Bitcoin Slang Terms, Words, & Expressions
In an increasingly digitized world, online culture will continue to affect the language we use both online and offline. These expressions have become commonplace among bitcoin users all around the world, yet the majority of people still don’t grasp the lingo that is so prevalent in the bitcoin community. Here is a list of the most frequently used Bitcoin slang words and expressions.
HODL
On December 18th, 2013, a typo in a bitcoin thread titled “I AM HODLING” gave birth to the word HODL and changed the world forever. HODL refers to keeping rather than selling after a bitcoin price crash and has become the battle cry of the true bitcoin believer as a means of showing devotion to the ideals that are built into bitcoin. For those with weak hands, HODL has become an acronym to mean Hold On for Dear Life. For those with Strong hands, it means something more like Hard Money. On-Chain. Don’t Sell. Long Term.
Real World Use: “Buy some Bitcoin and HODL for at least 210,000 blocks.”
Down The Rabbit Hole
The term “Down the Rabbit Hole” isn’t specific to bitcoin but it means that you learn more about bitcoin and how the entire ecosystem works the further down the rabbit hole you go. Hopefully this page helps you to better understand some of the terms that you’ll hear as you make your way down the bitcoin rabbit hole.
Real World Use: “I told my dad about bitcoin and now he’s on his way down the rabbit hole.”
Stacking Sats
Sats is short for satoshi which is the smallest amount of bitcoin. A sat is 1/100,000,000 of a Bitcoin and is named after the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Real World Use: “I don’t store my wealth in dollars. I don’t trade. I just keep stacking sats and move them to my hardware wallet!”
Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins
Not your keys, not your coins means that if you do not control the private keys of a bitcoin wallet, then you do not actually own the bitcoin in that wallet. In order to ensure that you are the one in control of your own bitcoin, you need to be sure that you are the one in control of your private keys.
If you have bitcoin on an exchange, you don’t actually own that bitcoin. All you have is an IOU on those bitcoin and they actually belong to the exchange and the history of bitcoin has shown us that third-party custodians cannot be trusted with your bitcoin.
Run The Numbers
“Run the numbers” is a slang term that became popular in 2020 after it was discovered that a prominent shitcoin project was unable to audit its own circulating supply. Using the command “gettxoutsetinfo” at block height 650,000, node operators conducted the greatest coordinated audit of the bitcoin supply on September 26th, 2020.
After all those plebs ran the numbers, it was universally determined that the supply of Bitcoin can be successfully audited and that the quantity of Bitcoin in circulation at block height 650,000 was precisely 18,499,823.37744111 BTC.
“Run the numbers” technically refers to auditing the supply of bitcoin, but it is more commonly used to troll fiat and shitcoin maximalists who are unable to verify their own money supply.
You can always audit and check the current supply of bitcoin if you’re interested in doing so. You only have to do two things.
You need to run a bitcoin node and run the numbers.
Likely Illegal
When Kracken’s head of growth tweeted a thread about leveraging your bitcoin to earn more bitcoin on December 2, 2020, the phrase “likely illegal” entered the Bitcoin lexicon. He cited providing liquidity for CoinJoins as one of the methods to stack more sats, but added in parenthesis that CoinJoins are “likely illegal.” It didn’t take long for the plebs to correct him and point out that CoinJoins are not illegal in any way.
It’s become a bit of a troll to say anything is “likely illegal” since that day.
Moscow Time
On March 25, 2021, Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter and CashApp) shared a photograph with a little clock in the backdrop that didn’t appear to be displaying California time, where Jack lives. Soon after, a “data breach hunter” named Chris claimed that Jack was acting under duress and showing Moscow time in military format. Chris claimed that Jack was “blinking in morse code” to let the world know that he was under duress. The army of bitcoin plebes quickly informed this breach hunter that Jack’s clock is merely a Blockclock Mini that was displaying the number of sats per dollar. At the time of Jack’s photo, bitcoin was 1952 sats/dollar.
Within the next 24 hours, “Moscow Time” became one of Bitcoin’s new slang terms which simply means sats per dollar. Since then, a setting for Moscow Time has been added to the Blockclock.
Real World Use: “Bitcoin just hit a new ATH. It’s 1340 Moscow Time.
