Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend Laserrayuntil100K

2021Profile picture fad / hashtag campaignsemi-active

Also known as: Laser Eyes · Bitcoin Laser Eyes · #LaserRayUntil100K · #LaserEyesUntilFiatDies

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media fad where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto profile pictures under #LaserRayUntil100K, pledging to keep them until Bitcoin hit $100,000.

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media movement where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto their profile pictures as a show of crypto solidarity. Launched on Twitter with the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K, participants pledged to keep the modified avatars until Bitcoin's price reached $100,0001. The campaign spread from a small group of Bitcoin meme-makers to U.S. senators, celebrities, and even a sitting head of state within weeks3.

TL;DR

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media movement where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto their profile pictures as a show of crypto solidarity.

Overview

The Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend involved crypto enthusiasts Photoshopping red or orange laser beam effects over their eyes in profile pictures across social media. The visual was borrowed from the older "Laser Eyes" meme format but repurposed as a tribal identity marker for Bitcoin maximalists. Participants used the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K to signal their commitment to holding Bitcoin until it crossed the $100,000 price threshold4. The effect was deliberately over-the-top, giving adopters the look of angry Supermen or X-Men's Cyclops at the optometrist, as one journalist put it3.

The campaign traces back to a tight-knit group of Bitcoin meme-makers on Twitter who called themselves The Meme Factory. The central figure was a user going by Chairforce (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC), whose day job at Bitcoin Magazine carried the actual title "Chief Shitpost Officer"3. Chairforce had been creating custom avatars for Bitcoin Twitter since late 2020, starting with a Christmas avatar campaign where he made over 1,000 festive profile pictures for fellow Bitcoin supporters4.

The laser eyes idea clicked in early February 2021. Chairforce was helping a group member named Pedro add laser effects to a kangaroo meme when inspiration struck. He slapped laser eyes on every Meme Factory member's avatar and proposed the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K in the group chat4. A member called Plan Marcus suggested they wait until Bitcoin touched $50,000 to launch. Chairforce also looped in American HODL, a prominent Bitcoin Twitter personality, who immediately agreed to participate4.

On February 16, 2021, with Bitcoin hovering around $50,000, the campaign went live. Chairforce changed his profile picture to the laser-eyed version and tweeted the #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag5. Several other Twitter users followed suit the same day5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (campaign launch), The Meme Factory group chat (conception)
Key People
Chairforce / @CHAIRFORCE_BTC, The Meme Factory group
Date
2021

The campaign traces back to a tight-knit group of Bitcoin meme-makers on Twitter who called themselves The Meme Factory. The central figure was a user going by Chairforce (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC), whose day job at Bitcoin Magazine carried the actual title "Chief Shitpost Officer". Chairforce had been creating custom avatars for Bitcoin Twitter since late 2020, starting with a Christmas avatar campaign where he made over 1,000 festive profile pictures for fellow Bitcoin supporters.

The laser eyes idea clicked in early February 2021. Chairforce was helping a group member named Pedro add laser effects to a kangaroo meme when inspiration struck. He slapped laser eyes on every Meme Factory member's avatar and proposed the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K in the group chat. A member called Plan Marcus suggested they wait until Bitcoin touched $50,000 to launch. Chairforce also looped in American HODL, a prominent Bitcoin Twitter personality, who immediately agreed to participate.

On February 16, 2021, with Bitcoin hovering around $50,000, the campaign went live. Chairforce changed his profile picture to the laser-eyed version and tweeted the #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag. Several other Twitter users followed suit the same day.

How It Spread

The movement caught fire fast. Within 72 hours of the February 16 launch, members of Congress, celebrities, and a huge swath of the Bitcoin community had adopted laser eye avatars.

On February 19, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Bitcoin investor since 2013, swapped her Twitter profile picture to a laser-eyed version. Her office released a statement to the Washington Examiner: "Sen. Lummis is a big supporter of digital assets and financial innovation, and the laser eyes are showing that support". The same day, Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson also went laser. Lummis' move confused political reporters. A Daily Beast journalist reported that a Lummis staffer described it only as "a cryptocurrency thing". The senator later tweeted that she was learning about internet culture, telling people who mocked her that they were "just helping to spread the word".

