What Is Chad?
The term “Chad” is Internet slang that has been widely adopted by the cryptocurrency community.
No need to be a gigachad to own
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
Outside of the crypto space, Chad is a stereotypical alpha male with a big ego, depicted in Internet memes as attractive, muscular, and successful.
History of the Chad Meme
The meme originated in 2017 based on photos of a muscular model and fitness trainer, Ernest Khalimov, and was popularized by the 4Chan anonymous discussion board.
There are debates online about whether Khalimov is a real person or a photoshopped image. Khalimov is also referred to as “GigaChad,” “the Chad to out-Chad all Chads,” “the Alpha Male of the Alpha Males,” and massive Chad.
How Is Chad Used in Crypto?
The term has since been adopted in the crypto community. Chad is portrayed as someone who is seen as extremely successful or dominant in the market. Lately, the term has been used to mainly mean someone who is successful in trading “shitcoins” with low value, similar to a “degen.”
While the term originated to describe men, it has become gender-neutral in crypto trading.
Tesla CEO and crypto influencer Elon Musk famously referred to MicroStrategy CEO and Bitcoin investor Michael Saylor as a GigaChad in a tweet after Saylor disagreed with an article about Bitcoin’s energy efficiency.
Elon gets ratio’d by Mike then deletes tweet. Lulz. https://t.co/8CLfubUTvY pic.twitter.com/FuqeCfEShy
— MTC (@mtcbtc) May 20, 2021
Chad can also be used as a compliment to describe someone who makes difficult decisions in trading coins that the community considers to be heroic.
With a surge in popularity of a new round of meme coins, a Chad Coin cryptocurrency based on the meme launched in April 2023.
It’s important to note that memes can evolve and change over time, so the specific portrayal of Chad in crypto trading memes may vary.
