Warren Buffett called Bitcoin "rat poison squared." Satoshi Nakamoto vanished after laying the groundwork for what is now a trillion-dollar asset class. And one slightly drunk forum poster accidentally coined the single most-used word in all of Bitcoin culture with a simple typo. Bitcoin's short history has already produced an unusual number of memorable lines, from Satoshi's first messages to the bold claims of committed Bitcoin maximalists to the doom laden warnings of its most prominent critics.
We gathered the 100 wisest, sharpest, and wittiest Bitcoin quotes of all time and researched each one: who said it, when, in what setting, and what it actually means. That context is exactly what's missing from most quote collections online, so we added it.
The quotes come from interviews, speeches, books, forum posts, and social media. For a number of older or widely repeated lines, the exact date or context can no longer be pinned down with certainty, and that is noted accordingly. Quotes with no known author are marked "Unknown."
Satoshi Nakamoto and the Beginnings
"I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party."
Satoshi Nakamoto, 2008
Context: An email to the cryptography mailing list on October 31, 2008, sent the same day as the whitepaper's release. Meaning: Sums up the core idea in one sentence, payments should be possible directly between two parties without a bank or payment processor as a middleman.
"If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry."
Satoshi Nakamoto, ca. 2010
Context: A reply to skeptics on the Bitcointalk forum who doubted the concept or raised technical objections. Meaning: Satoshi points doubters to the code and the running system itself rather than to persuasion, the later community motto "don't trust, verify" echoes this stance.
"It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Satoshi Nakamoto, ca. 2009
Context: A reply to the question of why anyone should acquire Bitcoin when the network was still practically worthless and unknown. Meaning: Describes the network effect of monetary systems, money has value because enough people believe it has and will keep value.
"Most of the value comes from the value that others place in it. The vast majority of gold sits unused in vaults, owned by governments."
Satoshi Nakamoto, ca. 2010
Context: Part of a forum discussion comparing Bitcoin to gold as a store of value. Meaning: Argues that even gold's value is mostly socially assigned rather than derived from practical use, opening the door for a digital equivalent.
"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"
Headline embedded in the genesis block by Satoshi Nakamoto, January 3, 2009
Context: Embedded in the unspendable coinbase field of the very first Bitcoin block, mined in the middle of the global financial crisis. Meaning: Serves as proof of the block's timestamp and as a political jab at Satoshi's motivation, building a money system independent of banks and their repeated bailouts.
"Running bitcoin."
Hal Finney, January 10, 2009 (the first Bitcoin tweet in history)
Context: Finney had just become the first person after Satoshi to run the Bitcoin software; two days later he received the first Bitcoin transaction in history. Meaning: Seen in hindsight as the symbolic moment Bitcoin turned from one person's idea into an actually used network.
Cryptographers and Forerunners Before Bitcoin
"Trusted third parties are security holes."
Nick Szabo, 2001
Context: From an influential essay by Szabo on digital security, seven years before the Bitcoin whitepaper. Meaning: Any central party a system must trust is also a potential point of attack or failure, exactly the problem Bitcoin's decentralized consensus is meant to sidestep.
"The idea of using partial hashes is that they can be made arbitrarily expensive to compute, and yet can be verified instantly."
Adam Back, ca. 1997 (on Hashcash)
Context: A description of Hashcash, an anti-spam mechanism Back built in 1997 that Satoshi later cited as the model for Bitcoin's proof of work. Meaning: Explains the core principle behind Bitcoin mining, expensive but easily verifiable computation creates artificial scarcity.
"The one thing that's missing, but that will soon be developed, is a reliable e-cash, a method whereby on the Internet you can transfer funds from A to B without A knowing B or B knowing A."
Milton Friedman, 1999 (before Bitcoin, widely regarded as prophetic)
Context: An interview with the Nobel-winning economist about the future of the internet, nearly a decade before the Bitcoin whitepaper. Meaning: Often read in Bitcoin circles as a remarkably accurate anticipation of a pseudonymous digital payment system, even though Friedman never knew Bitcoin itself.
"Your keys, your bitcoin. Not your keys, not your bitcoin."
Andreas M. Antonopoulos, 2017
Context: A conference talk during a period of repeated exchange failures and hacks. Meaning: The core principle of self custody, whoever doesn't control their own private keys only holds a claim against a provider, not real bitcoin.
