INTRODUCTION
"Chairforce literally invented the #LaserRayUntil100k movement that put laser eyes on a large percentage of Twitter"
If you didn’t manage to get yourself to the ‘21 Bitcoin Conference in Miami this weekend and are instead following along with the fun via the conference Twitter account, you’ll probably be getting your news freshly served to you by the one and only @Chairforce_btc.
For this week, the biological father of the now legendary laser eyes meme has taken over the social duties for the conference’s virtual community as the shitposting commander-in-chief.
And I think it’s fair to say, he’s in his element.
Being amongst fellow Bitcoiners and plebs in a real-life meatspace setting is where Chairforce is most at home – something you can tell not just from his words but from the efforts he makes to help grow the community that he loves.
CHAIRFORCE MEME SELECTION
#01
Protect your savings in Bitcoin! pic.twitter.com/9jt0myMd92
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 2, 2021
#03
Don't overcomplicate it. #Bitcoin only pic.twitter.com/7BEElsJLnm
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 22, 2021
BUILDING HIS TRIBE
Speaking to me last weekend from what he describes as his modest home somewhere along the east coast of the United States, this frugal, freedom-loving patriot is closing in on retirement at a fairly young age and anticipating a point where he can dedicate himself fully to growing the Bitcoin tribe.
"A lot of the things I do are pretty selfless and designed to bring the community together. Why would I spend 100 hours of my own time putting Christmas hats on anyone who’s a Bitcoin maximalist – is it to gain 200 more followers or is it because it’s fun and will bring the community together and give us something for us to bond over? I think it’s the latter. That’s the goal of my memes and my art; to build up the Bitcoin community."
I spotted CF’s community mindedness not long after he dropped into the Bitcoin meme-scape in 2020. I was one of the countless plebs that he gifted a Santa hat to for my Twitter avi last Christmas – he even drew mine by hand to match the style of my avi, despite not knowing me at all back then.
As the months have rolled on, he has compounded on his creativity and outreach efforts, conceiving of more and more fun ways to stoke the fires of the Bitcoin community.
And as we all know, in February this year, that resulted in a controlled meme explosion so large that it could be seen from thousands of miles away – as memorialised in this epic montage by our friend @swaaalla.
CHAIRFORCE MEME SELECTION
#01
🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/yxVKiiY72M
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) February 25, 2021
#03
When you attempt to hang out with your normie friends and family. pic.twitter.com/CUkGF62stP
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) February 22, 2021
EMBODYING BITCOIN’S VALUES
The #laserrayuntil100k meme went viral, hitting everyone from Bitcoiner Cynthia Lummis to shitcoining charlatan Elon Musk. And, despite being five months old now, new beams are still regularly popping onto the eyes of new Bitcoin disciples; just this week, Mexico’s 3rd richest man, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, donned a pair for his peepers. Ariba!
Whilst I and the other Meme Factory machinists were lucky enough to be part of CF’s support crew for the project, it was his baby – and he yet again put the hours in to ensure it got airborne by rolling up his sleeves to zap the eyes of anyone who wanted to show their BTC appreciation. While the idea for the meme was a good one, it was the hours and hours spent wafting the flames that ensured it actually flew.
This, for me, is one of things that sets Chairforce apart from others – not just in the Bitcoin space, but in general. You can tell that he genuinely wants to help people – he wants the space to grow and flourish because he wants people to grow and flourish.
So it’s been cool af to see him burst out of nowhere less than a year ago to having the time of his life as a paid contractor to Bitcoin Magazine and helping to man the controls of this year’s Miami conference socials – all while surrounded by other plebs.
His people-first mindset doesn’t just apply to the Bitcoin community, either. As he told me during our interview, he has mentored a number of younger colleagues IRL, in some cases helping to transform high-time preference consumers into low-time preference savers and investors. He knows he’s made a difference to several people’s lives, and it’s one of the things that drives him forwards.
Despite the fact that CF has enjoyed a rapid ascent into the realms of Bitcoin community building – having only first caught the Bitcoin wave in 2018 – he’d always had an inkling that something wasn’t quite right in the world of economics and geopolitics. Saifedean’s The Bitcoin Standard provided a lot of the missing pieces in his mental jigsaw puzzle, but it was the extra time given to him following the completion of his last deployment and then heading into lockdowns that cemented his journey down the Bitcoin rabbit hole.
"I felt the system was broken but couldn’t put my finger on it. Then lockdown happened and I had a lot of free time on my hands and thought, I wonder what’s going on in Twitter."
CHAIRFORCE MEME SELECTION
#01
When you're no longer fluent in speaking Normie. pic.twitter.com/cLCtgeI16F
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) February 28, 2021
#03
Sir, this is a Wendy's. pic.twitter.com/sXMhvcJSt6
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) May 16, 2021
TRUTH AS AN ORGANISING FORCE
Cutting to the present, he’s now a master memer and feels super comfortable carving out top quality vignettes of Bitcoin culture as he sees it on any given day. But despite the fact that he was able to share some clearly lucid thoughts with me during our interview, he doesn’t see himself as being that all that comfortable with words.
"As you can see now, I’m not as capable as I am with putting thoughts into PhotoShop and digital art. I’m able to fire back at people much more easily with pictures than with words."
As I’ve gotten the chance to speak to him and get to know him over the past six months, I actually think his words travel much further than he gives himself credit for. And I’d be willing to bet that the young lads he’s mentored and whose lives he’s helped to shape in the light direction would likely agree. Yes, his images pack a punch, but he’s actually a solid communicator who (perhaps most importantly) cares enough about people to tell them the truth – whether they might like it or not.
I think that’s one of the reasons why he’s been able to have such a meaningful impact in the lives of people he cares about. Because irrespective of whether you speak in with a timid or a clarion voice, if you’re speaking the truth – particularly today – people can hear it. Many long for it. And they will lean in and listen more carefully if you’re carrying a clear signal amongst the noise.
I like to think of Bitcoin as a machine we invented to tell ourselves the truth. And we stray far from the path in the absence of it. So it stands to reason that if we care so much about the truth that we build a machine to immutably store and communicate it, we would want to build ourselves, our families and our communities around it too.
Bitcoiners often say that ‘We are all Satoshi’. But as we, like Chairforce, embrace and imbue truth and honesty in our relationships and the wider communities that we build, perhaps we are getting closer to becoming Bitcoin itself too.
#01
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) March 13, 2021
#03
Normies have a lot to learn before most of our memes begin to make sense. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/CYsMCGl9iI
— ℂℍ𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔽𝕆ℝℂ𝔼 🦡 (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC) March 28, 2021
I really enjoyed chatting with Chairforce and could have reflected on our conversation in numerous ways. We ventured from what he believes are the fundamental differences between Bitcoiners and shitcoiners to his favourite tattoos, his thoughts on fiat food and plenty of stuff in between. And we were once again graced with some guest questions from our pals at the Meme Factory™ (which doesn’t exist) – so be sure to check it out!