HN Explorer

Ask HN: What Is a “Crypto Bro”?

14 points by dieselgate ↗ HN
I’m aware of the term and hear/read people use it all the time. But sort of feel the term doesn’t mean anything now other than negatively refer a “male involved with crypto currency”. It seems there’s a pretty common “bro” stereotype (fraternity/so-cal/etc) while Sam Bankman-Fried is being referred to as a crypto bro.

Does “bro” often seem to convey negativity now?

17 comments

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smt88
It seems like you understand the term as people use it.
JohnFen
> Does “bro” often seem to convey negativity now?

In my neck of the woods, it's conveyed negativity for a rather long time.

npalli
Now? It was always a negative image of someone ('bro') who is a stereotypical male overconfident of his (always male) abilities and grasp of reality in contrast to reality. The bro stereotype always existed but an increasing amount of folks migrated to crypto in the past few years leading to the crypto bro.
quickthrower2
Bro the adjective is usually pejorative. Bro the noun may be friendly.

In other words: bro, I hope no one calls you a crypto bro.

dieselgate
good observation thanks for bringing that up.

edit: that's kind of the reason I ask this question - there is nuance between "positive" and "negative" use of bro. I hear (mostly younger males) use the term all the time in public and it's just how people talk at times and ages (of course this plays into our negative perception of the word as assume the HN crowd is older than 18)

d1sxeyes
I'm not what you mean here... in both cases, 'bro' is a noun. 'Crypto bro' is a noun phrase where 'crypto' is an 'attributive noun' (functioning similarly to an adjective).
hotpotamus
I think my favorite use of the term is "bro-science". These are the rather strange takes on human physiology that you might hear from enthusiastic gym-goers with little formal education on the subject (though they might be in quite excellent physical shape regardless).

I'm also a fan of the word "brogrammer" [0] which you can see from the existence of the wikipedia history goes back a bit.

And here's [1] a parody documentary of "bro" culture from 2006, meaning it's among the earliest of Youtube videos.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brogrammer

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvTRQr7ns8

dieselgate
Classic Derekcomedy - this came up with a friend/colleague recently as well but more in the context of Donald Glover's early work
hestefisk
Crypto Bro is like Steve Stiffler from American Pie coupled with someone who does daily videos on YT talking up questionable shit coins.

SBF seems to be more intelligent than your average crypto bro (at least before FTX crashed).

autotune
SBF was smart enough to be born to the right family who had the right kind of connections. I will give him that much.
perilunar
It's just name calling. Ignore it, and focus on the actual argument, if there is any.
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esperent
It's a crypto evangelist. They are almost always men, hence "bro".

I have met loads of them in real life on the "digital nomad" scene over the last decade. Maybe as many as 50. Plus I've come across many online. All male, all passionate about crypto and all determined to make me passionate about it too.

I'm trying to think if I've ever met a "crypto sis" but I don't think so.

frou_dh
To me the connotation of that phrase is being a numbskull, so it applies more to the fans and hangers-on than the big players.

If you ever see one of those ugly cartoon ape profile pictures then you're looking at a crypto bro for sure.

night-rider
I never liked the term. It suggests someone who's some lost/hapless stoner type who navigates the crypto world effortlessly, when infact it's very difficult to navigate it, unless you're hella smart and...not stoned.