The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday welcomed a bronze statue dedicated to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marking one of the most visible celebrations of crypto culture in the heart of global finance, news reports said.
The installation—the sixth in a planned global series of 21 monuments—was spearheaded by Twenty One Capital (NYSE: XXI), the first Bitcoin-native public company to list on the exchange. NYSE officials described the placement as symbolizing a “shared ground between emerging systems and established institutions.”
The symbolic gesture comes as Twenty One Capital navigates significant market volatility. The company, which holds a massive treasury of over 43,500 bitcoins (valued at approximately $3.9 billion), saw its stock tumble 19% during its Tuesday trading debut following a merger with a blank-check company. Shares opened at $10.74, below the SPAC’s closing price of $14.27.
Twenty One CEO Jack Mallers, also the founder of Lightning Network provider Strike, emphasized that the statue reflects Bitcoin’s evolution “from code to cultural phenomenon.” The company is majority-owned by stablecoin giant Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, with a minority stake held by SoftBank Group.
The bronze sculpture, titled “Disappearing Satoshi” by Italian artist Valentina Picozzi (Satoshigallery), depicts a seated figure at a laptop that appears to vanish when viewed from different angles, embodying the creator’s anonymity.
“This is such an achievement, even in our wildest dream we wouldn’t think about placing the statue of Satoshi Nakamoto in this location!” Picozzi stated.
The installation follows a setback earlier this year when another Satoshi monument was vandalized and dumped into Lake Lugano, Switzerland, following Swiss National Day celebrations in August. Investigators suspected intoxicated revelers used industrial tools, including tungsten carbide cutting disks, to sever the welded bronze sculpture from its base.
The art collective offered a 0.1 Bitcoin reward (valued around $12,000 at the time) for information leading to its recovery. Other existing monuments in the global campaign stand in Budapest, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Beach, and Tokyo.
