Author: Kaori, BlockBeats

Editor: Jack, BlockBeats

Today marks the 20th day since threadguy "disappeared," and almost every day, people are discussing when he will return on X.

The last interaction threadguy had on social media was liking a post that read, "Business leaders are willing to pay up to $5 million for a one-on-one meeting with President Trump at his Florida estate, while others pay $1 million to attend a group dinner with him. I have to admire threadguy; spending $25,000 to meet Trump is really a steal."

This like is like a time capsule, preserving the moment when this 23-year-old crypto enthusiast intersected with the centers of power.

Time rewinds to September 22, 2024, at the Trump dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where threadguy, dressed in a dark striped suit and sporting a carefully chosen eagle-shaped tie clip, with his freshly dyed iconic blonde hair, raised his hand to ask Trump a question: "As someone who is interested in NFTs, I'm curious, if (hopefully it won't happen) you don't win the election this time, what do you think the future of cryptocurrency will be?"

Trump shrugged as usual and said, "I think it is the future." Addressing threadguy, Trump took 30 seconds to answer the question, "I think the future of cryptocurrency is very bright, really. Maybe we can use it to pay off $35 trillion in debt, right? I just jotted down a little note, $35 trillion in cryptocurrency, then we have no debt, right?"

Before taking the stage to speak, Trump was preparing behind the curtain, and threadguy was only two steps away from him, while a girl filming threadguy kept urging him to do something.

Threadguy raised his hand to signal Trump and, seeing Trump lean in, asked, "Will there be more Trump Cards in the future?" Trump said he didn't know, and threadguy quickly replied, "I'm a top holder, I love them," to which Trump immediately reached out and shook hands tightly with threadguy.

An interesting episode from this dinner was that threadguy asked five people in a row, and none of them knew they needed to buy an NFT to enter; they only knew someone. Threadguy repeated several times to the camera, "Am I the only one who bought an NFT?"

Five months later, threadguy was caught up in another presidential-related controversy, as the Argentine coin LIBRA put this young man and his crypto career through a capital meat grinder. This time, there was no dapper suit and blonde hair; on camera, threadguy lamented, "Most people in this market will ultimately be 'cut to pieces'; very few can actually make money, and the outcomes are usually not good. No one wants to actively promote this casino, yet I have unwittingly played that role."

The Breakout Rules of a Dropout

In 2021, Michael Jerome, a sophomore at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, spent less than 10 minutes in his first Zoom accounting class before decisively leaving the meeting. The next day, he made a bold decision—dropping out to go all in on crypto.

Having previously dabbled in trading cards and sneaker reselling, Michael found himself naturally drawn to the world of NFTs, where he discovered a familiar feeling—an enthusiastic community, the potential to make money, and the joy of collecting, all of which reminded him of his past hobbies.

Michael at a basketball game

2021 is known as the year of NFTs, and globally, the trading volume surrounding NFTs exceeded $19.6 billion, 228 times that of 2020, with over 8.16 million total transactions and more than $6.5 billion in total trading volume. Reports released by domestic media indicated that "post-00s" and "post-90s" digital collectible collectors made up the vast majority, with "post-90s" collectors accounting for about 37%, ranking first, and "post-00s" at about 27%, ranking second.

Michael was neither a big player nor a seasoned trader, nor was he a project founder, so he began to look for gaps in the market. At that time, if someone wanted to learn about a particular NFT project, there were almost no reliable sources of information. Perhaps a few scattered posts could be found on Twitter, or an outdated article. Because of this, Michael decided to start writing long tweets about projects he was genuinely interested in.

In August 2021, Michael named his newly registered Twitter account DiscoverxNFT and continuously updated analyses of NFT projects for three months. These posts had no personal style, no memes, no fluff—just pure sharing of project information, allowing DiscoverxNFT to grow from zero followers to about 5,000.

The first NFT project Michael minted was Jenkins The Valet. In October 2021, he wrote a long tweet about it. At that time, the DiscoverxNFT account was still relatively unknown, and Jenkins was just getting started. In November of the same year, Michael acquired a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and it was during this period that his social media account and personal brand began to truly take off.

As Michael's long tweets gained a solid brand impression, in 2022, he changed his Twitter name from DiscoverxNFT to threadguy.

