But for a few brief moments, much of the internet was focused on a strange clock-like gadget placed just to the right of Twitter TWTRCEO Jack Dorsey’s formidable beard and its stacks on stacks of plain white plates and bowls.
The clock first displayed the number “1952” and then switched to a six-digit number that did not resemble a unit of time at all. Within minutes – a unit of time seemed like this clock unable to measure – the internet had found the answer.
Multiple Twitter users pointed out that the device behind Dorsey was a “Blockclock Mini” – a device that displays blockchain data, including bitcoin prices or the number of blocks on the blockchain, the public digital ledger system on which cryptocurrencies are built.
Dorsey herself seemed to confirm that this was the case, like it at least two tweets that was linked to the device’s website while answering lawmakers’ questions.
The Blockclock was originally created by cryptocurrency hardware company Coinkite to mark 10 years of bitcoin. The Blockclock Mini, as the name suggests, is a new, smaller version of the original and is currently available on the company’s website for $ 399.
Among other benefits, the product page offers owners such as Dorsey the option to “choose your preferred Fiat currency” for the display and name the device “in case you have several”. In fact, it can also be used simply as a clock.
Dorsey is a known cryptocurrency enthusiast – his current one Twitter bio just reads “#bitcoin” – and recently sold its very first tweet as an NFT for $ 2.9 million.