Bitcoin Faucet Turns 15: Sculpture Near NYSE Celebrates Monumental Rise

On June 12, 2010, core BTC contributor Gavin Andresen launched the famous Bitcoin Faucet. At that time, the cryptocurrency was barely over a year old, and there was much uncertainty surrounding its future.

The Bitcoin Faucet was one of the first projects to boost its adoption. The website gifted 5 BTC to every visitor, at a time when each BTC was valued at around $1, in an attempt to provide more people with access to the digital asset.

Since then the cryptocurrency has made one of the biggest rallies in history rising from less than $1 to over $100,000. In addition, the digital asset has been embraced by major institutions in the legacy financial world.

Art Installation Commemorates Bitcoin Rise

In this context, fund investors turned mathematical artist Nelson Saiers created an unique sculpture to honored Bitcoin’s rise. As seen in the image below, the artist placed a piece called ‘Liquidity’ close to the NY Stock Exchange (NYSE) building.

The piece, a white monolithic block covered in Bitcoin themes and pieces of code with a black faucet, not only illustrates this key early project, but also how the cryptocurrency has made its way into Wall Street.

In an exclusive talk with Bitcoinist, the artist claims that the piece was strategically installed near the NYSE to highlight Bitcoin’s massive jump, but also how the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and traditional institutions contributed with the cryptocurrency’s ascend. Saiers told us:

I placed a sculpture called “Liquidity” near the NY Stock Exchange to commemorate this event. The choice to place it near the NYSE was to celebrate its rise from a token that had little value 15 years ago to an asset with a total market cap that only a few stocks exceed.

The faucet imagery and the title “Liquidity” also point to the Fed’s actions injecting liquidity into the market which in my opinion benefited BTC.

Over the past decade, Saiers has dedicated to create and install unique pieces to celebrate Bitcoin and denounced US authorities. As Bitcoinist covered 3 years ago, the artist called cheap on the US Fed by installing a vintage gumball machine in front of the Wall Street Bull pointing at the institution’s “cheap money” policies.

Furthermore, Saiers also installed an inflatable Bitcoin Rat, one of his most iconic pieces, on different occasions with a similar goal to conveyed the popular feeling of mistrust and lack of confidence in legacy institutions.

Regarding his latest piece, Saiers also told us:

In many ways BTC is the ultimate financial outsider. It was mocked and insulted by many leading experts from Nobel laureates to world class financiers like Warren Buffett and Jaime Dimon. But today its gone from something that was being handed out for free 15 years ago by Andresen to an asset whose market cap few stocks exceed (…)

Cover image courtesy of Nelson Saiers, chart from Tradingview