Jessica, hello
“Jessica, hello” was coined by one of Bitcoin’s favorite energy FUD debunkers, Nic Carter, when he responded to a tweet from Bitcoin influencer, Jessica Vaughn, defending masculinity. Within a few hours, more than 700 plebs had liked Nic’s tweet making “Jessica, hello” Bitcoin Twitter’s newest pickup line.
“Jessica, hello” has since become a flirtatious way to reply to a tweet on Bitcoin Twitter.
Shadowy Super Coder
At a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs named “Cryptocurrencies: What Are They Good For?”
A senator named Elizabeth Warren shared her thoughts regarding Bitcoin and crypto in general.
Elizabeth believes that more regulation is needed for the Bitcoin industry as a whole because there are too many parallels between the current financial sector and Bitcoin. Senator Warren claims that a financial sector that is “at the whims of some shadowy faceless group of super coders and miners” is no different than traditional government issued money and banking elites.
Since then, many plebs identify as “shadowy super coders.”
The full committee hearing can be seen here: Cryptocurrencies: What Are They Good For?
Have Fun Staying Poor
Have fun staying poor became part of Bitcoin terminology in 2020 when the World Economic Forum published a short video about how the future will be different than expected.
The first statement they presented in the video is “you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.” The World Economic Forum appears to believe that everyone will perpetually rent everything they need from a ruling elite class. It didn’t take long for bitcoin plebes to rephrase “you will own nothing and you’ll be happy” as “you’ll stay poor and you’ll have fun.”
Numerous plebs have memed HFSP in dozens of ways and counting. Songs have even been written about it and published to YouTube.
Since every fiat currency and shitcoin will eventually trend to zero in relation to Bitcoin, HFSP is often used to refute pretty much anyone who doesn’t understand that Bitcoin will become the global reserve currency.
Quantitative Hardening
Quantitative hardening (QH) is a term coined by twitter user @Schmieglese on March 6th of 2019 to compare the increase in the supply of fiat to that of bitcoin. The increase of the supply of fiat is called Quantitative Easing (QE). Quantitative easing is a type of modern monetary policy in which a central bank prints more money and keeps the interest rate low to promote lending and investment. The long term consequence of QE is the overextension of credit and an inevitable crisis when borrowers are unable repay their loans and the market crashes.
In contrast, Quantitative Hardening is sound monetary policy in which the supply of new money is decreasing or “getting harder” to produce over time. With each and every halving cycle, bitcoin becomes harder and harder to produce and thus becomes harder money.
In a nutshell, Quantitative Hardening means that bitcoin is becoming more difficult to create, and as long as demand remains constant or increases, the price will continue to rise.
The Halving
The Halving or Halvening is when the issuance of new bitcoin (the block subsidy) is cut in half and as a result, the supply of new coins is much more scarce. The halving is supposed to mimic a gold mine running out of gold. The Halving takes place every 210,000 blocks, which is approximately every 4 years.
There have been 3 Halvings so far.
The first halvening took place on November 28th, 2012 and halved the block reward from 50 bitcoins to 25.
The second halvening took place on July 9th, 2016 and halved the block reward from 25 bitcoins to 12.5.
The third halvening took place on May 11th, 2020 and halved the block reward from 12.5 bitcoins to 6.25.
Real World Use: “Buy some bitcoin and HODL for at least one halving.”
Bitcoin Maximalist
A Bitcoin Maximalist is the term used to describe an individual who knows that Bitcoin is the only true digital asset and all of the imitators are nothing but shitcoins that will trend to zero in relation to bitcoin.
Real World Use: “He used to be into gold and silver but now he’s a Bitcoin maximalist.”
Sats Are The Standard
Sats (satoshis) Are The Standard unit of measurement in bitcoin. One satoshi is equal to one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin, making it the smallest unit of measurement of bitcoin. The name “satoshi” is derived from Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. While sats are often used to measure small amounts of Bitcoin, they can also be used to refer to larger sums. For example, “stacking sats” refers to accumulating as many sats as possible in order to grow one’s Bitcoin holdings over time.
Consequently, sats are often used as a way to measure small amounts of bitcoin without having to deal with fractional numbers. For example, someone might say they paid 500 sats for a cup of coffee, which means that they only spent .00000500 BTC for a cup of coffee.
