The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) (Learn more about NYSE) showcased a statue of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, on Wednesday. The artwork was created by Italian artist Valentina Picozzi. This statue is the sixth version of Picozzi’s work and highlights the impact of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, on culture. The installation was supported by a company called Twenty One Capital, which works in the cryptocurrency industry.
What’s the significance of the statue?
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the NYSE referred to the statue as a symbol of connection between new systems like cryptocurrency and traditional financial institutions. They described it as an artistic way of showing how new technology, like Bitcoin, becomes a part of history.
This unveiling is special because it lines up with an important date in Bitcoin’s history. Back in 2008, on December 10, Satoshi Nakamoto sent out the first ideas to a mailing list explaining how Bitcoin would work. This laid the groundwork for creating the cryptocurrency and its unique technology, the blockchain. Blockchain is like a digital ledger that keeps track of transactions securely.
What happened to another one of Picozzi’s statues?
In Lugano, Switzerland in 2025, another statue by Picozzi went missing temporarily. According to SatoshiGallery, the artwork, which had been placed in 2024 to help establish Lugano as a global hub for Bitcoin, was thrown into a nearby lake during Swiss National Day celebrations. The statue, which is made of layers that seem to change shape depending on how you look at them, was found later and required some repairs. A petition was started asking the city to help fix and restore the statue.
What’s happening with Twenty One Capital?
Twenty One Capital, the company that installed the statue, is making waves in the financial world. It just began trading on the public stock market this week under the ticker XXI. It is considered the first public company that is focused specifically on Bitcoin. Big names in the industry, including Tether (Learn more about Tether), Bitfinex (Learn more about Bitfinex), and SoftBank (Learn more about SoftBank) are backing this company.
Twenty One Capital holds 43,514 Bitcoins, which is worth over $4 billion at current prices. This makes it the third-largest publicly listed holder of Bitcoin. However, the company had a rocky start on the stock market. On its first trading day, December 9, its share prices dropped by 20% after merging with a blank-check company called Cantor Equity Partners. Blank-check companies (what are they?) are created to merge with private companies and take them public.
Fortunately, the company’s shares started to stabilize afterward. On Wednesday, the share prices closed at $11.96, improving by 4.7%. During the day, the stock traded between $11.54 and $12.51, showing signs of recovery after a volatile start.
The statue’s debut at the NYSE and the launch of Twenty One Capital as a public company highlight how cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin (Learn more about Bitcoin), continues to influence both modern culture and traditional financial markets.