Bitcoin Thinkers and Entrepreneurs
"Bitcoin is a tool for freeing humanity from oligarchs and tyrants, dressed up as a get-rich-quick scheme."
Naval Ravikant
Context: Likely an X/Twitter post from the AngelList co-founder and tech investor, exact date no longer traceable. Meaning: Argues Bitcoin's speculative reputation is superficial, while its deeper effect undermines political power concentration.
"Bitcoin is insurance against politicians."
Naval Ravikant
Context: Another short statement from Ravikant in the same vein. Meaning: Frames Bitcoin as protection against political missteps such as excessive money printing or capital controls.
"Bitcoin is the first software network capable of storing all the monetary energy in the world with no loss of power over time and negligible transmission loss."
Michael Saylor, ca. 2021
Context: From the period after August 2020, when Saylor's company MicroStrategy became the first public company to buy Bitcoin at scale as a treasury reserve. Meaning: Unlike fiat money, which loses value to inflation, Bitcoin is meant to store purchasing power ("monetary energy") over very long periods with almost no loss.
"Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy."
Michael Saylor, 2021
Context: A widely quoted, deliberately poetic line from a CNBC interview. Meaning: A flowery metaphor for the decentralized miner network, many competing participants that together make the network progressively more secure.
"The halls of eternity echo with the cries of those who sold their #bitcoin."
Michael Saylor
Context: A typical Saylor tweet, often posted during or after price rallies. Meaning: A warning-slash-taunt aimed at investors who sold Bitcoin too early and later regret it.
"My formula for success is rise early, work late, and buy Bitcoin."
Michael Saylor
Context: A short, promotional self-quote from Saylor's active social media presence. Meaning: Sums up his personal investment philosophy in a punchy line.
"The internet deserves a native currency; it will have a native currency. I don't know if it'll be Bitcoin or not, but I hope it will be."
Jack Dorsey, May 16, 2018
Context: Said at the Consensus 2018 blockchain conference, during a period when Dorsey publicly expressed his interest in Bitcoin. Meaning: Sees the internet as its own economic space that needs a non-state native currency, with Bitcoin the leading candidate.
"The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin."
Jack Dorsey, March 21, 2018
Context: A similar statement from a separate CNBC interview shortly before. Meaning: Sharpens the same thesis into a concrete prediction, one global digital currency in the long run instead of many national ones.
"We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error."
Tyler Winklevoss
Context: Winklevoss and his twin brother were among the earliest major institutional Bitcoin investors and later founded the exchange Gemini. Meaning: Trust in a rule-based, code-defined money system instead of discretionary central bank decisions.
"Unpopular but true: Bitcoin is the most significant monetary advance since the creation of coinage."
Edward Snowden
Context: Snowden has lived in exile since 2013 and has repeatedly spoken about surveillance, privacy and Bitcoin since. Meaning: Places Bitcoin on par with the invention of minted coins as a fundamental monetary technology.
"Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2018 (foreword to "The Bitcoin Standard")
Context: Taleb wrote the foreword to Ammous' book in 2018, years before he reversed his position (see the critics section below). Meaning: An early positive framing as a necessary counterweight to politically controlled fiat money, worth noting: Taleb later publicly withdrew this view.
"Bitcoin is digital gold. It's the first global currency that allows us to send value anywhere in the world without any intermediaries."
Anthony Pompliano
Context: Pompliano is an influential Bitcoin investor and podcaster who has repeated this framing for years. Meaning: The standard gold comparison, Bitcoin as a scarce store of value with the added benefit of borderless, bank-free transfer.
"While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problems it purports to solve, namely providing a form of money that is under the full command of its owner and likely to hold its value in the long run, are as old as human society itself."
Saifedean Ammous, 2018
Context: From Ammous' book "The Bitcoin Standard," which places Bitcoin within the economic history of money. Meaning: Frames Bitcoin not as an arbitrary tech novelty but as the latest attempt to solve a very old problem, finding money that can't be debased by a third party.
"Capitalism is what happens when people drop their time preference, defer immediate gratification, and invest in the future."