With the growing influence of both DiscoverxNFT and Jenkins, in April 2022, the Jenkins team proactively reached out, hoping to bring Michael onto the team, but initially, they didn't know what position to offer him. Michael jokingly suggested he wanted to be the "Director of Vibes."

"Age Discrimination is a Myth"

In February 2021, the world was grappling with COVID lockdowns, and Musk and a host of Silicon Valley bigwigs were promoting Clubhouse, causing a frenzy for this voice social product worldwide. Two months later, Twitter launched its Space feature. As the functionality improved, hosting Spaces became an important avenue for crypto communities and personal promotion.

At that time, someone invited threadguy to co-host a podcast, which ultimately did not materialize, but it planted a seed in his mind. In the summer of 2022, threadguy began co-hosting daily Spaces with crypto OG Alex, inviting people from the NFT or crypto fields for discussions, with his recording studio set up in his home basement.

Threadguy's approach to dealing with people was highly regarded by Alex, who often stood up to support this young guy.

"I only co-host Twitter Spaces with threadguy because he is the number one influencer in the Ethereum space. He is ridiculously smart, and achieving industry leadership is not just luck. This guy's work ethic is something I've never seen before; not just in the Web3 space, but even ordinary people are rarely comparable. I'm really grateful to learn from him. Yes, he is over a decade younger than me, and I learn something from him every day. Age discrimination is a total myth."

In November 2022, threadguy decided to host the show independently. Initially, progress was slow; solo hosting was completely different from co-hosting, and the atmosphere was entirely different.

"I was determined, so I thought—whatever, even without experience, I want to do it," threadguy said. "I would think about what discussions inviting this guest would spark and what new opportunities it might bring; it’s all a chess game that requires careful planning."

This dropout who fully joined the crypto field expressed his understanding of what he was doing: "In the social and content space, the most important principle is to maintain consistent output. Even if you are not at the top of the industry or have not brought about disruptive change, as long as you continue to produce high-quality content, you will eventually find yourself going further than most.

Many people come in with a bang, firing on all cylinders within two or three months, but this approach is hard to sustain and often ends in collapse. A steadier, more planned rhythm allows you to persist longer. Being able to last longer than others is often a severely underestimated competitive advantage."

Threadguy once said he "spent months finding his voice," and since then, he has insisted on hosting shows six days a week without interruption. This almost obsessive stable output perfectly reflects his self-described survival philosophy—in the battlefield of fragmented attention, persistence itself is a moat.

In this era where traffic reigns supreme, attracting attention and winning audience favor has become the goal for many. However, in a market where attention is easily distracted, threadguy understands that to survive in such an environment and maintain his influence, he needs not only solid skills but also a forward-looking vision and the flexibility to adapt to market changes.

The Cost of Chasing Traffic

In April 2023, threadguy and his Space partner Leap moved to Los Angeles. Their goals extended beyond Twitter Spaces, and the broader community opened up new opportunities and possibilities for them.

Left: Leap; Right: threadguy

In September of that year, threadguy officially launched his first video podcast interview with streetwear brand founder Jeff Staple. In October, he released the second video, interviewing digital artist Beeple.

There is no doubt that these guests are closely related to NFT culture. Threadguy travels to the locations of his guests for interviews, whether it's a studio or an exhibition hall, and the state he presents in the videos is always positive and uplifting.

As the NFT and overall crypto market environment changes, threadguy's interview subjects are gradually becoming more diverse.

In June 2024, renowned rapper Iggy Azalea and her meme coin MOTHER made headlines. Seizing this wave of celebrity coin hype, threadguy invited Iggy to participate in a video podcast titled "Understanding Attention, Crypto, and Internet Culture."

In July, threadguy flew to Romania for the twelfth podcast interview, this time with another internet celebrity, Andrew Tate. This guest, who is highly controversial and polarizing online, brought threadguy over 10 million views. On YouTube, the view count for this episode was 15 times that of the second place.

Before the exclusive interview with Andrew Tate, threadguy's most successful podcast on X had accumulated millions of views, while the view count on YouTube was around 1,000. This exclusive interview magnified those numbers exponentially, with views on X reaching nearly nine times the previous count, hitting 8.8 million, and on YouTube, it skyrocketed hundreds of times to 1.24 million. This podcast exposed threadguy to a whole new audience, and he clearly felt a significant influx of new traffic.

