Crypto investors lose out to massive crowdfunding effort in $43mn auction of US Constitution's original copy

In what is being deemed as a world record for a historical document at auction, a rare original copy of the US Constitution has been for $43 million. The sale was hosted by Sotheby's auction house. The winner was not immediately identified.

The Constitution was directly underbid by Constitution DAO, which is a group of over 17,000 people from around the world.

These people came together through social media within the last week to raise money to acquire the document in what is being marked as the largest crowdfunding initiative ever put together.

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The group of cryptocurrency investors raised $40 million to try to buy the document but failed to secure the prize, the consortium said. "We didn't get the constitution, but we made history nonetheless" the group, ConstitutionDAO, said on Twitter.

"We broke the record for the largest crowdfund for a physical object and most money crowdfunded in 72h, which will of course be refunded to everyone who participated," it said.

It said that the item was one of only 13 known surviving copies of the US charter, which was signed on September 17, 1787.

The text had the opening, "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union."

The constitution was signed at Philadelphia's Independence Hall by America's founding fathers including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison.

(With inputs from agencies)