It’s About Time by FractalEncrypt
“It’s About Time” is a mirrored sculpture that invites the viewer to reflect deeply on the meaning of time. What is Time? How is it measured? Where do we, individually and as humanity, fit into the grand Timescape stretching endlessly into the future?
Bitcoin redefines timekeeping—replacing clocktime with blocktime. Seconds, minutes, and hours become irrelevant as blocks define each new tick of the clock. It challenges us to think in centuries, recalibrating humanity’s relationship with time. Bitcoin syncs the entire planet into a single time zone — block height.
This piece brings together my deepest passions: crystal mining, Bitcoin, art, and timekeeping. I’m proud to present the result of a journey that’s been a long time coming.
Let’s explore the elements “It’s About Time” brings together;
A 60-Minute Hourglass with Black Volcanic Sand
The hourglass, one of humanity’s oldest tools for measuring time, symbolizes the inevitable flow of moments, much like the inevitable flow of blocks. Tick Tock, Next Block. The volcanic sand forged deep within the Earth millions of years ago, connects seconds to geological timespans.
A Compass and Sundial Atop a Celestial Star Chart
The compass symbolizes direction and orientation in both space and time, while the sundial, humanity’s earliest timekeeping device, connects us to solar rhythms. The engraved star chart marks the exact celestial positions when the Genesis Block was mined, embedding Bitcoin’s birth within the cosmos.
A Moving Geared Perpetual Calendar
The perpetual calendar, set in motion by turning its knobs, emphasizes that time is not static—it is a series of interconnected moments we move through with intention. Like Bitcoin’s timechain, the calendar’s mechanism ensures that its intervals are precise and predictable, stretching infinitely into the future.
Polarized Double-Helix Block-Epoch Spirals
The geometrically decreasing double helix spiral tracks Bitcoin’s halving epochs, where issuance halves every 210,000 blocks. The first spiral represents the 32 reward epochs in which Bitcoin’s 21 million supply is issued; the second spiral has 32 zero-reward epochs referencing the 64 halvings in the Bitcoin source code.
Crowning the spirals are 190-million-year-old quartz clusters, hand-mined by the artist. Quartz was chosen not only for its age but for its critical role in timekeeping. Quartz crystals vibrate with precise regularity, a property exploited in oscillators used in early clocks and wartime communications during World War II. These oscillators laid the foundation for modern digital systems, much like Bitcoin has redefined how time, value, and information are transmitted in a decentralized world. The ancient quartz connects the timeless principles of natural oscillation to Bitcoin’s steady and unchanging rhythm.
Time-Stairways to the Hourglass Temple of Time.
The Time-Stairways offer two parallel paths: one reflecting conventional ClockTime and the other illustrating Bitcoin’s unique BlockTime. The ClockTime stairway ascends through seconds, minutes, and years, reminding us of the systems we’ve inherited. Opposite, the BlockTime stairway ascends through Genesis, mempool, blocks, and halvings, encouraging the viewer to reflect on non-traditional timescapes humanity is now encountering.
Six Pillars Engraved with Timelocked Bitcoin Private Keys
Each pillar honors a luminary who advanced humanity's understanding of time, mathematics, and science, pairing their contributions with private keys that unlock timelocked Bitcoin. These figures—Einstein, Tesla, Ramanujan, Dirichlet, Euler, Pythagoras, and Archimedes—remind us of the timeless pursuit of knowledge.
This bitcoin was timelocked by Michael Dunworth, who was a big inspiration for this project. He has made the private keys publicly available as a tribute to those who made important contributions to our understanding of numbers, time, mathematics, and science. You can find Michael’s Key List here.
Engravings of the Three Timechain Types
Inspired by The Timechain Codex, the planetary, solar, and galactic timechains extend Bitcoin’s temporal framework across astronomical scales.
Planetary Timechains operate on a planetary scale, like Bitcoin, with block times of around 10 minutes.
Solar Timechains span solar systems, with block times measured in months or years.
Galactic Timechains extend to entire galaxies, with block times unfolding over centuries.
Bitcoin Timelocked for 210 Years
Ten Bitcoin addresses, timelocked for 21-year increments, will gradually unlock a total of 5 million satoshis over 210 years. The release schedule mirrors Bitcoin’s halving cycle and reinforces the concept that “Bitcoiners make plans that play out over centuries.”
|
Timelock Expiration Year |
Blockheight On January 3 |
Reward in Satoshis |
|
2045 |
1929149 |
2,000,000 |
|
2066 |
3033629 |
1,000,000 |
|
2087 |
4138109 |
500,000 |
|
2108 |
5242445 |
300,000 |
|
2129 |
6347069 |
200,000 |
|
2150 |
7451585 |
100,000 |
|
2171 |
8556101 |
100,000 |
|
2192 |
9660617 |
100,000 |
|
2213 |
10765133 |
100,000 |
|
2234 |
11869649 |
100,000 |
A Non-Timelocked Wallet Canary
The non-timelocked wallet holds 450,000 satoshis and serves as a honeypot/safeguard. Its presence signals the integrity of the sculpture’s private keys, ensuring that the timelocked Bitcoin remains secure and uncompromised.
A Secret Compartment with a 1/1 FractalEncrypt Physical Bitcoin
Hidden within the sculpture is a one-of-a-kind FractalEncrypt physical Bitcoin, engraved with the private key to unlock the timelocked addresses. Protected by tamper-evident seals, the key remains concealed until “It’s About Time.” The decision to reveal or preserve the key is left to the owner or their heirs, The Contemplative Bitcoiner’s version of an “Heirloom.”
The Future Arrives One Block At A Time.
Time Is Counted By Blocks, Not Seconds.
Each Block is a Tick of the Clock
