You may have gotten into an argument with someone on Twitter, or seen a salty nocoiner say something about bitcoin, and then a large group of laser-eyed accounts left hundreds of responses with the acronym H.F.S.P. What does HFSP mean?
Much like taking an โLโ, receiving an โHโ from someone isnโt exactly good news.
HFSP means Have Fun Staying Poor.
When someone tells you to โHave Fun Staying Poorโ, they are basically dismissing one of your financial decisions. You can do whatever the hell you want to do, but itโs still a bad idea. Itโs like seeing your best friend spend $200 on something you think is a waste of money, but what are you going to do about it? After all, you arenโt their financial advisor.
In the context of bitcoin, HFSP is often used on altcoiners who buy into ridiculous narratives like high yielding DeFi tokens or NFTs, but it can also be used on salty nocoiners who continually FUD bitcoin and donโt own any bitcoin despite plenty of evidence that they should.
Even after lengthy explanations and reasonable responses, some people still canโt be helped, so you just kind of have to move on with your life and let them make their own decisions. You accept that theyโll figure it out on their own, but just to leave the conversation with a bit of flare, you tell them to have fun staying poor.
Well, some people just skip straight to the HFSP part and itโs one of the reasons why many bitcoiners are accused of being toxic maximalists.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with the tactic, the message is clear and has merit. The message is that bitcoin is good money โ great money, in fact. You should be saving at least some of your money in bitcoin. If you havenโt taken the time to do your own research and arenโt interested in doing it, then, well, you do you and Iโll keep buying bitcoin.
Have Fun Staying Poor
The Origins Of Have Fun Staying Poor
There are actually a number of times the exact phrase โhave fun staying poorโ was used on Twitter before its association with the crypto world, and I assume that no single person coined the phrase. Similar, although not exactly the same, is the meme of Stop Being Poor, made famous by the photoshopped image of Paris Hilton wearing a shirt with that exact phrase.
Its use was popularized in crypto before it was adopted by bitcoiners, but what really got the meme moving was the popular crypto Twitter personality Udi Werthermer, who, for whatever reason, really memed this phrase into existence through consistency and humor. For a while, there was even a website and a Telegram group, though neither seem to be active these days.
The meme culminated in songs, printed mugs and Tโs, and even a few people saying it on live television.
HFSP In Context
Have Fun Staying Poor as a meme doesnโt actually target poor people. Itโs a way of saying that someone is making a bad financial decision, namely that they donโt own bitcoin. For example, we all know that Warren Buffet is not poor, and yet, hereโs someone saying that he should have fun staying poor. Why?
His comment that โcryptocurrencies will end badlyโ is not the worst thing heโs said about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, so itโs no secret that heโs not a fan. Telling him to have fun staying poor basically means that heโs just going to have to find out for himself that heโs wrong. Good luck with your Coca-Cola stock buddy!
Below is another exchange that demonstrates how to use HSFP to simply disagree with someoneโs investment choice. In this context, Barry Silbert is adding ZCash to his fund, against the advice of his Twitter followers, and then he taunts them by purchasing more.
The response? You guessed it.
Have Fun Staying Poor Memes & Jokes
Of course, once something hits the meme machine, it turns into all other types of jokes. The funny thing about many Bitcoin Twitter jokes and memes is that many normies outside of the circle canโt really tell the difference between whatโs real and whatโs a joke.
Anyway, hereโs a pretty good one about a dad telling his kids to have fun staying poor for Christmas.
Not Everyone Likes Telling People To Have Fun Staying Poor
As I mentioned, some people end up not getting it. There are plenty of people who are upset about the meme, saying that itโs rude, immature, and doesnโt help grow the bitcoin community to be more inclusive.
Whatโs interesting about these comments is that these people seem to not understand that HFSP is not supposed to be targeted at people who are actually poor and uneducated about bitcoin. Itโs targeting smart people who refuse to see whatโs right in front of them, despite patient explanations and evidence.
Itโs OK to be ignorant, but when youโre presented with the information, what else am I supposed to do? I canโt just keep holding your hand and rubbing your back and making you feel OK with bitcoin maximalism.
John Carvalho [source 43:15]
Bitcoin is not a company or an organization. When you interact with random people online, you are going to meet all types of personalities. My advice to someone offended by hearing HFSP is to just move on and then talk to someone kinder. Donโt let a mean person online stop you from learning about Bitcoin.
Final Thoughts: Is HFSP Still A Good Meme?
As of 2022, the meme of HFSP is kind of a dead meme. You donโt hear it very much, although once in a while the opportunity pops up for a good zinger. Personally, Iโve had plenty of conversations about bitcoin with my friends over the years that have just left me exhausted to the point of just giving up and saying, โYou know what, if you really want to figure it out, youโll do the researchโ, and thatโs the end of the conversation.
I never actually told them to have fun staying poor, but I think itโs OK to just give people the tools they need and answer the immediate questions they have, and theyโll figure out bitcoin when it becomes interesting or useful to them. Even the shitcoiners will figure it out one of these days. If they donโt, well, good luck to them and their investments, but they may not get an invite to the citadel.
Bitcoin VS Web3: Should You Even Care?
Leave a Reply