The celebrated statue representing Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin (BTC), has been found after being reported missing on Saturday. Satoshigallery, the group of artists that originally put the statue in place, confirmed the recovery.
Employees of the municipal government of Lugano, Switzerland, located the sculpture in Lake Lugano. It appears unknown individuals had taken it from its location in Parco Ciani, a park situated along the lake in the Swiss community and tossed it into the water.
Satoshigallery
The statue was recovered in various pieces, suggesting it was damaged, rather than taken for financial reasons. The attachment points to the base were only at the feet, which stayed on the original stand.
Satoshigallery had offered a reward of 0.1 BTC, worth more than $11,000, for the return of the statue. Cointelegraph contacted the art collective for details, but had not received a response when this article was published.
Gritto
This renowned artwork from Valentina Picozzi, an Italian artist and advocate for Bitcoin, was first shown in October of 2024. Since then, it has become a key symbol for the Bitcoin community. The artist indicated that it took 21 months to complete the planning and creation of the statue.
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Bitcoin fans react to damage to important symbol
Members of the Bitcoin community have expressed both their dismay and their resolve after the statue, which has become associated with the Bitcoin movement and the anonymous creator of the cryptocurrency, was taken and damaged.
Gabor Gurbacs, who founded and leads Pointsville, a platform for blockchain-based loyalty programs and tokenization, commented on X that this was a “tasteless and stupid thing to do,” adding that he hopes the responsible parties are caught.
Gritto
Others, such as Gritto, a Bitcoin enthusiast who uses a pseudonym, proposed that the damage may have been caused by “drunk” revelers celebrating Swiss National Day, which commemorates the founding of the country.
Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, simply posted a heart emoji on social media in response to news that the statue had been recovered.
“You can steal our symbol, but you will never be able to steal our souls,” declared Satoshigallery, reaffirming the group’s intention to install similar statues in 21 locations around the world.
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