Hungary's capital Budapest is now home to the first statue of Bitcoin's anonymous founder. The figure behind the cryptocurrency has never revealed their identity but goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and is credited as a kind of philosophical leader in digital currency.
One of the people behind the statue, Andras Gyorfi, told CGTN the most important element of the unique artwork was its face.
"It represents Satoshi – of course we don't know how he looked but this statue has a stylized face made from a bronze aluminum composite which is reflective… if you go to the statue, look in its face and you are going to see your own face."
The reflection is meant to serve a message that we are all part of the cryptocurrency market, that everyone involved is a kind of Satoshi. The statue also wears a hoodie to represent the internet generation, many of whom pioneered working from home and in less traditional workspaces.
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The statue was created over six months. Gyorfi says he brought together some of the most important players in Hungary's cryptocurrency scene to help realize his idea.
Together they financed part of the statue, also raising funds through local crypto traders.
The statue has been placed in Budapest's Graphisoft Park, a piece of land bought by the founder of the successful Hungarian design software company.
The face of the anonymous founder is represented in a reflective material. /CGTN
Today it houses technology businesses in open park space with gardens and a number of sculptural artworks. Satoshi Nakamoto is the latest piece to be unveiled, not far from a similar tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs.
After beginning with just a few dozen developers, 200 million people have now bought into Bitcoin around the globe in a little over a decade. In the U.S. around 46 million people own at least a share in the digital currency, equivalent to 17 percent of the adult population.
In Hungary the popularity is growing and with it a strong community. Gyorfi and his co-founders estimate there are around 20,000 to 30,000 people, with similar numbers in neighboring European countries.
So why has the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto never come forward? Gyorfi believes the Bitcoin founder has remained in the shadows so that the digital currency is never connected to one person, to uphold it as a decentralized system in which no single person or group has control.
He and the statue's other co-founders say they're proud to be the first to create such a tribute, but expect more commemorations will pop up in honor of the mysterious founder.