Statue of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled in Hungary
A bronze statue of the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto has recently been unveiled in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest.
The initial idea for the statue was proposed by András Györfi. The statue itself was designed and produced by sculptors Gergely Réka and Tamás Gilly. It is located in Graphisoft Park in the city of Budapest.
A bronze figure represents a person dressed in a hoodie with a Bitcoin logo on the chest. This alone could be seen as a symbol of anonymity: for example, many graffiti artists also wear hoodies to protect their identity. It is impossible to tell the age or gender of this person, and despite the name that sounds Japanese, the face does not show any Asian traits.
Who is exactly the Bitcoin creator?
However, the creators went even further. To this day, no one knows if Satoshi Nakamoto is a real person, or if it is a group of programmers, and if this name is actually a real name and not a pseudonym. So the face of the sculpture literally reflects this conundrum. The face is made of a bronze-aluminum composite that acts as a mirror to anyone who comes close. Effectively, by moving closer to look at Satoshi Nakamoto’s face, a spectator is actually looking at himself.
The creators of Satoshi Nakamoto’s statue wanted to commemorate his work in the world of IT. In their view, this work transcends the economic value of bitcoin and is regarded as a contribution to humanity. The statue is expected to raise the awareness of blockchain technology among the general public.
However, the mirrored faces of the statue’s spectators tell a slightly different story. As we know, Bitcoin belongs to everyone and no one at the same time. Seeing themselves reflected in the face of the anonymous programmer suggests that we are all Satoshi – a virtually unknown part of humankind.
