Crypto Vandalism Strikes Lugano: Satoshi Nakamoto Statue Stolen and Dumped in Lake
In a brazen act of crypto-culture vandalism, Lugano's iconic Satoshi Nakamoto statue vanished overnight—only to be found submerged in a nearby lake. Authorities confirm the bronze tribute to Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator was forcibly removed from its plaza pedestal.
Who Dumped Satoshi?
Local police are reviewing surveillance footage, but early signs point to coordinated theft. The 300-pound statue left drag marks leading straight to the waterfront—suggesting perpetrators either had a serious grudge or really didn't want to pay scrap metal fees.
Meanwhile, Lugano's 'Bitcoin City' PR team is scrambling. The statue was a centerpiece of their crypto tourism push—though ironically, its disappearance did more to spike global Bitcoin searches than three years of bullish price predictions.
As investigators drain the lake (and crypto Twitter drains its meme reserves), one hedge fund manager quipped: 'Finally, a Bitcoin transaction with actual liquidity.'
The Satoshi statue was cut off and removed from its staging platform. Source: Satoshigallery
What happened to the Satoshi statue?
The theft seemed to have been pointed out by @Grittoshi, a concerned Bitcoin fan who tagged several people on X and asked where the statue had gone.
After the user called attention to its disappearance, Satoshigroup confirmed the theft via a post on X and offered anyone with information on its whereabouts 0.1 BTC, which is approximately worth $11,000 at current prices.
“You can steal our symbol but you will never be able to steal our souls. Thank you all for the nice messages,” the group wrote before emphasizing its resolve to continue the project of installing Satoshi Nakamoto statues in 21 cities worldwide.
No clear motives or suspects have been identified, and authorities did not release further details on the theft. In the meantime, Satoshigallery is encouraging public involvement.
Shortly after the announcement of the bounty for the statue, @Grittoshi, the same one referenced by earlier reports as the person who reported the disappearance, shared a tweet explaining what he believes happened to the statue.
“Ockham’s razor, my theory is as follow,” he wrote. “I was in the parc on August 1st at night. It was still there. Twas Swiss National day. Many youngsters went drunk on the open aur café just besdide the statue. On their way back home they just had “fun” with the statue (welded by only 2 points that still remain as you can see on my pics).”
Grittoshi theorized that since there are cameras everywhere in the city, the kids must have thrown it inside the lake nearby before heading home.
“No way, they could have carried it unnoticed in the city,” he concluded. “So my opinion: it is in the lake, just beside its previous location.”
A couple of hours later, he shared pictures of the recovered statue, as well as a quote tweet tagging footage of its recovery.
Update: it seems i was right about the turn of events pic.twitter.com/X6qNYDreBC
— Gritto (@Grittoshi) August 3, 2025
Satoshi statues set to go up in 21 cities worldwide
The statue was designed by Italian artist Valentina Picozzi and allegedly fashioned from 304 stainless steel and corten blocks. It was unveiled in October 2024 as part of Lugano’s push to become a global bitcoin hub and was marketed as a tribute to Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The third Statue of Satoshi Nakamoto was just unveiled in Tokyo!
Here is the location
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan: https://t.co/Zn32sYZsCK
Images create culture
Culture shapes values
Values influence the future
We are all Satoshi! https://t.co/HcBAtmxSKL pic.twitter.com/2Rgw05OQjq
— Satoshigallery (@satoshigallery) April 25, 2025
The statue’s concept, which features a disappearing effect that makes it disappear when viewed from the front or behind, is a nod to Nakamoto’s anonymity and reportedly took 18 months of research and three months to build.
It was placed in front of Villa Ciani during the Plan B Forum, an annual blockchain event co-hosted by the city of Lugano and stablecoin issuer Tether.
As it stands, Satoshigallery has put up the same statue in two other places across the world aside from Lugano. One is situated at Bitcoin Beach, El Salvador, while the other was just recently unveiled in Tokyo, Japan.
Despite the disaster that met the one in Lugano, the group will continue putting up the statues until there are 21 of them scattered across the world.
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