When Memer Becomes Meme
"Greg makes dank memes and gets paid for it – yet another sign that we are on the verge of an apocalypse."
Amidst the burgeoning members of the Bitcoin meme-o-scene, very few can so far claim to have become the meme itself. One such person, though, is Greg Zaj.
If you’ve followed Greg’s Twatter feed for any more than a week, you’ll see just why this is; to him, anyone and everyone is fair game for the bullets from his barrels – from fellow bitcoiners to his friends to his colleagues at Strike. Hell, he’ll even turn the gun on himself if it’ll get a giggle.
So if you’re a lettuce-handed amateur porn star who feels safe telling the world that you sold your stack because Bitcoin is gOiNg tO zErO, then good luck, Dave Portnoy. If you sense no danger of being the butt of one of Greg’s memes because you’re a bad-mouthing nocoiner who’s terrible at math, then think again, Frances Coppola (can’t link – blocked!). And if you fancy arguing against the fact that subdivision after the decimal doesn’t result in one jot of inflation, then take cover, Amy Castor. Because Gregory here will be all over your case like one of those cellophane wrapping thingies you see at airports nowadays (or at least used to see, when people ventured beyond the end of their front f*cking lawns!).
"The more creative memes definitely come out in the bear market because you’re not stomping on your enemies anymore. You’re just trying to rally the troops."
Having pioneered the unsubtle art of adding outsized watermarks to both his own and other Bitcoiners’ memes, Greg’s fellow memers gave birth to the #fuckyougreg meme – something he believes is a sign of affection (and which we are happy to have him believe too cuz, srsly, fuck that guy 😂). The hashtag has also transcended into the physical realm where Crypto Cloaks hosts a printer dedicated to the meme in their 3D print factory. Kudos to #laserrayuntil100k legend Chairforce_BTC for sponsoring that one.
Meme Collection
#01
Allllllllllll In. pic.twitter.com/pEKF6JNuqI
— GregZaj☣ (@gregzaj1) April 5, 2021
#03
— GregZaj☣ (@gregzaj1) December 11, 2020
The Rise of a Memelord
Despite Greg’s justified rise into the Meme Factory™ (which doesn’t exist) Hall of Fame and, of course, his role as a CMO for payments app Strike, he hasn’t actually been a bitcoiner for all that long. But by his own account, he was well-primed for it – having spent time reading finance tomes by rat poison experts Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, as well as silver-shiller Robert Kiyosaki and other well-known value investors. He therefore only needed a couple of helpful nudges to steer his trajectory towards Bitcoin, and they came from the enlightened minds of Robert Breedlove and Preston Pysh.
"I’d been listening to a lot of the Investors Podcast with Preston Pysh and he was talking about Bitcoin Twitter, and I didn’t know that was a thing. He also was talking about Bitcoin. I remember wondering why he wouldn’t talk about any of the other altcoins as being good enough for investment. So I dug into that, and changed my mental framework on how to value things."
As is so often the case, Greg admits to having a had run-in with the degenerates inside a few Shitcoin Casinos, before re-evaluating his previously fiat-oriented mental models and pivotting into Bitcoin.
"Bitcoin really is the invention here – it’s the only thing in this space with real value and the total addressable market is orders of magnitude larger than I thought it was."
Hearing Preston Pysh repeatedly mention Bitcoin Twitter, Greg started to engage more on the bird site and was pulled in the right direction by American Hodl. Greg said Hodl “changed the way he engaged with people” on Twitter. The man who incentivised him to start meming, though, was Pubby – from Bitcoin’s Toxic Happy Hour. It was the arrows from Pubby’s quiver which first broke through Greg’s skin and gave him the impetus to figure out how to meme.
"I needed to tell this guy to go fuck himself – in pictures. Words just weren’t doing the job."
Greg now sees himself as part of Bitcoin’s propaganda arm and a frontline fighter in a guerilla war against the MSM’s massive influence.
“They’ve got way more money and way more eyeballs, so my information delivery system needs to be better directed and have more information per pixel than theirs”, he explained in his interview with me. He believes memes are the best method for hammering home key messages, and also capable of invoking way more fun and mischief in a way that MSM simply can’t match.
"You can’t drop curse words on the local news and you can’t put rainbow dildos on people’s eyeballs for ABC News at Six."
Meme Collection
#01
— GregZaj☣ (@gregzaj1) March 21, 2021
#03
Free Man: The #Bitcoin Redemption pic.twitter.com/yIpAJrn56q
— GregZaj☣ (@gregzaj1) March 26, 2021
Going Viral
I agree with him. Memes carry more calories per square inch than any other mental food group, which explains how a humble band of memers including Greg beamed laser rays onto a significant number of Twitter peeps back in February. And that didn’t just included plebs – but Bitcoin-loving pro sports players, restauranteurs and even members of the US Senate and Congress. It also caught the attention of Elon who wore them “just for one day”.
Greg’s bold, direct approach and attention to detail was also single-handedly responsible for fixing Senator Cynthia Lummis’ wonky 1st edition lasers. The subsequent announcement from the “Congress Changes” Twitter account provided one of the most wonderful vignettes of the power of memes. “I have spent 10 long years on this website and this is easily one of my favorite ever moments on here” said Nic Carter. Our friend derGigi – a man known for his well-chosen words, simply said “Bestest Timeline”. As a slew of MSM publications picked up on the laser ray phenomenon, Newsweek caught the exchange between Senator Lummis and Greg. Does memecraft get any better than this?
Thanks!
— Cynthia Lummis (@CynthiaMLummis) February 19, 2021
MEME COLLECTION
The Power of the Meme
— LA SAUMURE 🟩 (@gegelsmr) May 4, 2021
Seeing a sitting member of the US Senate adopt a Bitcoin meme as it played out in real-time was like nothing I’ve ever experienced on Twitter. Sure, it was great fun, but it was reaffirming and revealing, too; we now had proof that we could not only beat the mainstream media at their own game of creating the narratives, but we could get them to report on it too. It was so big, they couldn’t ignore it. What does that tell you?
Now the precedent is set, it would seem to me that there’s literally no top in the Bitcoin Memers sights. Laser-rayed or not, keep a keen eye out for Greg and the rest of the memelords. I’m betting that the best is yet to come.
Check out my chat with Greg (linked above) where we talked about his favourite moments and memes from Bitcoin Twitter, which super heroes resonate with him and how they emcompass pleb resilience, how he had to explain to his father-in-law why everyone online was telling him to go fuck himself, his thoughts on aliens, hyperbitcoinisation and plenty more besides. The highlight of the session was the guest appearances of some of his Meme Factory™ (which doesn’t exist) memelord mates so don’t miss it! Give him a follow on Twitter here. Thanks for stopping by!