NGMI: Not Gonna Make It
NGMI is bitcoin twitter slang for “Not Gonna Make It” and it has become the de facto response to uninformed responses for those who clearly don’t understand bitcoin. NGMI is often used in response to a tweet or comment by someone who is economically illiterate or simply uninformed about bitcoin. This person is usually a fiat system supporter or what’s known as a “nocoiner.” NGMI is also used to describe people who don’t own any bitcoin, aka “nocoiners.” While NGMI is primarily used in a joking manner, there is some truth to the phrase. Fiat currencies have failed throughout history and will continue to fail due to their centralization and lack of sound monetary properties. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is decentralized and has a finite supply which makes it superior to every fiat money in existence.
Get Off Zero & Get On Zero
If you’re new to the world of Bitcoin, one of the first things you need to do is buy your first fraction of a bitcoin. “Get off zero” refers to buying at least a small amount of bitcoin and withdrawing it to your own wallet. This is important for two reasons: first, it ensures that you have control over your own bitcoins (known as “self-custody”). Second, it means that you can start “stacking sats” – that is, accumulating small amounts of bitcoin over time.
One of the best ways to buy bitcoin is to buy a fraction of a bitcoin. There’s no need to buy a whole bitcoin all at once – you can purchase a small amount and withdraw it to your own wallet. By doing this, you can slowly but steadily build up your bitcoin holdings over time. So if you’re serious about getting involved in the world of Bitcoin, make sure to “get off zero” and buy as many sats as you can reasonably afford.
“Get On Zero” is for those who want to own 100% bitcoin and no fiat currency. This means that you are in complete control of your own money and you are not subject to the whims of centralized banks or governments. This approach is different from buying and selling bitcoin, which can be volatile and risky. Stacking sats helps you slowly build up your bitcoin holdings over time, giving you a more secure and stable bitcoin stack. There are many ways to stack sats, but one popular method is to use a service that offers dollar cost averaging, where you spend a fixed amount of money on bitcoin every day/week/month, etc. This approach helps to reduce the risk of buying bitcoin when the price is high and allows you to gradually accumulate a larger position over time. Get on zero is a great way to 100% self custody your bitcoin and take control of your financial future.
Don’t Trust. Verify.
“Don’t trust. Verify.” is a phrase that is particularly important to bitcoiners. Bitcoin itself and all of the most trusted wallets are open-source code that can be audited by the global bitcoin community. This means that we don’t need to trust any third parties, like a central bank or payment processor. Instead, anyone can run their own bitcoin node and verify the code for themselves. Furthermore, open-source projects are typically peer-reviewed, which means that they have been checked and approved by other experienced developers. As a result, open-source projects are generally more secure and trustworthy than closed-source ones. In short, “Don’t trust. Verify.” is part of the core ethos of anyone running bitcoin.
Bitcoin Fixes This
Bitcoin Fixes This is a phrase often used by bitcoiners who understand that central banking, which is the currently accepted standard for money, is the root of many problems in society. Bitcoin, which is honest money not controlled by central banks, provides solutions to these problems by aligning incentives in a way that benefits everyone. For example, central banks often create inflationary policies that benefit politicians and special interests while harming regular citizens. With bitcoin, there is no central authority that can manipulate the money supply, so everyone benefits from sound economic policies. In addition, central banks are often used as a tool of political manipulation, leading to disastrous economic policies.
Because bitcoin is not controlled by any central authority, it cannot be used to manipulate the economy for political gain. As more people become aware of the benefits of bitcoin, they will begin to demand it as a replacement for central bank-controlled fiat currencies.
Boating Accident
Imagine you’re out boating on a beautiful day, enjoying the sun and the water. But then, tragedy strikes! You hit a wave and capsize, losing your phone and wallet in the process. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, your wallet just happened to be where you stored your Bitcoin private keys. Now, not only are you stranded without a way to call for help, but you’ve also lost all of your Bitcoin. Since you no longer have any way to access your Bitcoin, you can claim it as a loss on your taxes.
If you ever hear anyone joking about a boating accident in relation to their bitcoin, they are talking about taking a tax loss and no longer having any bitcoin.
Laser Ray Til 100K
Laser Ray Til 100K is a bitcoin twitter movement that was started by the user @Chairforce_BTC. It gave birth to the hashtag #LaserRayTil100K. All of the users who have laser eyes will keep them until the price of bitcoin hits 100K USD. The theory is that having all of these Laser Eyes on Bitcoin, it will bring awareness and attention to bitcoin.