Saifedean Ammous, 2018
Context: From the same book, in the chapter on time preference and Austrian capital theory. Meaning: Links "hard money" to low time preference, if you don't have to fear your money losing value, you're more likely to save and invest for the long run instead of consuming immediately.
"Bitcoin isn't a get rich quick scheme, it's a don't get poor slowly scheme."
Jameson Lopp
Context: Lopp is a long-standing developer close to Bitcoin Core and a security researcher. Meaning: Corrects the common expectation of quick riches, the real benefit lies in preserving purchasing power against inflation.
"It's great to talk and write about decentralization. But it's not enough. You have to actually run the software yourself."
Pierre Rochard
Context: Rochard is a Bitcoin economist and advocate of running your own node. Meaning: A practical call to action, decentralization concretely depends on as many people as possible actually running a full node.
"Bitcoin will definancialize the economy, and it will no doubt be a renaissance."
Parker Lewis, 2019
Context: From Lewis' widely read essay series "Gradually, Then Suddenly." Meaning: The thesis that hard, non-inflatable money will over time push back today's heavily debt- and finance-driven economy.
"Bitcoin is a way to have programmable scarcity."
Balaji Srinivasan, ca. 2014/15
Context: From Srinivasan's time as CEO of 21 Inc., an early Bitcoin mining hardware startup. Meaning: Describes Bitcoin's fundamental innovation in the abstract, creating software-defined scarcity for a purely digital good.
"Bitcoin represents the first major breakthrough in economics and finance since double-entry bookkeeping was invented in 1494."
Max Keiser
Context: Keiser is an early, outspoken Bitcoin advocate and host of the "Keiser Report." Meaning: Compares Bitcoin to double-entry bookkeeping as a similarly foundational innovation in finance.
"You realise that Bitcoin cannot be a pump-and-dump scheme because there's no better asset to dump it into."
Robert Breedlove
Context: Breedlove is a philosopher and host of the "What is Money?" podcast. Meaning: Rebuts the claim that Bitcoin is a Ponzi-like scheme, that would require a better target asset to dump into, which he argues doesn't exist.
"Bitcoin is a classic network effect, a positive feedback loop."
Marc Andreessen, January 21, 2014
Context: From Andreessen's widely read New York Times essay "Why Bitcoin Matters." Meaning: Explains Bitcoin's spread with classic network-effect economics, more users increase the benefit for every individual participant.
"Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the Internet."
Roger Ver
Context: Ver was one of the earliest and most influential Bitcoin investors before later backing Bitcoin Cash. Meaning: A maximally optimistic historical framing, typical of the enthusiastic early Bitcoin scene.
"There are 3 eras of currency: Commodity based, politically based, and now, math-based."
Chris Dixon, ca. 2014
Context: Dixon is a venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz. Meaning: Places Bitcoin as the third historical stage of money, after commodity money and state-issued money.
"We have a price target in 2030 for Bitcoin of more than $1 million dollars per bitcoin."
Cathie Wood, January 2022
Context: From ARK Invest's annual "Big Ideas" report. Meaning: Part of a long-term investment thesis built on institutional adoption and limited supply, a very far-reaching and disputed public forecast.
"Bitcoin is the most important development in money since the invention of money itself."
Erik Voorhees
Context: Voorhees is an early Bitcoin entrepreneur, among other things the founder of the exchange ShapeShift. Meaning: An extremely high historical framing, placing Bitcoin on par with the invention of money itself.
Critics and Skeptics
"It's probably rat poison squared."
Warren Buffett, May 5, 2018
Context: An answer to a question about Bitcoin at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, amid the price decline after the 2017 bull run. Meaning: Bitcoin creates no productive, fundamental value and is therefore pure, dangerous speculation, in his view.
"Bitcoin has no unique value at all. It is a delusion, basically."
Warren Buffett, February 25, 2019
Context: A CNBC interview during a calmer market phase after the 2018 crash. Meaning: Without cash flows or productive capital like stocks, Buffett argues the Bitcoin price is pure self-deception on the part of buyers.
"Stay away from it. It's a mirage, basically. They will come to a bad ending."
Warren Buffett, ca. March 2014
Context: One of his earliest public statements on Bitcoin, shortly after the first big Bitcoin price cycle in 2013. Meaning: A fundamental, very early rejection as an illusion with no underlying value.
