Bitcoin’s Wild Ride: 15 Years of Ups and Downs 🚀

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Well, shucks, folks! It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since Gavin Andresen launched the Bitcoin Faucet. Back then, this new-fangled cryptocurrency was barely out of diapers, and nobody knew if it’d amount to a hill of beans. 🤔

But Andresen’s Faucet was a game-changer. It gave away 5 BTC to every visitor, which was a mighty generous offer considerin’ each coin was worth about a buck at the time. It was like findin’ a golden ticket in a chocolate bar! 🍫

Fast forward to today, and Bitcoin’s gone from rags to riches. It’s risen from less than a dollar to over $100,000, makin’ it one of the wildest rides in financial history. And it’s not just the price that’s changed – Bitcoin’s also gone mainstream, with big-time institutions in the financial world gettin’ in on the action. 🚀

Artist Nelson Saiers has created a sculpture called “Liquidity” to commemorate Bitcoin’s rise. It’s a white monolithic block covered in Bitcoin themes and code, with a black faucet on top. It’s a mighty fine piece of art, if I do say so myself. 🎨

Saiers says he placed the sculpture near the NY Stock Exchange to highlight Bitcoin’s massive jump, as well as the role of the US Federal Reserve and traditional institutions in its success. He 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.”

Saiers has been a thorn in the side of US authorities for years, creatin’ art that pokes fun at their policies. He’s installed a vintage gumball machine in front of the Wall Street Bull, and even created an inflatable Bitcoin Rat to express the public’s mistrust of legacy institutions. 🤣

As for his latest piece, Saiers says:

“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

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2025-06-13 00:14