There’s A Giant Bitcoin Rat on Wall Street And It’s Staring Down the Fed

There’s a towering inflatable rat on Wall Street and it’s found a temporary home in front of a branch of the world’s most powerful bank.

Claws out, fangs fierce, the art piece installed Tuesday is an homage to the giant rats inflated by union protesters as a way to point a finger at companies for mistreating employees. But this latest rat has been updated for modern times. Instead of a dull brown, it’s covered in colorful code and math equations in an ode to bitcoin.

The massive art piece was just installed as a sort of “protest” designed to get viewers to think critically about the state of economics and money management. “Bitcoin will take you apart,” the rat seems to argue from its perch in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s iconic stone exterior. On its piercing blue eyes, its pupils spell out the letters “PoW,” short for proof-of-work, bitcoin’s underlying algorithm.

Not a permanent installation, it’s expected to be on display for a few days according to artist…