However, this unexpected traffic peak plunged threadguy into a dilemma. After the interview was released, his mental state began to decline. On one hand, Andrew Tate's reputation was not good; aside from his sensational antics, the associated meme coins were mostly manipulated, experiencing wild fluctuations, which made threadguy realize the frightening aspects of this person.

On the other hand, the drop in podcast traffic data after this interview was too severe, and the sense of disparity was hard for threadguy to accept. He reflected on X:

"Initially, I started doing Spaces and then podcasts simply because I enjoyed chatting with interesting people and hearing them share fascinating stories. But recording podcasts in reality has really worn me out. Due to cost and travel limitations, I can only interview the top-tier guests. Moreover, I have always refused to accept advertising sponsorships (I don't know why, I just feel a bit resistant), which has made 99% of the guests I genuinely want to talk to seem out of reach. As a result, each episode carries immense pressure to perform well, which has completely destroyed my passion for this."

"So I decided to return to my original intention—to communicate with interesting people anytime and anywhere through live streaming, without caring about their influence or the size of their platform." Below the tweet, he provided a link to a Twitch live stream. Since then, threadguy has stopped producing dedicated video podcasts for live interviews and mostly conducts interviews online.

Twitch, Twitter, YouTube: Threadguy's Crypto Lifestyle Matrix

However, this skepticism about the side effects of influence did not last long. The controversy brought by Andrew Tate may have been the superficial reason for threadguy's shift to the lower-cost Twitch for content dissemination, but the deeper driving force was his realization that the super cycle of meme coins was hitting the cryptocurrency space in unprecedented ways.

Alongside the Andrew Tate interview, there was also an interview with the founder of Punm.Fun, the creator of one of the most captivating crypto applications of this cycle, who was publicly interviewed for the first time. It was this podcast that led threadguy to embark on a journey he later described as "gradually becoming fully invested, even promoting the meme coin casino."

Starting from a Card Game

January 16 is threadguy's 23rd birthday. He excitedly introduced his new recording studio during a live stream, even rolling around in the empty room. A friend knocked on the door and brought threadguy a basketball, planning to take him to watch a Lakers game that evening, sitting courtside. Threadguy happily spun the basketball in his hands, clearly having emerged from the shadow of Andrew Tate.

Before moving into this new room, threadguy's live stream background was an open living room, and he often used a whiteboard as a backdrop. Since he no longer had to conduct face-to-face interviews, threadguy's interview videos became more personal, with the entire live stream interspersed with audience questions and playful banter.

With live streams often lasting two to three hours, the first half would involve casual chats with the audience, followed by inviting guests to discuss topics. After the live stream, he would edit the conversation with the guests and upload it to YouTube.

In this way, Twitch became the primary channel for threadguy to convey his values, Twitter served as his traffic accumulation pool, and YouTube became his content garden.

During this time, he interviewed a series of founders of AI concept meme coins, including GOAT, ai16z, PIPPIN, ZEREBRO, GRIFFAIN, and others, as well as Jesse, the head of the Base protocol, Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz, Opensea CEO Devin Finzer, and internet celebrities like Raoul Pal and Ansem.

This house is not only used by threadguy for live streaming; it is also the residence of several other KOLs who stream cryptocurrency content on Twitch.

Rewinding to three months ago, at the end of October, Polymarket sponsored a poker night event, initiated by threadguy, and the venue was a dedicated poker table that threadguy and his team spent 26 hours setting up in this house. The complex live streaming equipment and a corner of the room still showed the table and computer threadguy had previously used for live streaming.

Throughout October, threadguy was preparing for this poker live stream. In addition to practicing poker skills at the casino, he had to announce the participants, create event hype, and promote Polymarket.

The event invited a host of crypto KOLs, including Ansem, Macdegods, Frankdegods, Based16z, Rasmr, Bitboy, and Minh. The poker game lasted for seven hours, during which viewers were encouraged to place bets on Polymarket and interact on Twitter.

After the live stream, there were over 20,000 views on Twitch, and 800 new followers were added. It was after this poker live stream that threadguy officially launched his Twitch streaming career. After the live stream, threadguy posted on X:

"Honestly, I was so moved I almost cried. You have no idea how important this is to me. This is just the beginning; the journey of live streaming has just begun!"