"Bitcoin is a fraud."
Jamie Dimon, September 12, 2017
Context: Said by the JPMorgan CEO at a banking conference, during a sharp price rise ahead of the late-2017 bubble. Meaning: A warning against Bitcoin as pure speculation, a position Dimon later softened repeatedly.
"Bitcoin is worse than tulip bulbs."
Jamie Dimon, September 2017
Context: Made around the same time as the quote above. Meaning: Draws a comparison to the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania as a benchmark for the bubble Dimon suspected.
"It's like some venereal disease. Beneath contempt."
Charlie Munger, February 2022
Context: Said at the Daily Journal annual meeting, shortly after Berkshire had invested in the Brazilian crypto-friendly bank Nubank, which Munger explicitly criticized. Meaning: A very sharp moral condemnation, Munger mainly saw cryptocurrencies as a tool for criminals.
"Trading in cryptocurrencies is just dementia."
Charlie Munger, May 1, 2021
Context: Said at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, during a strong Bitcoin bull market. Meaning: Calls speculative crypto trading irrational.
"A turd."
Charlie Munger, on Bitcoin, ca. 2013/14
Context: An earlier, informal Bitcoin dig from Munger, years before his later, more elaborate condemnations. Meaning: Shows his dismissive stance was consistent from the very beginning.
"Bitcoin Is Evil."
Paul Krugman, December 28, 2013 (New York Times column title)
Context: The title of a column by the Nobel-winning economist, shortly after Bitcoin's first big price surge past $1,000. Meaning: An early academic critique, Krugman saw Bitcoin mainly as a tool for evading state monetary policy and taxation.
"The Bitcoin trade is over. The suckers are all in."
Peter Schiff, ca. 2018
Context: Likely during the 2018 bear market; Schiff is a well-known gold advocate and long-time Bitcoin critic. Meaning: A prediction of Bitcoin's final failure, typical of Schiff's repeated, mostly disproven doom calls.
"I was right on gold, but wrong on Bitcoin."
Peter Schiff, 2024
Context: A public admission after Bitcoin's price had disproven his doom predictions for over a decade. Meaning: A rare, explicit walk-back from a long-time critic, often cited in the community as evidence against permanent Bitcoin skepticism.
"Bitcoin combines everything you don't understand about money with everything you don't understand about computers."
John Oliver, March 11, 2018
Context: From a 25-minute crypto explainer segment on Oliver's show "Last Week Tonight," at the peak of public interest after the 2017 rally. Meaning: A humorous but accurate observation of why Bitcoin feels especially inaccessible to laypeople.
"It's gold for nerds."
Stephen Colbert
Context: A TV comment during the first big wave of Bitcoin media coverage around 2013/14. Meaning: An ironic, not unkind comparison, Bitcoin takes on gold's store-of-value role but was, at the time, mainly used by tech-savvy early adopters.
"Cryptos are not currencies. Full stop."
Christine Lagarde, ca. 2021
Context: Said by the ECB president in a Bloomberg TV interview, part of the official ECB stance on cryptocurrencies. Meaning: From the ECB's view, cryptocurrencies don't fulfill the classic functions of a currency but count as speculative assets.
"This is an asset and it's a highly speculative asset which has conducted some funny business."
Christine Lagarde, January 2021
Context: Said at a Reuters online event, amid growing money-laundering concerns. Meaning: Links the classification as a speculative asset to accusations of dubious usage.
"As an asset class, it's 100% based on the greater fool theory: that somebody's going to pay more for it than I do."
Bill Gates, June 15, 2022
Context: Said at a TechCrunch climate conference. Meaning: The greater fool theory describes investments whose value depends purely on the next buyer, not on any underlying productive value.
"If you have less money than Elon Musk, you should probably watch out."
Bill Gates, ca. 2021
Context: A comment on crypto risk, at a time when Musk's tweets were known to trigger sharp short-term price swings. Meaning: A warning against high volatility and against basing investment decisions on far wealthier public figures.
"Bitcoin is not a hedge against anything."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, July 13, 2021
Context: A CNBC interview after Taleb had published a detailed critique, a clear reversal of his earlier, positive stance. Meaning: Argues that Bitcoin's behavior during the March 2020 market turmoil disproved its use as a hedge against inflation or systemic risk.
