On August 4th, municipal employees in Lugano, Switzerland, retrieved damaged components
from a sculpture created as a tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous originator of
The monument, previously situated in Parco Ciani along the lakeside, had been dumped into the lake
sometime over the prior weekend.
Park visitors initially noticed the statue was missing on August 2nd. It was gone from its designated location
and had been broken into several pieces.
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Some pieces were discovered submerged in Lake Lugano, while others were found washed up on the
lakeshore.
Following the incident, Satoshigallery, the group responsible for commissioning the statue, offered
a reward of 0.1 BTC, valued at over $11,000 USD, for information leading to its
recovery.
One online theory posits that damage may
have occurred during Swiss National Day celebrations.
The statue, composed of stainless and weathering steel blocks, depicted a faceless individual seated and
typing on a laptop. Its initial unveiling occurred in October of 2024 during a blockchain event that was
co-sponsored by the city of Lugano and the stablecoin firm Tether
Artist Valentina Picozzi, the statue’s designer, reported that the project required a period of 21 months to
realize.
A
petition is underway requesting city officials to repair and re-erect the
statue. Organizers have offered to personally cover the repair expenses.
In other news, Peter McCormack, the host of the What Bitcoin Did podcast, recently financed private
security patrols in his hometown of Bedford, UK. Want to know why? Discover
the details here.