A statue honouring the elusive creator of Bitcoin has gone on display in Hanoi, becoming the fifth such monument in the world according to Viet Nam News.

The work, created by Italian artist Valentina Picozzi, was brought to Vietnam by the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association (VBA). It is now housed at the headquarters of 1Matrix in Times City and will be open to the public every Saturday as part of the Blockchain Gallery.

Nakamoto, whose true identity has never been revealed, introduced Bitcoin and blockchain technology in 2008 through a white paper on peer-to-peer digital currency.

By early 2009, they had launched the Bitcoin software and mined its first block before disappearing from public view a year later. Their holdings, thought to total around 1.1mn Bitcoins, are currently valued at more than $120bn – enough to place Nakamoto among the world’s wealthiest individuals Viet Nam News adds.

The Hanoi statue has been designed with a distinctive visual trick, however: Nakamoto’s profile can be seen from the side, but from the front the image becomes almost transparent, symbolising the anonymity of the Bitcoin founder.

Other Satoshi statues have already appeared in Hungary, El Salvador, Japan and Switzerland. The Budapest sculpture, unveiled in 2021, features a reflective bronze surface with the inscription “We are all Satoshi”. In Switzerland, a statue unveiled in 2024 was stolen months later, but recovered this August.