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CypherpunkNow is the artistic identity of Martin Fischer, a Czech artist and screenprinter based in Prague. His work explores Bitcoin, cypherpunk culture, cryptoanarchy, privacy, decentralization and individual sovereignty, primarily through physical screenprinted artworks.

Fischer has been a member of the Czech art collective Ztohoven since 2003 and co-founded Paralelní Polis in Prague in 2014, where he also created the original visual identity. He began creating Bitcoin-related screenprints in 2015. Read more about CypherpunkNow.

Yes. CypherpunkNow is Martin Fischer. The name was originally used as a separate artistic identity, partly reflecting the privacy-oriented philosophy of cypherpunk culture.

Today, Martin Fischer and CypherpunkNow are publicly connected and represent the same continuing artistic practice.

Martin Fischer became deeply involved with Bitcoin through the creation of Paralelní Polis in 2014. His earliest surviving Bitcoin-related screenprints date from 2015, which marks the beginning of the body of work that later became CypherpunkNow.

The practice therefore developed alongside Bitcoin culture before NFTs and before “crypto art” became a widely used term.

Martin Fischer co-founded Paralelní Polis in Prague in 2014 and created its original visual identity. The project brought together art, technology, cryptoanarchy, privacy and alternative economic systems, with Bitcoin playing a central role.

Paralelní Polis became the environment in which Fischer went down the Bitcoin rabbit hole and began translating these ideas into physical artwork.

Martin Fischer has been a member of the Czech art collective Ztohoven since 2003. The collective became known for interventions combining art, technology, media and social experimentation.

The experimental culture surrounding Ztohoven later contributed to the creation of Paralelní Polis and forms an important part of the background from which CypherpunkNow developed.

Between 2017 and 2019, Fischer's Bitcoin-focused project was known as Crypto Art Lab. In 2020, he changed the name to CypherpunkNow as the broader meaning of “crypto” increasingly diverged from his Bitcoin-focused position.

The new name also more precisely reflected the ideas behind the work: privacy, cryptography, decentralization, individual sovereignty and the history of the cypherpunk movement.

Crypto Art Lab was the name Martin Fischer used for his Bitcoin-focused art project between 2017 and 2019. It developed from his earlier experiments with Bitcoin and screenprinting following his involvement in Paralelní Polis.

In 2020, the project became CypherpunkNow, reflecting a more explicitly Bitcoin-focused position and a closer connection to the ideas and history of the cypherpunk movement.

The work has appeared under three signatures: Mfish, Fischer and CypherpunkNow. They represent different periods in the development of the same artistic practice rather than three separate artists.

Early works can therefore carry a different signature from contemporary CypherpunkNow pieces. The transition ultimately led to the adoption of CypherpunkNow in 2020.

Bitcoin art is art inspired by Bitcoin, its history, technology, culture and ideas. It can address subjects such as decentralization, monetary sovereignty, cryptography, privacy, proof of work, Satoshi Nakamoto and the cypherpunk movement that preceded Bitcoin.

Bitcoin art does not have to exist on a blockchain or even be digital. CypherpunkNow approaches it primarily through physical screenprinting, translating ideas originating in digital networks into tangible objects.

CypherpunkNow combines collage, drawing, digital pixels and fragments of historical engravings to construct the original image. The final physical artworks are then produced through screenprinting in his Prague studio.

Each colour is prepared and printed separately, one layer at a time. The result combines digital composition with an intentionally physical, manual printing process.

Screenprinting creates an interesting contradiction with Bitcoin. Bitcoin exists as a decentralized digital network, while screenprinting requires physical material, manual labour, time and a sequence of irreversible actions.

CypherpunkNow sees a parallel between the two processes in the concept of proof of work: the finished object carries evidence of the work required to produce it.

Yes. CypherpunkNow's physical editions are hand-pulled screenprints produced in Prague, generally using acrylic ink on paper.

Colours are printed separately through individual screens, so small variations can occur between prints. These differences are part of the physical character of the process rather than defects or mechanically identical reproductions.

Limited physical editions are individually signed and numbered. Many works also include blockchain-based certificates of authenticity and provenance, creating a verifiable record connected to the physical artwork.

CypherpunkNow began using Verisart blockchain certification in 2018, allowing the history and authenticity of physical works to be documented independently of the paper object itself.

They are related but not interchangeable. A physical artwork is the actual screenprint or original object. A blockchain certificate records information about its identity, authenticity and provenance. An NFT is a digital token that can itself be collected or, in some cases, connected to a physical work.

CypherpunkNow began experimenting with NFTs in 2019, but physical screenprinting remains the foundation of the practice.

The work documents more than a decade of Bitcoin and cypherpunk culture. Important works and series include I Am Satoshi Nakamoto, Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, The Bitcoin Tree, Bitcoin White Paper, Cypherpunks Mailing List Puzzle and Bitcoin Meteorite.

Together they address Bitcoin history, monetary systems, cypherpunk mythology, privacy, cryptography and the cultural figures and texts that shaped the movement.

Recurring themes include Bitcoin, privacy, decentralization, censorship resistance, cryptoanarchy, individual sovereignty and freedom from centralized systems.

The imagery also draws heavily on the history surrounding Bitcoin: Satoshi Nakamoto, the original cypherpunks, cryptography, monetary history and the collision between old political or religious iconography and contemporary digital culture.

CypherpunkNow's work has been shown at Bitcoin, crypto-art and contemporary art events internationally, including Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis in Prague, Baltic Honeybadger in Riga, The Lightning Conference in Berlin, LA Crypto Art Show in Los Angeles, Cryptoart Revolution in Paris, Bitcoin conferences in Miami, Amsterdam and Las Vegas, and NFTFactory in Paris.

A chronological exhibition history and visual archive can be found on the About page.

Available physical editions and original artworks can be purchased directly through the CypherpunkNow Art Shop. Older and low-number editions can also be found in Rare Prints.

Because most works are produced in small editions, availability varies considerably between individual pieces.