"Bitcoin Is the Detector of Imbeciles."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2021 (Medium essay title)
Context: The title of a lengthy, polemical essay in which Taleb laid out his criticisms. Meaning: A pointed claim that Bitcoin buyers, in his view, don't understand basic economic relationships, the peak of his public break with the Bitcoin scene.
"How about this: right now, there's some shadowy, super-coder somewhere..."
Elizabeth Warren, July 16, 2019 (originally about Facebook's Libra, later a running joke in the Bitcoin community)
Context: Originally a warning at a congressional hearing about Facebook's then-planned cryptocurrency Libra, not specifically about Bitcoin. Meaning: Picked up out of context by the Bitcoin community as a running joke about a mysterious, all-powerful developer, alluding to the still-unsolved mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto's identity.
Investors and Politicians Who Changed Their Mind
"Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world. That's all it is."
Larry Fink, October 13, 2017
Context: Said by the BlackRock CEO at a finance conference, during the price rise ahead of the 2017 bubble. Meaning: An early, very critical take that stands in sharp contrast to Fink's later reversal.
"I did say Bitcoin... was the domain of money launderers and thieves. But you know, the markets teach you, you have to always relook at your assumptions."
Larry Fink, ca. 2023/24 (after BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF)
Context: Said around the launch of BlackRock's own Bitcoin ETF, after institutional client demand had shifted the firm's stance. Meaning: A public admission of a fundamental change of mind, explicitly attributed to market reality rather than original conviction.
"One hell of an invention. An amazing accomplishment."
Ray Dalio, January 28, 2021
Context: From a client note by the Bridgewater founder, after he had been notably more critical of Bitcoin in 2020. Meaning: Acknowledges the technical achievement while still voicing caution about the risks.
"Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement, and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value."
Eric Schmidt
Context: A statement from the former Google CEO, exact original date no longer traceable. Meaning: Credits Bitcoin as the first system to solve the so-called double-spending problem, creating a digital good that can't be copied at will.
"There may be other currencies like it that may be even better."
Richard Branson
Context: A statement from the Virgin founder, an early prominent Bitcoin supporter. Meaning: A cautiously positive, qualifying stance, open to Bitcoin as a concept without treating it as necessarily superior.
"You can't stop things like Bitcoin. It will be everywhere, and the world will have to readjust."
John McAfee, ca. 2017
Context: From the period when the antivirus pioneer made very aggressive, ultimately unfulfilled price predictions. Meaning: Views Bitcoin as an unstoppable technological development that society and regulation would have to adapt to.
"Bitcoin is a very exciting development, it might lead to a world currency."
Kim Dotcom
Context: An early statement from the internet entrepreneur, from the era of the first big Bitcoin media wave. Meaning: An early, optimistic take on Bitcoin's potential as a global currency.
"It's money 2.0, a huge huge huge deal."
Chamath Palihapitiya
Context: A statement from the former Facebook executive and later investor, from Bitcoin's early days. Meaning: A software-versioning comparison, Bitcoin as a fundamental upgrade to the concept of money.
"Still thinking about #Bitcoin. No conclusion, not endorsing/rejecting."
Lloyd Blankfein, ca. 2017
Context: A tweet from the then-Goldman Sachs CEO during the 2017 Bitcoin hype. Meaning: A deliberately cautious non-commitment from a traditional major bank.
"By 2022 or 2023, one bitcoin will be worth $250,000."
Tim Draper, ca. November 2018 (a bold prediction that has not come true so far)
Context: A public prediction from the venture capitalist, known for an early purchase of seized Bitcoin at a US government auction. Meaning: An example of the very optimistic long-term price forecasts made by prominent investors that have not materialized.
More Tech Figures
"I am late to the party but I am a supporter of Bitcoin."
Elon Musk, February 1, 2021
Context: Said during a Clubhouse audio chat, shortly before Tesla announced a $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase. Meaning: A public endorsement that briefly moved the price noticeably.
"That's not funny!"
Elon Musk, June 24, 2021 (replying to outraged Bitcoin maximalists)
Context: Posted after Musk was sharply criticized by "Bitcoin maximalists" over his comments on Bitcoin's energy use and his fondness for Dogecoin. Meaning: An ironic jab at what he saw as a humorless reaction from part of the Bitcoin community.
