New York’s Charging Bull has boasted sharp horns near Wall Street for decades, but across the country, Bitcoin got its own mascot baring hundreds of razor-sharp teeth last week.
At the Bitcoin Alpha “unconference” in Santa Monica, California, entrepreneurs unveiled an art piece recognizing Bitcoin’s spirit with a great white shark suspended in a glass box.
The sculpture glowed under orange lights throughout the two-day gathering, serving as backdrop for dozens of private discussions. According to a museum-style placard, “The Apex Predator of Money” is named “Bitcoinius Maximus.”
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Bitcoin Alpha’s organizers are planning on making Bitcoinius the centerpiece of a pop-up installation called “Living with Bitcoin,” Ben Sigman told Decrypt. Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, with plenty of empty storefronts, would be a natural place, he added.
Sharks are one of the Earth’s oldest species, and their multi-million year track record reflects how Bitcoin could outlast assets like cash and gold, Sigman said. What’s more, some sharks must constantly swim to breathe, mirroring Bitcoin’s 24/7 uptime.
“They’re cold, calculated, patient predators,” Sigman added.
Throughout Bitcoin’s history, the asset's fans have looked to the natural world for parallels. In 2013, for example, crypto entrepreneur Roger Ver—known as “Bitcoin Jesus”—helped popularize the honey badger as Bitcoin’s spirit animal through billboards in Santa Clara, California.
Sigman said that he and Fred Krueger—who holds a Ph.D. in math and is a former prop trader with a penchant for Bitcoin ETFs—are proposing sharks as a symbol for Bitcoin, rather than declaring them as one. “That’s not how Bitcoin works,” Sigman explained.
Originally, Sigman and Krueger were interested in a sculpture of a shark’s dorsal fin, in reference to the cover of their latest book, “Bitcoin One Million.” However, the final piece more closely resembles “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” by Damien Hirst. That artwork features an actual tiger shark suspended in a formaldehyde solution.
Although great white sharks can weigh over 5,000 pounds, Bitcoinius clocks in at a tenth of the weight, including the shark’s nine-foot by four-foot enclosure. From concept to showcase, Sigman said the process took less than a handful of months.
Earlier this year, some Bitcoiners hailed the discovery of an orange nurse shark off the coast of Costa Rica as an “auspicious sign.” Scientists said that the shark had a combination of skin conditions that were incredibly rare, per National Geographic.
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In 2022, a 3,000-pound statue was unveiled at a Bitcoin conference in Miami. Modeled on New York’s Charging Bull, the statue leans into a cyberpunk aesthetic, while featuring laser eyes. At the time, it symbolized the area’s growing influence as a financial and tech hub.
Sigman said sharks are a fitting symbol for Bitcoin compared to any land animal because the asset has the potential to engulf more than just traditional finance, he said.
“Crypto is so much bigger than Wall Street,” he said. “It’s really an ocean.”
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