Anthony Scaramucci, the former Trump White House communications director turned crypto investor, also adopted the look. So did MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, the Winklevoss twins, and the official Binance exchange account. Saylor took it especially seriously, posting in May 2021 that "laser eyes proclaim a technology to guarantee the human rights of life, liberty, & property".

Major news outlets picked up the story. Forbes and Slate ran pieces in February. The trend hit another peak in June 2021 when El Salvador announced it would recognize Bitcoin as legal tender at the Bitcoin 2021 conference. President Nayib Bukele changed his profile picture to include laser eyes, marking the first time a sitting head of state joined the movement. Other high-profile adopters included Elon Musk, Paris Hilton, Sean Hannity, and a Dutch Libertarian Party candidate who even put laser eyes on a campaign billboard.

Bitcoin's price context fueled the frenzy. The cryptocurrency had surged over 80 percent in early 2021, partly triggered by Tesla's $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase in February. Bitcoin hit a trillion-dollar market value that same month, and major players like BlackRock signaled interest in crypto investment.

How to Use This Meme

The laser eyes format is straightforward:

1

Take your existing profile picture or avatar

2

Add a red, orange, or white laser beam effect over both eyes using any photo editor (even basic phone tools work)

3

Change your social media profile picture to the edited version

4

Include #LaserRayUntil100K (or the later variant #LaserEyesUntilFiatDies) in your bio or tweets

5

Keep the avatar until Bitcoin hits the target price

Cultural Impact

The laser eyes trend did more than rally a price target. It became the defining visual identity of Bitcoin maximalism in 2021, functioning as what crypto podcast host Aaron Lammer described as tribal signaling. Different crypto factions developed their own visual markers: Bitcoin supporters wore lasers, Ethereum fans preferred unicorns and pastels, and NFT collectors displayed their digital art as avatars. The laser eyes were specifically a Bitcoin maximalist symbol, implying that all other cryptocurrencies could "fry in their laser gaze," as Chairforce's own Bitcoin Magazine colleague put it.

The trend also highlighted how internet memes could move crypto markets through social proof. By getting senators, billionaires, and eventually a head of state to participate, the campaign blurred the line between community in-joke and legitimate financial signaling. Senator Lummis told Bitcoin Magazine that she intended to spend her early Senate years educating colleagues about Bitcoin, and the laser eyes were part of that outreach. She had been lobbying Elon Musk to move to Wyoming, pitching the state's crypto-friendly laws.

Caitlin Long, founder of digital asset bank Avanti, noted that the trend "spread like wildfire among bitcoiners" and theorized that the audio social app Clubhouse may have played a role in amplifying it.

Fun Facts

Chairforce created the first laser eyes using nothing more than the default Android photo editor app.

The original trigger for the campaign was a request to add laser eyes to a kangaroo meme, not a human avatar.

One Meme Factory member, RD_btc, didn't get laser eyes. Chairforce gave him "derpy googly eyes" instead.

Senator Lummis first discovered Bitcoin around 2013 while serving as Wyoming's state treasurer, investigating investment strategies for the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund.

The Meme Factory's satirical disclaimer in Chairforce's own account reads: "The Meme Factory(tm) does not exist".

Derivatives & Variations

#LaserEyesUntilFiatDies

A follow-up hashtag proposed by Chairforce for use after Bitcoin hits $100,000, extending the commitment indefinitely until fiat currency collapses[4].

Christmas/New Year avatar campaigns

Chairforce's earlier custom avatar drives in late 2020, where he created over 1,000 festive Bitcoin-themed profile pictures, served as precursors to the laser eyes format[4].

Hodlonaut helmet avatars

A related avatar solidarity campaign where Bitcoin supporters added astronaut helmets to show support for a pseudonymous user in a legal dispute with Craig Steven Wright[4].

Laser eyes generators

Various online tools and apps emerged to automate the process of adding laser effects to profile pictures[2].

El Salvador adoption branding

President Bukele's laser-eyed avatar became a symbol of the country's controversial Bitcoin legal tender law in June 2021[3].