"I joined Bitcoin land in 2011 and back then I remember a clear vibe that Bitcoin was P2P cash first and gold second."
Vitalik Buterin, ca. 2021/22
Context: A post from the Ethereum co-founder, replying to a Blockstream employee in a debate over Bitcoin's original purpose. Meaning: A reminder that the early community focused on payments before the "digital gold" narrative took over later, a shift still debated among Bitcoiners today.
"Bitcoin will do to banks what email did to the postal industry."
Rick Falkvinge
Context: A statement from the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, from Bitcoin's early era. Meaning: An analogy, just as email drastically reduced the need for physical mail, Bitcoin could make classic banking services increasingly unnecessary.
"Bitcoin, and the ideas behind it, will be a disrupter to the traditional notions of currency."
Edmund Moy
Context: Moy served as Director of the US Mint from 2006 to 2011 and commented on Bitcoin after leaving office. Meaning: Notable because the assessment comes from a former senior government monetary official.
"Every informed person needs to know about Bitcoin because it might be one of the world's most important developments."
Leon Louw
Context: Louw is a South African economic activist and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Meaning: Emphasizes Bitcoin's broader social significance beyond purely financial questions.
Community Sayings, Memes, and Internet Quotes
"I AM HODLING."
GameKyuubi, December 18, 2013 (the origin of "HODL," actually a typo for "holding")
Context: A Bitcointalk forum post during a sharp price crash, in which the (by his own account slightly drunk) user justified at length why he'd simply keep holding his Bitcoin despite his own poor trading record. Meaning: The typo became the single most-used Bitcoin slang term for holding long term instead of panic selling, later reinterpreted as the backronym "Hold On for Dear Life."
"Have fun staying poor."
Popularized by Udi Wertheimer, often wrongly attributed to John McAfee
Context: Wertheimer is a well-known Bitcoin developer and sharp-tongued crypto Twitter commentator, the exact origin point is no longer traceable. Meaning: A taunt aimed at skeptics who, through disbelief or an early sale, miss out on financial gains.
"Stay humble, stack sats."
Matt Odell
Context: Odell has posted this line almost daily on X as a kind of morning greeting since around 2019. Meaning: Two principles in one line, humility in the face of market cycles and steady, disciplined accumulation instead of speculative trading.
"Not your keys, not your coins."
Popularized by Andreas M. Antonopoulos, see above
Context: A shorthand version of the same principle described above, now spread as its own community mantra. Meaning: The central self-custody principle, applying equally to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
"Number go up."
Unknown, originated in 2013 as mockery, later adopted unironically by the community
Context: Originally coined in 2013 on the Bitcoin-critical subreddit r/Buttcoin as mockery of meaningless price gains. Meaning: Paradoxically adopted later by the community in earnest, simply to celebrate rising prices.
"Bitcoin fixes this."
Unknown, established by at least 2020
Context: A widespread community meme, broadly discussed by at least mid-2020. Meaning: Used as an answer to nearly any societal problem, with the thesis that hard, censorship-resistant money solves the underlying incentive problems, also criticized within the scene itself as oversimplified.
"Bitcoin is hope."
Michael Saylor (popularized; the theme also traces back to an essay by Robert Breedlove)
Context: Repeated by Saylor, often with reference to financial inclusion in countries with unstable currencies. Meaning: Frames Bitcoin as a source of hope for people whose national currency is being debased by hyperinflation.
"This is gentlemen, why I'm bullish on Bitcoin."
Unknown (meme image format)
Context: An image-based meme format, original author no longer identifiable. Meaning: An ironic exaggeration, used as a caption for arbitrary, often absurd everyday observations.
"Wen lambo?"
Unknown, ca. 2017
Context: Arose during the 2017 crypto/ICO boom. Meaning: A self-deprecating nod to the get-rich fantasies of many crypto speculators.
"Vires in Numeris" (Latin: strength in numbers)
Unknown, an unofficial Bitcoin motto
Context: A Latin motto that circulated early in the community, including engraved on physical Bitcoin collector coins. Meaning: Points to security through decentralization rather than a single central authority.
