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A billion-year-old black diamond, believed to be the world's largest cut diamond, has sold for £3.16m ($4.3m), BBC News reports.

Named The Enigma, the 555.55 carat gem, which weighs about the same as a banana, had been expected to fetch more than £4.4m in the online action.

Auctioneer Sotheby's said "the buyer has opted to use cryptocurrency for the purchase."

There are competing theories about the origins of the stone, including that it was carried to Earth by an asteroid.

#AuctionUpdate "The Enigma": This 555.55 carat Black Diamond sold today for £3,161,000 / $4,292,322. The buyer has opted to use cryptocurrency for the purchase. #SothebysJewels pic.twitter.com/ZuiL9SxET8

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) February 9, 2022

Sotheby's did not identify the purchaser but after the auction cryptocurrency entrepreneur Richard Heart took to social media to claim that he was the buyer of The Enigma.

He told his more than 180,000 Twitter followers that "as soon as the payment's gone through and possession's been taken" the gem would be renamed the "HEX.com diamond", in reference to the blockchain platform he founded.