I AM HODLING.
GameKyuubi’s BitcoinTalk post I AM HODLING on 18 December 2013 gave rise to the word HODL.
The market has broken through the walls. Red candles fall like burning beams, furniture lifts from the floor and a desk begins to split. At its centre, a young man holds on with both hands. Cold monitor light catches his face while the room burns red behind him. The scene turns the strain of holding through a crash into something physical: one person trying to keep his grip while everything around him moves.
On 18 December 2013, BitcoinTalk user GameKyuubi published a post titled I AM HODLING. He acknowledged the spelling mistake, described himself as a poor trader and explained why he was holding rather than attempting to time the market. The post also mentioned whisky. Within minutes, other forum members were repeating HODL in the replies.
The title gives this card its voice. Its confidence sits awkwardly beside the character’s alarm, which is part of the joke: determination does not have to look calm. The monitor remains the clearest patch of blue in a room overwhelmed by red. Between that small rectangle and the oversized candles, a typed sentence becomes the centre of the illustration.
This is an invented room and an anonymous fictional adult, not a portrait of the author. The broken furniture and enormous chart symbols make the emotion visible without pretending to reconstruct a real scene. The bottle, dated note and forum address provide quieter points of reference. Everything else builds towards the same gesture: fingers locked around a desk that is already coming apart.
Sources & the artist’s interpretation
The original BitcoinTalk thread supplies the title, date, topic number, whisky reference and early replies. The character, room and destruction are fictional. Drawn interface details are approximate; no exact author-local time or likeness is claimed. The approved illustration is reproduced unchanged.
