A mysterious man photobombed US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen earlier this week, surreptitiously holding up a legal pad that read “Buy Bitcoin” from his seat a few rows behind the central bank chief as she testified to Congress.
The man, who remains anonymous, quickly won praise from the bitcoin community:
The photobomber was duly christened “Bitcoin Sign Guy” by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Someone who said he is a friend of Bitcoin Sign Guy tweeted an address for bitcoiners to send donations. After some initial skepticism that it could be a scam, a photo of Bitcoin Sign Guy himself holding up the now-famous legal pad with the same bitcoin address scribbled on it appeared.
Within four hours, Bitcoin Sign Guy received nearly $10,000 in donations. Most were for tiny fractions of a bitcoin, although three transactions were for one bitcoin apiece, worth nearly $2,400 at current prices—probably from generous “whales.” The balance (watch it in real-time here) continues to climb, reaching nearly $16,000 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin Sign Guy is a fitting hero for bitcoiners: He hijacked the spotlight from the world’s most powerful central banker to promote a stateless cryptocurrency, and quickly turned a tidy profit for his audacity.