The cryptocurrency space is full of interesting jargon.
You have “money” that is not money. You have “currency” that is not actual currency (and according to the IRS is an asset). “Mining” has nothing to do with a pick on the ground or with using explosives to unearth hidden valuables. You are told to hold you “not money” in a “wallet”, but the wallet is “digital”, unlike any wallet you have always used. And even if you happen to use a “hard wallet”, it looks like a pen drive, not a wallet. Plus, you may face a “hard fork” or a “soft fork”, but none of that are used for eating.
So, nothing more adequate than inventing a new word – H O D L – a verb, that is nothing more than a typo for “HOLD” in a message written in 2013. The message became famous and the term hodl is now used to define the decision to hold to the cryptocurrencies and not selling, despite the crazy valuation in 2016 and 2017 and subsequent wild market fluctuations.
Here is the message where it originally appeared:
The new term became widely adopted by the crypto community and morphed into a symbol of belief that this new technology (the blockchains and its coins) is eventually going to thrive and be part of our lives, as much as the internet is today.
While it is true that the term has been used in the past few months for memes and internet jokes, like these:
it is also true that it has become a way to demonstrate an almost religious conviction that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. For those who have fully invested – not only their savings but also their lives – in the crypto world, it seems obvious that the ups and downs are just part of a sure path to success of this new technology. I also believe that, as I becomes clear from my first post “the Blockchain Revolution is inescapable”, where I also argue, though, that no one knows which cryptocurrency is going to be alive and well in the future.
More than anything, the crypto community needs to show some results in the near future.
The hype around the blockchain, bitcoin and other currencies is starting to wear off, and a tiny wave of disdain is beginning to move back and forth. It will still be a while before mass adoption, but it needs to start growing soon.
Crypto Conjecture 