In 2021, economist and angel investor Tascha Che bought a $5,000 diamond, turned it into an NFT, then had it destroyed by a mechanic. The diamond sold for 5.5 ETH, over $17,000, in September 2021. Ivan Zhang, a decentralized finance investor, held this NFT until October 2025 before reselling it for 11 ETH, or $43,000. During this period, 1 carat diamond prices plummeted nearly 40%, while a similar 1.3 carat diamond is now worth between $3,500 and $4,000. The article concludes the experiment actually proved the opposite of the initial hypothesis: physical goods digitized into NFTs do not retain their value in a predictable manner.
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