Blockchain Gallery
The creator of Bitcoin has never come forward. In Hanoi, Satoshi appears in steel, then dissolves into thin air.
Vietnam’s first blockchain cultural space
Open Saturdays, 10:00 – 12:00
Room I
The disappearing Satoshi
The statue is built from dozens of stainless steel slices set apart from one another. Face it head on and you see a hooded figure at a laptop. Step to the side and the slices open up until the figure is gone.
That is how the artist tells the story of Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008 and then walked away, leaving a system that no longer needed its creator.
The artist
Valentina Picozzi
Italian visual artist, co-founder of Satoshi Gallery and one of the pioneers of crypto art.
Since 2012 she has worked in the spirit of Pop Art, using art to tell the story of Bitcoin.
Room II
Five statues, five cities
From a bronze bust in Budapest to the fourth Disappearing Satoshi in Hanoi.
- 2021
Budapest
Hungary
A bronze bust whose face reflects whoever stands before it: anyone could be Satoshi.
- 2024
Lugano
Switzerland
Picozzi’s first Disappearing Satoshi, in Parco Ciani on Lake Lugano.
- 2025
El Zonte
El Salvador
At Bitcoin Beach, in the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender.
- 2025
Tokyo
Japan
The third Disappearing Satoshi, in the heart of Japan’s tech and finance scene.
- 2025
Hanoi
Vietnam
The fourth Disappearing Satoshi, unveiled in September 2025, and the fifth Satoshi statue worldwide.
Bringing the statue to Vietnam
Ms. Nguyen Van Hien
Vice Chair and Secretary General, Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Assets Association (VBA)
Ms. Hien initiated the project to bring the statue to Hanoi, so that Vietnam’s blockchain industry would have a cultural space of its own, connected to the global Web3 community.
Room III
Selected works
Three paintings on the moments that made the Bitcoin legend.
The 10,000 BTC Pizza
On 22 May 2010, two pizzas were paid for with 10,000 BTC: the first recorded real-world purchase made with Bitcoin.
Mysterious Beginning
How Bitcoin began: a white paper, a first block, and an author nobody has ever seen.
The Endless Mystery
The question that remains open: who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Room IV
The pioneers
Nineteen portraits in the order blockchain history unfolded, from the cryptographers who laid the foundations to the people who brought digital assets into everyday life.
1
David Chaum
Cryptographer whose DigiCash laid the groundwork for anonymous digital money.
2
Stuart Haber
Co-inventor of cryptographic time-stamping (1991), a precursor of the blockchain.
3
Nick Szabo
Coined the term “smart contract” and designed Bit Gold.
4
Wei Dai
Proposed b-money (1998), cited in the Bitcoin white paper.
5
Satoshi Nakamoto
Author of the Bitcoin white paper (2008). Identity still unknown.
6
Hal Finney
Received the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi (2009).
7
Laszlo Hanyecz
Paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas on 22 May 2010.
8
Gavin Andresen
Took over as Bitcoin’s lead developer after Satoshi stepped away.
9
Vitalik Buterin
Co-founder of Ethereum.
10
Gavin Wood
Co-founder of Ethereum, founder of Polkadot.
11
Joseph Lubin
Co-founder of Ethereum, founder of Consensys.
12
Pieter Wuille
Bitcoin Core developer, co-author of SegWit and Taproot.
13
Changpeng Zhao
Founder of Binance.
14
Hayden Adams
Founder of Uniswap.
15
Paolo Ardoino
CEO of Tether.
16
Michael J. Saylor
Co-founder of MicroStrategy (now Strategy), which pioneered Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset.
17
Nayib Bukele
President of El Salvador, the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender (2021).
18
Donald Trump
President of the United States; in 2025 signed the executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
19
Phan Duc Trung
Chair of the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Assets Association (VBA).