Using a combination of bank note and digital painting styles, this art piece, titled "Creation and Destruction" presents a new take on the proliferation of Bitcoin and its inherent duality, representing both the creation and destruction of global money systems.
The image tells a visual story with plenty of details and messages within. For example, each small circle on the right-hand side contains a collage of fiat money being engulfed in flames. If you look closely you will find much more.
The artwork uses references to eastern mythology, with analogies highlighting the importance of bitcoin as a money system and the implications of mass adoption on the central banking system.
Let's break it down into sections and walk through the image below.
1.a (top-left)
In this frame we see two sets of three pillars.
- The first set of pillars reads "BITCOIN", "MONEY", "SYSTEM". This introduces the fundamental fact that bitcoin is more than a digital currency. It's a money system; the best in human history.
- The second set of pillars reads "SECURE", "SCALABLE", "DECENTRALIZED". This is known colloquially as the 'Scalability Trilemma' within the cryptocurrency world.
In the center, text reads "Established Jan/2009 as an open-source software solution to the double-spend and byzantine general's problem for cryptographically secure money".
This highlights when bitcoin was created, and more importantly, the problems bitcoin solved as a technology that were left unsolved by other digital currencies that came before bitcoin.
Other details include asic miner faces with bitcoins in the centers above each pillar, and sacred bitcoin bulls below. The round "BTC" emblem throughout the image, is modified from the "Om" symbol used commonly in Hindu/Buddhist traditions.
1.b (top-middle)
This frame shows the title, which serves as context to connect the center images below.
On the top-left, above "Creation": "The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work".
On the right side, above "Destruction": "Central banks must be trusted not to debate currency, but history is full of breaches of that trust.
Both of these quotes are paraphrased from Satoshi's online writings. Understanding these concepts in required to envision the future with Bitcoin as the global money system.
3.a (top-right)
Mirroring the top-left frame, there are two more sets of pillars.
- The first reads "CENSORSHIP", "RESISTANT", "IMMUTABLE". Censorship resistance is a long term so it takes two pillars. This characteristic is so crucial that it can afford to be emphasized. Immutability is important for related reasons.
- The second set of pillars reads "SCARCE", "DIGITAL", "COMMODITY".
What these two sets of pillars have in common is that these are all reasons why bitcoin is better money than fiat currencies, which possess none of these characteristics.
2.a (mid-left)
This shows a striking depiction of Satoshi as Brahma the Hindu god of creation. The Satoshi Creator character has three heads, surrounded by a background of the bitcoin genesis block code and a sun, all representations of creation.
The Satoshi Creator is draped with a garment of lightning bolts, symbolizing bitcoin's lightning network and blockchain necklaces with 6-sided bitcoin suns for charms.
The Scalability Trilemma reappears in this frame on the three crowns of Satoshi: 1) the lock, representing "Security", 2) the the exponentially increasing bar chart, representing "Scalability"and 3) the decentralized data image representing "Decentralization".
Other, finer details on the crown include representations of bullish and bearish moons with phases and buy/sell walls (depth charts) simply depicted using colored circles in a symmetrical pattern. Between the walls are two orange circles, symbolizing the live trade of bitcoin at place in the middle of the buy/sell walls.
2.b (mid-middle)
This frame works as a center-piece for the image, showing a temple reworked as a bitcoin citadel. This section gives you the sense that the future is bright indeed for bitcoin.
With "In code we trust"and "vires in numeris", we are reminded that bitcoin is a movement for the people, and the citadel provides a vision prosperity and serenity. The fine print on the who sides of the temple reads "SOUND", "MONEY".
The citadel is a reference to a reddit post from a self-proclaimed time traveler, who claims that today's bitcoiners all live in citadels in the future, which are described as guarded high societies for the wealthy.
There are crests on each side of the citadel.
- Left crest reads "Be your own bank" , "Use cryptocurrency", with the words "Low Time Preference" printed above.
- Right crest reads "Trustless", "Immutable", "Decentralized, with the words "Think Long Term" printed above.
Using bitcoin and other verifiably scarce cryptocurrencies promote a low time preference in users, where saving is encouraged and short-term pleasures are traded for growing value in the long-term.
2.c (mid-right)
This frame shows a depiction of Satoshi as the Hindu god of destruction, Shiva. The details and symbology behind the original "Dancing Shiva" image is extraordinary, and as such, there are many connections to be made.
The image stands in an oval frame, representing the fiat world and central banking systems. The frame bears twelve emblems. Eleven of these twelve emblems are prominent fiat currencies, being destroyed by flames. The twelfth emblem is the bank of international settlements.
The Dancing Satoshi character has a set of 8 tentacles, inspired by the sentinels from the Matrix movies. This symbolizes Bitcoin as money system based on advanced technology, also designed to be used as a global currency which can reach all countries using fiat money from central banking.
The character stands on the back of a pig in a suit, which bears a small shield with the international monetary fund (IMF) crest on it.
Behind the pig are mountains created using piles of fiat currency (dollars, euros), which are being ignited with flames from two sources:
1) From the base, or foundation of the money piles, i.e. debt;
2) From the flames of the rocket that the Dancing Satoshi character is mounted on.
In Satoshi's right hand, there is a bitcoin made of flames, representing the destructive force. In the right hand, there is a bitcoin drum, representing the creative force.
The arms also bear tattoos "Create", "Destroy", oriented in opposing fashion. This is another reminder of the duality of forces at play.
3 (full bottom section)
This section displays on both sides a denomination of Bitcoin that's closest (rounded) to both 100 rupees and 1 dollar: ten thousand satoshis (0.0001).
This denomination should be relevant for quite some time, where a 100-fold increase in bitcoin's relative value to $1,000,000 USD would make it like a $100 bill.
The center section reads "SOUND MONEY" and adds further descriptions, "Independent of governments and central banks" and "backed by the world's largest computer network".
Just under this section is an emblem bearing a star with the same Satoshi mask as the characters above. The text around the emblem reads "the best money system in human history".
This emblem is a combination of the emblems from both of the oval frames, with bitcoin prevailing over the central bank system, showing bitcoin prevailing over the bank of international settlements building and flames.
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