Most of the participants in this poker game were dubbed the "LA Vape Cabal" by the community.

Of course, it wasn't just a poker game that connected them. In March 2024, they organized an account called "Probably Nothing." Members included FaZe Clan co-founder FaZe Banks, Frank, the founder of the NFT project DeGods, Malcolm from de Labs (the parent company of DeGods), and crypto KOLs including threadguy, rasmr, and OGshoots.

This group of crypto enthusiasts, gathered around NFT culture, live streams cryptocurrency-related content on Twitch. In addition to interviews, threadguy, Frank, and others analyze meme coin opportunities, review trades, and discuss market trends during their live streams.

Outside of live streaming, this group has a small community of their own, aptly named "LA Vape Cabal." A community member named Mikasa was pulled into this group chat by a friend, and the first opportunity he seized was the meme coin JELLYJELLY launched by former Facebook VP lessin, which had a market cap of only $2 million when scanned, skyrocketing to $250 million in just six hours.

The group members frantically scoured lessin's Twitter and social media to confirm whether the account had been hacked, then communicated in the group as if it were a matter of life and death, needing to clarify the situation. Once they determined it was not a scam project, they would go in with large positions, though due to the Degen mentality, some would jump in right away. Mikasa noted that the core of what united the people in this group chat was Frank's statement—"Know what you hold." Mikasa wrote on his social media:

Anyone pulled from this group could retire now, and for the next 5 to 10 years, they wouldn't have to worry about making a living. Yet, they are still desperately monitoring the market, searching for coins, and digging for insider information, as if they were barely getting by on a salary. He saw no signs of insider trading or market manipulation, which surprised him, but it was precisely for this reason that he finally understood why so many people remained loyal to Frank.

For threadguy, the first three Twitch live streams were quite successful, surpassing 2,000 subscribers. At that time, the top 100 channels on Twitch had around 7,000 subscribers, and the top 25 had 17,000. In just three days, threadguy achieved 35% of the progress needed to enter the top 100 on Twitch.

Banks, the initiator of Probably Nothing, once explained why such an organization was established. He said it was crucial to document the living conditions of the new generation of day traders and young builders in Web3, and that the Probably Nothing platform—especially this team—was the best way to achieve this goal. Clearly, threadguy's streaming career brought him closer to his crypto ideals.

LA Vape Stream Cabal

The last time threadguy streamed was on Valentine's Day.

At 7 PM, wearing a T-shirt with Snoopy on it, he shared with the audience about the meme coin LIBRA, which had been retweeted by Argentine President Milei just two hours earlier. Threadguy mentioned that he bought LIBRA when its market cap was $2.5 billion, watching a game video while following the market FOMO, until he noticed large holders selling off and withdrawing liquidity. Realizing something was off, he exited around a $1.2 billion market cap, incurring losses.

This live stream video has since been deleted from Twitch, and the most widely circulated clip from that day is of threadguy muting the stream and covering his mouth while on the phone, which made him the target of the "Libragate" incident involving the Argentine president.

In the early days of his streaming, threadguy often posted his account's streaming data, believing there was a severe lack of high-quality crypto content in the market and hoping to create more industry-reflective content.

"Just talk directly to the camera, and one day you'll unexpectedly hit the level of Adin Ross in terms of traffic."

In February 2025, threadguy and Banks, Frank, Rasmr, and others actually went to Adin Ross's live stream, which became their second most viewed interview video, titled "I Teach Adin Ross How to Trade Memecoins."

Adin Ross is a top streamer in today's streaming era, with over 20 million followers across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Ross, who is two years older than threadguy and part of Gen Z, interviewed Trump last August and had previously streamed with Andrew Tate two years prior.

In addition to Adin Ross, threadguy and others also did a video interview with influencer Haliey Welch. Haliey was the star of the once-popular Hawk Tuah Girl and unexpectedly went viral in June 2024 due to a street interview video, where she playfully mimicked Hawk Tuah (the sound of spitting) and gave suggestive answers, quickly spreading across social media, just like Ross, becoming a focal point of Gen Z social media.