Frequently Asked Questions

LaserEyesBitcoinTrendLaserrayuntil100K

2021Profile picture fad / hashtag campaignsemi-active

Also known as: Laser Eyes · Bitcoin Laser Eyes · #LaserRayUntil100K · #LaserEyesUntilFiatDies

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media fad where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto profile pictures under #LaserRayUntil100K, pledging to keep them until Bitcoin hit $100,000.

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media movement where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto their profile pictures as a show of crypto solidarity. Launched on Twitter with the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K, participants pledged to keep the modified avatars until Bitcoin's price reached $100,000. The campaign spread from a small group of Bitcoin meme-makers to U.S. senators, celebrities, and even a sitting head of state within weeks.

TL;DR

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend is a February 2021 social media movement where Bitcoin supporters edited glowing laser beams onto their profile pictures as a show of crypto solidarity.

Overview

The Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend involved crypto enthusiasts Photoshopping red or orange laser beam effects over their eyes in profile pictures across social media. The visual was borrowed from the older "Laser Eyes" meme format but repurposed as a tribal identity marker for Bitcoin maximalists. Participants used the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K to signal their commitment to holding Bitcoin until it crossed the $100,000 price threshold. The effect was deliberately over-the-top, giving adopters the look of angry Supermen or X-Men's Cyclops at the optometrist, as one journalist put it.

The campaign traces back to a tight-knit group of Bitcoin meme-makers on Twitter who called themselves The Meme Factory. The central figure was a user going by Chairforce (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC), whose day job at Bitcoin Magazine carried the actual title "Chief Shitpost Officer". Chairforce had been creating custom avatars for Bitcoin Twitter since late 2020, starting with a Christmas avatar campaign where he made over 1,000 festive profile pictures for fellow Bitcoin supporters.

The laser eyes idea clicked in early February 2021. Chairforce was helping a group member named Pedro add laser effects to a kangaroo meme when inspiration struck. He slapped laser eyes on every Meme Factory member's avatar and proposed the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K in the group chat. A member called Plan Marcus suggested they wait until Bitcoin touched $50,000 to launch. Chairforce also looped in American HODL, a prominent Bitcoin Twitter personality, who immediately agreed to participate.

On February 16, 2021, with Bitcoin hovering around $50,000, the campaign went live. Chairforce changed his profile picture to the laser-eyed version and tweeted the #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag. Several other Twitter users followed suit the same day.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (campaign launch), The Meme Factory group chat (conception)
Key People
Chairforce / @CHAIRFORCE_BTC, The Meme Factory group
Date
2021

The campaign traces back to a tight-knit group of Bitcoin meme-makers on Twitter who called themselves The Meme Factory. The central figure was a user going by Chairforce (@CHAIRFORCE_BTC), whose day job at Bitcoin Magazine carried the actual title "Chief Shitpost Officer". Chairforce had been creating custom avatars for Bitcoin Twitter since late 2020, starting with a Christmas avatar campaign where he made over 1,000 festive profile pictures for fellow Bitcoin supporters.

The laser eyes idea clicked in early February 2021. Chairforce was helping a group member named Pedro add laser effects to a kangaroo meme when inspiration struck. He slapped laser eyes on every Meme Factory member's avatar and proposed the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K in the group chat. A member called Plan Marcus suggested they wait until Bitcoin touched $50,000 to launch. Chairforce also looped in American HODL, a prominent Bitcoin Twitter personality, who immediately agreed to participate.

On February 16, 2021, with Bitcoin hovering around $50,000, the campaign went live. Chairforce changed his profile picture to the laser-eyed version and tweeted the #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag. Several other Twitter users followed suit the same day.

How It Spread

The movement caught fire fast. Within 72 hours of the February 16 launch, members of Congress, celebrities, and a huge swath of the Bitcoin community had adopted laser eye avatars.

On February 19, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Bitcoin investor since 2013, swapped her Twitter profile picture to a laser-eyed version. Her office released a statement to the Washington Examiner: "Sen. Lummis is a big supporter of digital assets and financial innovation, and the laser eyes are showing that support". The same day, Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson also went laser. Lummis' move confused political reporters. A Daily Beast journalist reported that a Lummis staffer described it only as "a cryptocurrency thing". The senator later tweeted that she was learning about internet culture, telling people who mocked her that they were "just helping to spread the word".