The movement has had such an impact that several US senators added laser eyes to their Twitter profiles for a short while.
Bitcoin Pleb
A bitcoin pleb is a standard bitcoin user. Plebs are interested in bitcoin to change the world and stack more sats; not more fiat currency. They are deeply committed to the success of bitcoin and are often seen as stubborn and inflexible, but their loyalty to the original vision of bitcoin is undeniable. They are the ones who buy bitcoin when the price is low and buying more when it’s high. They are the ones who HODL when everyone else is FUDDING. They are the bitcoin evangelists, preaching the gospel of Satoshi Nakamoto to anyone who will listen. And they are the ones who will never give up on bitcoin, even when the price is crashing and everyone else has lost faith.
The Orange Pill
For those new to bitcoin, taking the “orange pill” or being “orange pilled” is a term used to describe the process of learning about and acquiring your first fraction of a bitcoin.
It is derived from the famous scene in The Matrix where Morpheus offers Neo a choice between a red pill and a blue pill. In the scene, the blue pill would allow Neo to remain in the Matrix, living in ignorance, while the red pill would reveal the truth about the world and allow him to escape. Orange pill refers to information that is designed to wake people up to the truth about Bitcoin.
In the context of Bitcoin, “taking the orange pill” means that you understand the truth about the current financial system and have decided to wake up as Neo did in The Matrix.
Once someone has decided to take the orange pill, they have decided to buy their first fraction of a bitcoin, secure their bitcoin in a wallet of their choosing, take sole responsibility for their private keys, and begin learning more about Bitcoin and how it is changing the world.
Printer Go Brrr
The printer go brrr, or money printer go brrr, is a bitcoin slang term used to describe the printing of money by central banks in order to stimulate the economy. The term was popularized by the meme of a money printer going brrr, which went viral on social media in 2019. The money printer go brrr meme highlights the inflationary nature of printing money and the negative effects it can have on the value of money.
The money printer go brrr meme is often used to criticize central banks for their quantitative easing policies. Quantitative easing is a form of stimulus that involves the printing of money in order to buy assets, such as government bonds, in order to increase the money supply and lower interest rates. While quantitative easing can have positive effects on the economy, it can also lead to inflation and erode the value of money.
NGU: Number Go Up
NGU, or number go up, is popular slang among bitcoin enthusiasts. The phrase encapsulates the idea that the value of bitcoin will continue to increase over time. This sentiment is reflected in the rapid growth of bitcoin’s price over the past few years. While some have criticized bitcoin for its volatile price swings, NGU supporters believe that the long-term trend is still upwards. They point to the growing popularity of bitcoin and its increasing use as a means of payment as evidence of its continued success.
While NGU began solely to indicate the the price of bitcoin goes up over time, it has since become to represent all of the numbers that go up over time in bitcoin. Bitcoin price number go up. Block height number go up. Hashrate Number Go Up. Personal stack number go up and much more.
Hyperbitcoinization
Hyperbitcoinization is the inverse of hyperinflation and it occurs when the price of all fiat currencies completely collapse in relation to bitcoin and bitcoin becomes the world’s dominant money. Fiat currencies will be abandoned by their users at such a turning point, and the legacy financial system will become obsolete. When this occurs, bitcoin will become the world’s default base money system, and products and services will be priced directly in bitcoin.
You are likely to hear all about hyperbitcoinization along your journey down the rabbit hole.
Real World Use: “Once hyperbitcoinization happens, I won’t need to work for dollars anymore cause everything will be priced in sats.”
UTX Hoe
UTX Hoe is a derivation of UTXO and a term used to describe someone who is only interested in you for your bitcoin. UTX Hoes are typically female, and will often try to meet up with you in person or online to trick you to surrender your seed phrase in order to steal all of your bitcoin.
Satfish
Satfish, a conjoining of the words “sats” & “catfish”, refers to a malicious individual who poses as a female persona online, typically on dating platforms, with the intention of extracting sensitive personal information such as seed phrases from unsuspecting victims. They tend to use attractive female identities to build rapport and gain the victim’s trust and are notorious for phishing for victims by asking “How’s your trade going?”. Once the victim divulges confidential information, the satfish may use this data to commit fraudulent acts, such as stealing bitcoin or engaging in other financial scams.
Bitcoiners like to say “If a beautiful women ever appears in your DMs asking how your trade is going, ignore him.”
