HFSP meaning: how "have fun staying poor" became crypto's favourite sneer
One persistent poster, 350 replies and a Telegram chat turned a throwaway jab into a Bitcoin meme. Here is what HFSP means, how it lands on the receiving end, and why it says more about the speaker.
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One poster, nearly 350 replies
This is one of the few slang terms with a documented birth. In his history of Bitcoin memes, the developer Jameson Lopp writes that in September 2020 Udi Wertheimer began answering "have fun staying poor" to anyone doing what he considered silly DeFi schemes. He kept it up nearly 350 times over the next four months and created a popular Telegram chat called HaveFunStayingPoor.com. Lopp cites a Wertheimer tweet of September 15, 2020, mocking a new food-named token every three days, and credits him with memeing the phrase into existence through sheer persistence.
In that stretch, Lopp adds, the retort moved from DeFi traders to Bitcoin skeptics who seemed past civil conversation. By March 2021 CoinDesk was explaining it to general readers, describing it as often attributed to Wertheimer, who declined to comment.
What the letters mean
HFSP is have fun staying poor. The target is someone who doubts crypto, refuses to buy, or has just sold: you will miss what comes next. CoinGecko's glossary calls it mocking toward non-holders, with an arrogant undertone, and CoinDesk observes that you are most likely to meet it after saying you sold bitcoin or would never buy it.
Three ways to take it
CoinDesk's Daniel Kuhn sorts the phrase into three readings.
- A plea. A sincere nudge to reconsider, aimed at someone who might still change their mind.
- A taunt. A line drawn between holders and "paper hands".
- Gloating. What you say after a rise, often under a screenshot of gains.
Tone overall is mock, with an occasional self use by someone who missed a move. Invented examples, written for this page:
- "Sold at the bottom, now writing threads on bubbles. HFSP."
- "Waited for a pullback through the entire run. HFSP, me."
- "Not saying HFSP. Just read the white paper before calling it a scam."
A caution about the screenshot
A picture of gains proves very little. Wallet screens can be composed in a crypto wallet app simulator such as Flexdger Wallet, which holds no funds. If someone's HFSP depends on a balance, the balance should come with something you can check. See how to spot a fake crypto wallet screenshot.
Why it lands badly
The phrase is built for insiders. Agrawal told CoinDesk it resonates inside the community, while the outsider on the receiving end misses whatever nuance was intended, and that from an optics perspective it is terrible. The same piece quotes the columnist Jared Dillian, who said he heard it over and over after selling his bitcoin, until it began to feel somewhat frightening.
It also outgrew its author. CoinGecko's glossary points to a September 27, 2021 post from the account @balajis that riffed on the old "first they laugh at you" line and ended with "hfsp" and "ngmi", a sign both acronyms had become standard. As with most flex culture, it tells you more about the speaker's need to be seen winning than about the market. Treat it as a mood, not a signal.
If it is aimed at you
The sentence carries no information about the asset, only about the mood of the person typing it. Three habits help. Ask what, concretely, they claim will happen, because a prediction can be examined and a sneer cannot. Notice whether the same account answers every doubt with the same four letters, which suggests ritual rather than reasoning. And remember that a taunt shaped like a forecast is still a taunt: nothing in it is a reason to buy, sell or hold anything.
Neighbours that get mixed up
- NGMI: close, but CoinMarketCap frames it around using the wrong tactics inside crypto, where HFSP targets people who stay out.
- WAGMI: the friendly opposite.
- HODL: the behavior HFSP defends.
- Crypto Twitter slang: the wider glossary.
Sources
- Jameson Lopp, The memes make the Bitcoin, 2026
- CoinDesk, The Decoder: "Have fun staying poor", 2021
- CoinGecko, What is HFSP in crypto?, 2024
- Human Frontier Science Program, 2026
- CoinMarketCap Alexandria, Crypto slang you need to learn, 2022
Questions
Who is behind the phrase?
Widely credited to the Bitcoin personality Udi Wertheimer. Jameson Lopp's history of Bitcoin memes says he began replying it in September 2020 to what he saw as silly DeFi schemes and used it nearly 350 times in four months. CoinDesk says it is often attributed to him.
Is it meant as an insult?
Mostly. CoinDesk's 2021 explainer gives it three readings: a plea to keep an open mind, a taunt that marks the in-group, and gloating after a rise. For the person receiving it, they sound alike.
What is the friendly version?
WAGMI, we're all gonna make it. The nearest relative is NGMI, not gonna make it, which CoinMarketCap's glossary says often appears together with HFSP or replaces it.
Does HFSP predict anything?
It sounds like a forecast but works as a put-down. It says nothing about any specific asset and is not advice.
Is there another HFSP?
Yes. The Human Frontier Science Program funds basic research in the life sciences and is based in Strasbourg, according to its own site. It has no link to the crypto taunt.
Why is the phrase called bad for optics?
Neeraj Agrawal of the advocacy group Coin Center told CoinDesk that from an optics perspective it is terrible, since it resonates inside the community while outsiders read it very differently.