Anthony Scaramucci, the former Trump White House communications director turned crypto investor, also adopted the look. So did MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, the Winklevoss twins, and the official Binance exchange account. Saylor took it especially seriously, posting in May 2021 that "laser eyes proclaim a technology to guarantee the human rights of life, liberty, & property".

Major news outlets picked up the story. Forbes and Slate ran pieces in February. The trend hit another peak in June 2021 when El Salvador announced it would recognize Bitcoin as legal tender at the Bitcoin 2021 conference. President Nayib Bukele changed his profile picture to include laser eyes, marking the first time a sitting head of state joined the movement. Other high-profile adopters included Elon Musk, Paris Hilton, Sean Hannity, and a Dutch Libertarian Party candidate who even put laser eyes on a campaign billboard.

Bitcoin's price context fueled the frenzy. The cryptocurrency had surged over 80 percent in early 2021, partly triggered by Tesla's $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase in February. Bitcoin hit a trillion-dollar market value that same month, and major players like BlackRock signaled interest in crypto investment.

How to Use This Meme

The laser eyes format is straightforward:

1

Take your existing profile picture or avatar

2

Add a red, orange, or white laser beam effect over both eyes using any photo editor (even basic phone tools work)

3

Change your social media profile picture to the edited version

4

Include #LaserRayUntil100K (or the later variant #LaserEyesUntilFiatDies) in your bio or tweets

5

Keep the avatar until Bitcoin hits the target price

Cultural Impact

The laser eyes trend did more than rally a price target. It became the defining visual identity of Bitcoin maximalism in 2021, functioning as what crypto podcast host Aaron Lammer described as tribal signaling. Different crypto factions developed their own visual markers: Bitcoin supporters wore lasers, Ethereum fans preferred unicorns and pastels, and NFT collectors displayed their digital art as avatars. The laser eyes were specifically a Bitcoin maximalist symbol, implying that all other cryptocurrencies could "fry in their laser gaze," as Chairforce's own Bitcoin Magazine colleague put it.

The trend also highlighted how internet memes could move crypto markets through social proof. By getting senators, billionaires, and eventually a head of state to participate, the campaign blurred the line between community in-joke and legitimate financial signaling. Senator Lummis told Bitcoin Magazine that she intended to spend her early Senate years educating colleagues about Bitcoin, and the laser eyes were part of that outreach. She had been lobbying Elon Musk to move to Wyoming, pitching the state's crypto-friendly laws.

Caitlin Long, founder of digital asset bank Avanti, noted that the trend "spread like wildfire among bitcoiners" and theorized that the audio social app Clubhouse may have played a role in amplifying it.

Fun Facts

Chairforce created the first laser eyes using nothing more than the default Android photo editor app.

The original trigger for the campaign was a request to add laser eyes to a kangaroo meme, not a human avatar.

One Meme Factory member, RD_btc, didn't get laser eyes. Chairforce gave him "derpy googly eyes" instead.

Senator Lummis first discovered Bitcoin around 2013 while serving as Wyoming's state treasurer, investigating investment strategies for the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund.

The Meme Factory's satirical disclaimer in Chairforce's own account reads: "The Meme Factory(tm) does not exist".

Derivatives & Variations

#LaserEyesUntilFiatDies

A follow-up hashtag proposed by Chairforce for use after Bitcoin hits $100,000, extending the commitment indefinitely until fiat currency collapses[4].

Christmas/New Year avatar campaigns

Chairforce's earlier custom avatar drives in late 2020, where he created over 1,000 festive Bitcoin-themed profile pictures, served as precursors to the laser eyes format[4].

Hodlonaut helmet avatars

A related avatar solidarity campaign where Bitcoin supporters added astronaut helmets to show support for a pseudonymous user in a legal dispute with Craig Steven Wright[4].

Laser eyes generators

Various online tools and apps emerged to automate the process of adding laser effects to profile pictures[2].

El Salvador adoption branding

President Bukele's laser-eyed avatar became a symbol of the country's controversial Bitcoin legal tender law in June 2021[3].

Frequently Asked Questions