Generic Bitcoin Slang
Not all bitcoin slang words are as niche as others. Some bitcoin slang is simple and easy to understand without much explanation. Knowing these more generic bitcoin slang words and terms will help you to better understand a lot more common bitcoin expressions that have also been adopted by other parts of finance.
Altcoins & Shitcoins
Altcoins/Shitcoins are any coins that are not bitcoin. The term altcoin was coined to describe coins that are alternate to bitcoin.
Real World Use: “Don’t buy ETH! That’s a centrally controlled pre-mined shitcoin!”
Buy The Dip
Buy the dip is an expression coming from bitcoin’s volatility and buying bitcoins at a discounted rate. When the market price dips, you buy more bitcoin so that you have a lower cost basis. Buying the dip is like buying bitcoin when it’s on sale.
Real World Use: “The market is dumping! Looks like it’s time to buy the dip!”
DYOR
DYOR is Do Your Own Research and it is one of the biggest problems in the entire Bitcoin space. Too many people take the word of other people without doing their own research and they end up getting rekt.
Real World Use: “I think it’s a good wallet but you should DYOR before you use it for large amounts of bitcoin.”
Exit Scam
An exit scam is when a company raises money for something and then never actually delivers any goods or services. It can also be when a bitcoin exchange runs off with their user’s bitcoin.
Real World Use: It’s safer to just buy and HODL. Then you don’t have to worry about getting exit scam’d.”
FOMO
FOMO is the Fear Of Missing Out and it is an emotional response to when the price of bitcoin is moving up or down a lot. Whenever the price of bitcoin pumps, lots of newer users FOMO and panic sell or buy in.
Real World Use: “Don’t FOMO. Just buy the dip and HODL.”
FUD & FUDster
FUD is Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. We’ve probably all had some sort of fear when the price is dumping or been uncertain on whether or not the price will go up or down and doubted some of the decisions that we’ve made but if you’re in it for the HODL, then FUD shouldn’t bother you.
A FUDster is simply one who spreads fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Real World Use: “Jamie Dimon is a serial FUDster. Don’t buy into his FUD.”
Lambo
Lambo is short for Lamborghini and one of the ongoing jokes in the bitcoin space about when 1 single bitcoin will be able to buy a Lambo. You might even hear someone ask in internet short speak, “When Lambo?” to know when 1 bitcoin can buy a Lamborghini.
Real World Use: “I am going to HODL for 10 years and then buy a Lambo!”
Nocoiner, Precoiner, and Newcoiner
A nocoiner is someone who talks like they know a lot about bitcoin but in reality, they don’t have any of their own and they speak poorly of bitcoin.
A precoiner is someone who has not yet purchased their first fraction of a bitcoin but they are asking all of the right questions.
A newcoiner is someone who just recently got into bitcoin and purchased their first fraction of a bitcoin.
Real World Use: “Yeah, she talks a lot about bitcoin but she’s still a nocoiner.”
Shill
A shill is technically part of an old sales trick. When a traveling salesman would come to a town to sell a magic elixir or some sort of snake oil, there would be a paid customer in the crowd to buy some of this magic elixir, and their wounds would be healed just like magic. Well, in the land of magic internet money, there’s no shortage of shills trying to convince you that their newest investment will cure your financial problems.
Real World Use: “My coworker is shilling some new shitcoin because he thinks it’s going to pump.”
To The Moon
“To The Moon” was coined by a bitcoin user several years ago implying that the price of bitcoin is going “to the moon”. You will commonly hear terms like “When Moon?” asking other bitcoiners when they think the price of bitcoin is going to skyrocket to the moon.
You will see lots of moon pictures and memes in the bitcoin space as a result of “To The Moon” catching on.
Real World Use: “You should totally buy some bitcoin because it’s going to the moon!”
Whale
A whale is someone with a large amount of bitcoin who has the ability to move the market price up or down by a large amount in a short period of time. They are called whales because they can “make waves” in the market.
Real World Use: “Did you see that a whale just dumped a bunch of bitcoin and pushed the price way down?”
Add A Slang Bitcoin Word
If you think you know of a Bitcoin Slang Word, Term, or Expression that should be added to this list, reach out to us on Twitter or Nostr and we will see if it meets the criteria to become one of the most common Bitcoin slang terms.
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