The Slovenian City of Kranj is Opening a Monument to Blockchain Technologies

Ten years have passed since the publicly unknown individual or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto created the first blockchain and set the stage for the future development of blockchain technology. This included the implementation of the first digital currency, which enabled seamless and transparent transactions by storing data inside the blockchain. While modern cryptocurrencies, in the form of digital money or investment tokens, have reached new levels of popularity due to their expansive growth in the last year, we often forget about the potentials of the original technology with its lack of a central information storage. It is a manifestation of decentralization, usefulness and direct transfers of information without mediators, interconnected and distributed inside of blockchains, where they are protected from alterations or distortions.

Blockchain technologies offer an inexhaustible source of new applicability on the everyday activities in societies and of individuals. By being decentralized they can be used in the sectors of health, administration, food distribution, culture, and all other areas of life. From this perspective, blockchain technologies are the key and major innovations of the last decade. They not only represent the new wave of digital economy, but also embody the technological benchmark that people in the future will take for granted in their day to day lives. Blockchain technology advocates the logic of automated algorithmic creation of trust among individuals. This forms the basis for (co)existence and the (co)creation of the future. And for a better tomorrow.

By being the first monument of its kind in Slovenia as well as the world, the commemoration of this technology in Kranj will serve as a tribute to its useful attributes. The placement of the monument on the roundabout connecting Oldhamska and Gregorčičeva street will symbolize decentralized connections. These not only allow access to a singular point, but also enable a passage to starting points that grant access to many further paths for individuals. Thus, the commemorative monument will not be in a central position, but rather set up as a connecting point for the urban ecosystem of Kranj, symbolizing connectivity and networking.

By revealing the commemorative monument, Slovenia and the city of Kranj will create and send into the world a message that emphasises its openness to digitization, its susceptibility to the use of new technologies and its hospitality towards progressive thinking, which aims not only at the optimization of everyday life, but also at interpersonal trust, transparency and cooperation. To local residents it will be a reminder of connectivity and of openness to new things — the foundations of a quality life in the future.

The city of Kranj is responsible for the monument, local companies 3fs and Bitstamp have donated the resources needed for its construction. Monument will be opened by major of Kranj, Boštjan Trilar, president of Bitcoin Association Slovenia, Jure Pirc and state secretary of Government of Slovenia, Tadej Slapnik.