There are 21 million bitcoins. That number is fixed, written in the protocol, final. This is one of the most important decisions in the history of money, yet for many people it remains a fantasy. Green numbers are running down the black screen like something out of The Matrix, or a story being told on a podcast.
Japanese artist Kawara spent nearly fifty years painting a date every day on canvas – if he didn’t finish by midnight, he ruined it. Anik Malcolm spent 900 hours painting 21 million beads. The idea is the same: create a physical output, create a reading story, let the work have meaning.
“The Whole Universe” is an idea that was born at the beginning of the year 2025 and now in its third and most demanding body: a fine oil painting that is represented as each bead, painted by hand over 900 hours. The project will begin at Bitcoin 2026 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.
The content was simple – to show 21 million views of something. But while searching for a way to do it, Malcolm stumbles into something very close to a tesseract – a shape that reveals multiple dimensions when looked at. Twenty-one million does not divide well into a cube – its cube root is an irrational number. But if you round to the nearest whole number, 276, and subtract it, you get 21,024,576 – exactly 24,576 more than 21 million. The additions are divided equally by six (one on each face of the cube), yielding 4,096 beads to remove from each face. The square root of 4,096 is 64 – a square root and a power of two. Which means that the removed areas can be reduced repeatedly: from 64 × 64, to 32 × 32, to 16 × 16, to 2 × 2 – mirroring, with incredible precision, a way to reduce bitcoin.
He opened the box and the sample was already inside. For him, this work is not a metaphor for Bitcoin – it is still his life. The most realistic painting possible, rendered so vividly that it has caught the attention of Adam Back.
From the original paintings shown in Lugano to the digital photography to the oil painting that debuted at B26 – and the human-made sculpture in Roatán – “The Whole Entire Universe” continues to demand the big screen.
I spoke to Anik Malcolm about how a simple question yields a surprising answer.
BMAG: The Universe began with a simple idea – create an artwork that shows 21 million views of something. How did you come to that idea, and what was it like when your wife – an artist and jeweler – said about the bead cube? How does this kind of exchange between friends help you?
Anik Malcolm: The initial motivation was simple – it struck me that although the number 21M is very important to us as bitcoiners, it is a number that is difficult to recognize without seeing it. It’s big at the same time, and small and “human” in scale – so I wanted to find a way to bring the figure to life, to make it feel. My wife Una and I have been involved in many projects over the years, both in visual and sonic art, so we have developed the creative skills to be effective. I presented this idea to him in conversation, and his immediate response was “beads”. I loved all of this because the cube is such a prominent symbol in bitcoin, both visually and figuratively, and that the necklace was one of the first forms of exchange – the combination made perfect sense, and was scalable. I immediately started working on what happened, calculator in hand, and I couldn’t believe what I found..!
BMAG: When you started researching whether 21 million can fit into a cube, you stumbled upon a series of mathematical coincidences – 276 cubed, the remaining 4,096 divided by six, the square root landed on 64 (I can’t help hearing the Beatles lyric “When I 64” in my head). Take us to that time. Did you immediately notice what you were looking at, or did it appear gradually?
Anik Malcolm: Haha – wow, I had never connected with the Beatles! Amazing. Yes, it happened very quickly. Obviously the cube root of 21M is not a rational number, so I knew I had to do something to get it right. I naturally started with the idea of rounding the cube root to 276 and subtracting from there – as you said before, to get to 21,024,576, and it was fast when the remaining 24,576 was well divided into 6, meaning I could give the shape I wanted. That rush, however, was greatly enhanced by the fact that I felt that I recognized the number 4,096, and I was really shaking when I entered the “square root of 4096” into my calculator, and when I saw the result I was completely surprised – Una happily witnesses the whole process! The fact that I could not spread the number removed equally on all six sides, and to do so in good circles to get 21,000,000 as a moment of divine guidance, as if this symmetry was sealed from the beginning and was waiting to be found, and that maybe there was a deep need for someone, one day. I immediately knew that he had given me a very important job.
BMAG: The example you found – squares with halves from 64 × 64 down to 2 × 2 – shows the way to reduce bitcoin. You’ve described the piece as “the old life of Bitcoin.” How much of that connection did you make to search, and how much felt like it was already entered into code waiting to be found?
