Ask HN: Significance of “8” or “88” in cryptocurrency/NFTs

1 points by throwaway_kufu 5y ago ↗ HN

Can anyone explain why 8 seems to be a recurring price and/or theme in all things “crypto.” From NFT prices 8 or 88 or 88.88 to “crypto” related domain names being priced in usd $8,888.88.

At first I thought money laundering (keeping transactions below $10k), then I thought maybe there is something to it meaning or representing wealth in China sort of like a lucky number...now I’m just under the impression it’s got to be a meme - like the egg meme as it relates to crypto - coming from telegram/discord channels.

4 comments

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creepto 5y ago ↗

Nazis love crypto.

8 is their favorite number.

throwaway81523 5y ago ↗

First thing I thought of was 88, as in 1488. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words

I'm not into cryptocurrency enough to have any idea of whether that's the real origin.

tdeck 5y ago ↗

Not sure, but 8 is certainly considered a lucky number in China. House and phone numbers with 8 in them are supposedly favored by some Chinese people, e.g. https://list.juwai.com/news/2020/06/chinese-pay-attention-to... (I'm not familiar with this source but there are many similar articles)

ixacto 5y ago ↗

Google owns 8.8.8.8.