A Mysterious 555.55-Carat Black Diamond Will Be Up for Auction Soon

The Enigma, a 555.55-carat black diamond is currently being exhibited in the United Arab Emirates and will soon be up for bidding, the auction house Sotheby's said in its listing. 

According to the details provided by Sotheby's, the diamond is the largest black diamond in the world and was listed as the largest cut diamond by the Guinness Book of Records in 2006. Black diamonds, also called carbonado, are extremely rare and are found in Brazil and Central America, Time reported.

Researchers are still figuring out what makes these diamonds so tough at the same time trying to answer why they occur in limited places. Lead isotope analysis has shown that these rocks are about three billion years old but surprisingly, they're found in younger sedimentary locations. 

An alternate theory, which was reported in the New York Times in 1996, states these rare pieces of rock originated in a supernova almost four billion years ago and traversed through space for over a billion years before entering the Earth's atmosphere and crashing as a meteorite in a region that later became modern-day Brazil and Central America.  

Sotheby's is sticking to the extra-terrestrial origin in its descriptions of the item, and apart from being a 555.55-carat diamond, it also has 55 facets. The diamond will travel to Los Angeles later this month, followed by an exhibition in London as its auction begins on February 3. 

Sotheby's will also accept cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment for the item, although it won't be the first time it is doing so. Last year, the Hong Kong branch of the auction house sold a 101.38-carat pear-shaped diamond to an unknown buyer who exercised the crypto option, making it the most expensive piece of jewelry bought using an altcoin, at least from public records.

Nevertheless, it is still a major confidence boost for cryptocurrencies that have seen large fluctuations in their valuation by the markets.