However, everything turned into a farce. In threadguy's eyes, the release process of this episode was filled with mistakes and chaos, from content leaks to the erroneous release of a show that should have been canceled, to the final decision to go live. The entire team faced serious issues at every stage, and $HAWK ended up facing the same fate as many other celebrity meme coins.

The choice of these guests was less about the depth of content and more about accurately capturing the focal points of Gen Z social media, or more bluntly, a naked pursuit of traffic.

The name "LA Vape Cabal" evolved from a joke to a community "accusation." They were accused of using their fans to exit liquidity and manipulate the meme coin market. This community anger was finally unleashed on LIBRA, as the clip of threadguy covering his mouth while on the phone with Banks was seen as "ironclad evidence" that the "LA Vape Cabal" had insider information about the Argentine coin.

Criticism poured in, with some even suggesting a connection between the "LA Vape Cabal" and the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group. Even the photo taken with Adin Ross during their interview circulated in the community, claiming it was a conspiracy group that manipulated the meme market through insider trading.

Solana Wiki also removed the entry for "LA Vape Cabal" during this controversy, which originally stated, "The group is known for its 'insider celebrities' and their controversial personalities."

Left: The Solana Wiki page restored after removal; Right: The deleted Solana Wiki page;

Four days after LIBRA "rugged," threadguy posted a ten-minute clarification video on X. In addition to clarifying that he had no insider information regarding the Argentine coin and that there was no factual evidence indicating he had insider trading, threadguy also said something unexpected:

"At some point, my content direction changed. I originally interviewed project parties, founders, and developers, but gradually it turned into a full commitment, even promoting this 'meme coin casino.' This has become very clear now, even more so than ever—most people in this market will ultimately be 'wrecked,' and very few can actually make money. The outcomes are usually not good, and no one wants to actively promote this casino, yet I have inadvertently played that role."

Not Just Gen Z, Even Presidents Need Internet Savvy

When threadguy posted his first long analysis of an NFT project from the basement, this Gen Z individual may not have realized he was tapping into the pulse of the times. The crypto world is like a giant magnet, continuously attracting Gen Z—there are no investment banking thresholds with suits and ties, no hierarchical promotion systems, only Twitter follower counts, meme virality, and a beast-like intuition for trends.

According to CoinGecko's 2025 Gen Z survey, the proportion of crypto practitioners aged 18-25 jumped from 17% in 2021 to 43% in 2025. While traditional industries still require young people to "start from internships," the crypto field has long been showcasing a more naked wealth myth: a funny NFT meme created at 3 AM might earn more than a fund manager with ten years of experience; a live stream clip discussing token economics while gaming on Twitch could potentially unlock millions in liquidity.

From the "P Little Generals" who became famous overnight by "sitting still" to achieve big results, to the millisecond-level businesses of billionaire equation founders, age has never been a bottleneck for personal development. From Elizabeth's group expenses to Um's short essays, these Gen Z individuals, like threadguy, are leaving their stories in this market in ways they excel at.

This industry offers many young people opportunities, but due to the lack of rules and barriers, it has both created the wildest grassroots success stories and fostered disorder and speculation under the jungle law. When traditional society's educational credentials, career ladders, and resource monopolies all fail, the Gen Z individuals who master the meme dissemination codes are reconstructing the value coordinate system with memes, live stream clips, and internet slang.

Despite the disdain for the LA Vape Cabal, they and other publicly identified content creators play a very important role in the crypto space. Retail investors need engaging content to be attracted, and the most effective way in 2025 is through vlogs and live streams; anonymous culture cannot be scaled.

Just as people now complain about an oversupply of infrastructure, and geek podcasts seem to be overly saturated. In the eyes of some, threadguy and his live stream represent the media of the crypto lifestyle, discussing recent games with fans and sharing what they did over the weekend. Some say, "We need pioneers to turn industry thresholds into trendy symbols—when Gen Z starts to see becoming a top KOL in the crypto field as a life ideal, this field will have truly achieved mainstream status." Crypto lifestyle media may be the real ace in this cycle.

On the day this article was completed, threadguy posted for the first time after the controversy, replying to a tweet from last November: "Cryptocurrency is the most exciting and rapidly developing industry in today's world; no other field can compare. Everyone wants to get in, yet no one truly understands it. In any other field, KOLs cannot create wealth for community members as directly as they can in the cryptocurrency space."

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。