When a TikTok meme enters the crypto world, it's worth $600 million: The rapid rise of Chillguy
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When a TikTok meme enters the crypto world, it's worth $600 million: The rapid rise of Chillguy
That year, I had my hands in my pockets, not knowing what an opponent meant.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy TechFlow
While most memes are pulling back today, who’s the hottest contrarian? No doubt—it's ChillGuy, the emotionless dude with hands in his pockets.
The meme character, originally popularized on TikTok, has stirred massive waves in just 24 hours: market cap briefly exceeding $600 million, a 24-hour surge of tens of times, trading volume surpassing $700 million, and over $100 million traded in the past hour alone.
Just days ago, it was merely spreading across TikTok.
Interestingly, while we’re still chuckling at the catchphrase "Just Chill," crypto players have already demonstrated what "Real·Chill" truly means—through posts by El Salvador’s president, retweets from Musk, and viral traction from TikTok to Twitter, everything becomes fuel for attention-driven speculation.
With a posture of “lying flat,” ChillGuy has pulled off a perfect case of “lying one’s way to victory.”
If you're wondering how a meme could cause such a stir, here's a quick recap.
At First, I Was Just a Cool Dude
ChillGuy is actually a character created in 2023 by artist Phillip Banks. This anthropomorphized figure wears a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, hands tucked in his pockets—a seemingly cool, aloof guy.
The artist described him simply: “He’s someone who doesn’t care about anything at all.” The post sparked widespread imitation across social media.
Soon, the "Chill Guy" image went viral on TikTok. People were drawn to this expressionless, hands-in-pockets figure who seemed indifferent to everything. He perfectly captured a generational attitude toward life’s pressures: rather than stress, just chill.
Users began mimicking the pose across various scenarios: Failed an exam? Just Chillin’. Overwhelmed at work? Just Chillin’. Life not going well? Still Just Chillin’.
This ironic humor and “giving-up” lifestyle unexpectedly resonated with Gen Z. Related videos amassed over 20 million views within two months, spawning countless remixes and memes.
These videos might have easily drowned in TikTok’s content flood, but netizens fell for his “life doesn’t need to be taken seriously” vibe. In today’s anxiety-ridden era, people found unexpected solace in this meme: life is about learning to chill.
The Tipping Point: From Meme to Fast Pass King
Five days ago, when the $CHILLGUY token launched on Solana, even its creators likely didn’t foresee what would follow.
Initially, CHILLGUY remained relatively quiet in price, but yesterday it suddenly surged—market cap breached $200 million, price peaking around $0.23, with trading volume exceeding $100 million.
Clearly, a TikTok-viral meme naturally has viral potential. In the attention-economy-driven crypto world, it’s exactly what smart money calls a “solid narrative.”
Data doesn’t lie. Compared to squirrel-themed PNUT, which took 11 days to reach 60,000 holders during the election hype, ChillGuy hit 80,000 holders in just four days.
You can’t help but marvel at the power of attention economics and viral trends.
Of course, the meme angle is just the foundation. What truly catalyzed it was inevitably a confluence of factors.
Here, we must revisit the classic theory from Malcolm Gladwell’s *The Tipping Point*: three elements are essential for something to go viral:
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Law of the Few — Influential individuals drive dissemination and interpretation
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Stickiness Factor — The idea must leave a lasting impression
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Power of Context — The environment plays a crucial role in determining spread and acceptance
The latter two are clearly met: the hands-in-pockets cool demeanor aligns with youth fashion, while TikTok and the current Meme supercycle provide strong environmental momentum.
All ingredients were present—except for the key influencers.
First came Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, posting a ChillGuy meme on X (formerly Twitter), without any caption. Within hours, the tweet garnered nearly 80,000 likes.
Then Musk arrived—late, but impactful.
A tech blogger posted a performance test of Grok’s AI, including an image element labeled “CHILLGUY.” Musk retweeted it as a signal of interest.
Though not an explicit endorsement, the rule that “anything related to Musk tends to go viral” remains unbroken.
Today (Nov 21), after multiple events converged, CHILLGUY began its rapid ascent—market cap soaring from $200 million to over $600 million. At press time, prices have slightly pulled back, but market cap remains around $300 million.
Memecoins rapidly climbing past $100 million are rare; amid today’s broad meme correction, ChillGuy stands out, achieving a true fast pass and “chill-win.”
More notably, Google Trends shows a massive spike in U.S. searches for "how to buy ChillGuy" in the last 24 hours—typing "how to buy" now suggests Bitcoin first, ChillGuy second—with tutorials flooding YouTube and forums.
Combined with recent news of Phantom wallet topping Google Play download charts, it appears more young, new entrants are indeed rushing into crypto.
Exchanges reacted swiftly—crypto.com has announced CHILLGUY listing.
However, the original artist behind the ChillGuy image isn’t thrilled with this fame.
He posted on X:
"I've been overwhelmed by terrible crypto-related spam. I’ve decided to take a break from Twitter for a while."
Earlier reports indicated Philb holds copyright to chillguy and considered suing the namesake memecoin. This caused CHILLGUY’s price to drop over 50%, though it has since recovered.
Ten Bets, Nine Losses—and One Chill
In this ChillGuy frenzy, some celebrate, others suffer. On-chain data shows early movers truly achieved “chill-and-win”:
According to monitoring by AI Auntie, a smart money address spent 22,134 USDC between Nov 17–19 to buy 5.01 million $CHILLGUY tokens, averaging $0.0044 per token;
To date, this wallet has sold 60% of its position, transferring the remaining 2 million tokens across two new addresses—locking in a paper profit of $760,000.
Original smart money address:
28MyYrYpRwAwiACFwKQbzJ7LXAq3tSBPTJzrmG6ep1Fi
Post-profit distribution addresses:
DiJA72nChAfqbwbqBpmFdEk7gBFT97JZSBx7faArjGYe
28MyYrYpRwAwiACFwKQbzJ7LXAq3tSBPTJzrmG6ep1Fi
(TechFlow Note: The above information is for data illustration only, not investment advice.)
More insightfully, a X user analyzed this address further, revealing it frequently participates in high-risk “pump-and-dump” schemes—a true “P-lord”—but with a track record of nine losses out of ten bets.
Yet one single CHILLGUY trade turned everything around—just one critical hit erased all prior pain.
Others woke up early, chasing dreams with 1 SOL, but arrived too late.
According to Lookonchain data, a trader bought over 30 million CHILLGUY tokens shortly after launch using 1 SOL—now worth $10 million.
But he sold early, ultimately profiting only 0.6 SOL.
What can we learn from these contrasts?
Effort, luck, timing, and mindset—all are essential, yet even with all four, success isn’t guaranteed.
Hands in pockets, you find the meme market full of rivals; the only thing you can do is truly become a chill dude—lower expectations, watch and wait.
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