"In cryptography we trust."
Unknown
Context: An early forum-culture slogan, a deliberate nod to "In God We Trust." Meaning: Replaces trust in an authority with trust in verifiable cryptographic rules.
"21 million. No more, no less."
Unknown
Context: A general community phrase with no traceable single origin. Meaning: Emphasizes the protocol's fixed supply cap as the core of the "hard money" promise.
"Bitcoin doesn't care what you think."
Unknown
Context: A general community phrase. Meaning: Emphasizes that the protocol runs on fixed rules regardless of individual opinion.
"Fix the money, fix the world."
Unknown, popularized in part by readers of "The Bitcoin Standard"
Context: Popularized around Ammous' book and Jeff Booth's "The Price of Tomorrow." Meaning: A core thesis in part of the scene, that many societal problems trace back to a broken money system.
"WAGMI, we're all gonna make it."
Unknown, ca. 2021
Context: Arose in the broader crypto/NFT Twitter scene during the 2021 bull market. Meaning: A collective encouragement phrase used during volatile market phases.
"NGMI, not gonna make it."
Unknown, ca. 2021
Context: The counterpart to WAGMI, same origin. Meaning: Used mockingly for people considered poorly informed or badly positioned.
"DYOR, do your own research."
Unknown, ca. 2017
Context: A standard phrase spread since the 2017 ICO boom. Meaning: A call to verify investment decisions yourself rather than following others blindly.
"Few understand this."
Unknown, ca. 2021
Context: An ironic crypto Twitter phrase from the 2021 bull market era. Meaning: Usually appended self-mockingly to a bold claim, as if only "insiders" could grasp it.
"Weak hands get shaken out."
Unknown
Context: General trading slang, common since Bitcoin's early, volatile years. Meaning: Describes how inexperienced or fearful investors panic-sell during crashes, handing more patient holders a good entry point.
"Buy high, sell low."
Unknown (a self-deprecating trader joke)
Context: No traceable single origin. Meaning: Mocks the opposite of a sound strategy, describing the actual, loss-making behavior of many inexperienced investors.
"This is the way."
Unknown, borrowed from pop culture and widely used in the Bitcoin community as an affirming catchphrase
Context: Borrowed from the show "The Mandalorian" (premiered November 2019). Meaning: Used as an affirming catchphrase for shared principles, usually self-custody or long-term holding.
"In Satoshi we trust."
Unknown (a parody of "In God We Trust")
Context: An early forum-culture parody of the US national motto. Meaning: Replaces trust in a religious or state authority with trust in Satoshi's protocol design, without implying a real, reachable authority figure.
"Buy the dip."
Unknown
Context: General trading slang since Bitcoin's early, volatile years. Meaning: A recommendation to treat price drops as buying opportunities rather than sell signals.
"The chain is the point."
Unknown
Context: A general community phrase. Meaning: Emphasizes that the real value lies in the network itself, not the short-term price.
"Bitcoin never sleeps."
Unknown
Context: A nod to Bitcoin's round-the-clock trading. Meaning: Underscores the global, nonstop nature of the Bitcoin market.
"Sats, not stats."
Unknown
Context: A community wordplay between "sats" and "stats." Meaning: A call to focus on the actual long-term goal instead of short-term charts or metrics.
"Bitcoin is the exit."
Unknown
Context: Possibly the title of a Bitcoin newsletter or publication, exact origin unclear. Meaning: Frames Bitcoin as an individual way out of a fiat money system perceived as broken.
"Time preference is everything."
Unknown, an idea from "The Bitcoin Standard"
Context: A core idea from Ammous' book, laid out at greater length in his own quote above. Meaning: Time preference describes how strongly a person weighs the present against the future, hard money tends to lower it and encourage long-term thinking.
"It's not about getting rich, it's about not getting poor."
Unknown (a variation of the Jameson Lopp quote above)
Context: A direct rewording of Lopp's quote earlier in this list. Meaning: Frames Bitcoin realistically as protection of purchasing power rather than a shortcut to wealth.
Further Reading
If this collection made you want to get started yourself, check out our recommendations for buying Bitcoin and storing Bitcoin in our comparison. We cover how to store Bitcoin securely in detail in Storing Bitcoin Securely.