Anik Malcolm: Yes – I was so impressed with what I found at first that it was not until another time that I realized, to my great surprise, the obvious fact that I can divide 64 in 32, 16, 8, 4, and 2 – not only to make a cube that looks very good, but in this process it also represents the work of reducing it in a very deep way, and the size of bitcoin. on the other hand, it is a direct result of the decline. I felt that one cube has everything that bitcoin has to do, and in a very surprising way – I was, and still am, after one year, I am very surprised by the beauty of it all, that is why I have made it so much in the work of my life, for this time. So to answer this question – I didn’t want to find it at all, so I feel like I’m just a messenger, a job that allows me to stand strongly behind it since it’s not my creation but just a discovery.
BMAG: The initial oil painting of Bitcoin 2026 took more than 900 hours – each bead representing a bitcoin, painted by hand. What does such constant work do to your relationship with the subject? Does spending time with 21 million change the way you think about that number?
Anik Malcolm: This is a very interesting question, and one that I have thought about a lot at the moment. As I visualize the two sides of a fixed 3D object, I “myself” had to draw 227,701 visible beads – each, however, three: body, lighting, shadow, not to mention the bottom grid.
The whole process, as you can imagine, was very meditative, and I found that the “disturbed” thoughts could affect my creativity, so that in itself it became a work of awareness, acceptance, and tolerance – a process of growth of the kind that many describe to meet in their bitcoin journey.
Then, I realized that the music that was difficult for me could have the same effect, so over time the playlist changed to music that was compatible with the cube instead of against it – Arvo Pärt, David Lang, Kjartan Sveinsson, etc.
The third time, I began to notice many other patterns within the numbers, many of which were connected to Tesla’s “3,6,9” concept, and I also began to repeat the words of the man as I painted, dot by dot, in the pattern of 3,6,9!
So I can say that instead of using the meaning of the number and its cubic form, I came under its influence over time – physically, mentally, and spiritually. There is a certain “sanctity” of bitcoin that I feel we all agree on to a greater or lesser degree, and my experience in real estate was a true reflection of that.
BMAG: This idea has gone from drawings in Lugano to digital models and educational videos to oil paintings, and you are planning a public sculpture in Roatán. What is it about this idea that just wants a big brand?
Anik Malcolm: Actually, both the Lugano paintings and the B26 paintings (each 128 × 128 cm – about 4’2″) are on the smallest scale that I can accurately represent the number! Each bead is 2mm (5/64″) – even smaller for the top face – so any smaller would be impossible. I also want to build a similar or similar bust, hopefully in the next 12 months, as 55.2cm (under 2′) is still growable. However, I met someone in Lugano who had spent years looking for the right idea for a Bitcoin artist in Roatán, and I saw that this worked out well. Even at the size of the bead only 1cm (about ⅜ “) and a difference of 1cm between the visible and the kinetic effect, the cube itself grows quickly to 5.52m (about 18′), not counting the support system and the rise from the ground.
BMAG: Adam Back has realized the work. But if someone comes to this picture at B26 with no math and no interest in Bitcoin technology – what do you want them to see or say?
Anik Malcolm: I think my daughter is a good representative of these people! He told me the other day that he often comes into the room where the painting is drying “just to look at it for a while.” As I saw while painting – I feel that there is a sense of calmness that the dimensions of the cube and its shape come out, float and shine in its abyss, and combined with the sounds that are given are meditative and inspiring. And even for basic math – there are 21 removed squares visible in this picture! (Some beautiful events – 1 square of 64², 4 squares of 32², and 16 squares of 16².) I feel, I hope, that all the guests of B26 and finally the future owner of the picture will find a deep and stable joy from the peace that was kept quietly in the magic number, as I and my family do in the constant journey of truth. all information about bitcoin.
Prepare the money. Fix the world.
“The Whole Universe” by Anik Malcolm first appeared in the BMAG art gallery at Bitcoin 2026, April 27-29, at The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas. Check out the job and see more from the BMAG B26 show HERE. A limited edition shirt is available HERE.
The Bitcoin Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) is the archive and cultural arm of BTC Inc and the Bitcoin Conference. Since 2019, the BMAG art gallery has contributed more than 120 BTC in sales and marketing. Find out more about BMAG at museum.b.tc. Follow BMAG on twitter @BMAG_HQ.
Combine your Bitcoin 2026 pass and stay at The Venetianand get your fourth night free. Use code AFTERS for a free After Hours Pass, or get your pass here.
