ViaBTC has auctioned one of four “epic sats” for $2.1 million on the crypto exchange CoinEx Global.

An anonymous member of the crypto community just paid a hefty sum to take home an incredibly rare memento from the recent Bitcoin halving. 

The first satoshi (representing the smallest unit of Bitcoin) mined from Bitcoin’s fourth halving block was sold at an auction for 33.3 BTC or $2.13 million.

BREAKING: The Epic Sat mined by @ViaBTC just sold for 33.3 BTC ($2,134,843)! pic.twitter.com/D3xRP57guO

— Ord.io (@ord_io) April 25, 2024

The sum was paid out to ViaBTC, the Bitcoin mining pool that mined the block, through an auction conducted by its exchange partner CoinEx. At the time of writing, the identity of the winning bidder remains unknown.

Ordinarily, satoshis (sats) are valued at under $0.00065 based on current prices, given they represent a one hundred millionth of a whole Bitcoin. 

Under the Bitcoin Ordinals numbering system, however, some sats have a higher rarity status than others, with the first sat of each halving epoch labelled “epic sats.” Including the first sats mined from the previous halving events, this makes this sat one of four that exist.

“Given that satoshis are assigned unique identifiers, they inherently possess higher collectible value. As periodic events occur within the Bitcoin network, some more frequently than others, scarcity is naturally promoted,” explained CoinEx.

These rare sats rank third on the list of rarity, followed by “legendary” sats which represent the first sat of each cycle and the “mythic” sat, which represents the first sat of the genesis block. While there will be 32 epic sats in total, there will only be 5 legendary sats and of course, one mythic sat.