Still Image Award 2017

Matthias Dorfelt, Block Bills

The bitcoin blockchain was parsed with a python script to extract the information that I was interested. The main application that generates the banknotes was written in Lua and C++ using tools/libraries that I build from scratch.

The random seed used to generate each bill is based on the SHA-256 hash that uniquely identifies each block and therefore ties each generated banknote uniquely to that block. The value of each bill represents the approximate transfer volume of bitcoins of the corresponding block.

All the other elements are in a lot of ways a visual interpretation of the data that is stored in each block header such as previous hash, timestamp and merkle root etc.

Archival digital print on paper
5.9 x 3.3 in

A series of 64 banknotes generated from the Bitcoin Blockchain.