Pascal "PBOY" Boyart, La liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist.
Pascal "PBOY" Boyart, La liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist.

Want to get your hands on some free Bitcoin? There’s $1,000 worth of the cryptocurrency currently up for grabs thanks to French street artist Pascal “PBOY” Boyart, who has turned his latest mural into a puzzle hiding the prize.

Boyart, who often bases his compositions on famous works from art history, created the mural as a modern-day version of French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. But this time, the rebels who rose up against King Charles X in 1830 have been recast as the “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) protesters, who in late 2018 took to the streets to challenge French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms as favoring the rich.

To guide those on the treasure hunt, Boyart has shared a high-resolution image of the artwork, but claims you can only solve part of the puzzle remotely. To claim the prize (which adds up to just over one quarter of a full Bitcoin), you’ll have to track down the painting’s secret location and see it in person.

The artist announced the contest on Twitter, crediting Alistair Milne, a self-described entrepreneur and Bitcoin “evangelist,” with sponsoring the stunt. It’s a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the so-called genesis block that began the Bitcoin block chain on January 3, 2009, and anyone can add to the purse at the public wallet address. (At least one donation has already been made.)

“It’s up to you to find the wall and the solution to the puzzle,” Boyart wrote on his website.

The street art treasure hunt is an appropriate way for the artist to give back to his fans. Boyart received over $1,000 in donations after he added a QR code to one of his murals last spring. The artwork, titled Rembrandt dos au mur (Rembrandt Back Against the Wall), featured a portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn in which the subject pours over a complicated tax bill, referencing the Dutch Golden Age painter’s lifelong financial struggles.

See more images of the work below.

Pascal “PBOY” Boyart, La liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist.

Pascal “PBOY” Boyart, La liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist.

Pascal “PBOY” Boyart, La liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist.