name.
Mr Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island
