The story of cryptocurrency’s rise to mainstream popularity is one of the most bizarre in history. Created by an anonymous, shadowy figure named Satoshi Nakamoto—who’s now among the richest people in the world—the technology is now a darling of finance bros, altruistic lefties, white supremacists, Balkan political dissidents, West African entrepreneurs, and Redditors convinced that Satoshi was in fact an alien.
So it’s hardly surprising that 2025 began with U.S. President Donald Trump launching a meme coin just days before his inauguration. And it only got weirder from there, from college kids betting on whose sperm was the fastest to betting on which competitive dancer can twerk the hardest.
Let’s raise our glasses and pour one out for the 13 biggest WTF moments of this surreal year in crypto.
1. Literal shit coins
Crypto devs will pay you for anything these days, even your poop.
In August, a new app appeared that paid users in Solana-based POOP tokens in exchange for pictures of their bowel movements. The ostensible idea was that by documenting peoples’ caca, the app would be able to provide actionable insights and advice on how to improve their gut health.
Of course, since this is crypto, the app had to make money, and its alleged goal was to sell your data to research institutions, insurance firms, or health supplement companies. The app hoped that it could amass the largest and most detailed fecal dataset in the world, which could help push forward the next phase of crap science.
2. A token dinner
President Donald Trump launching a meme coin would’ve been enough to make this list. Trump then hosting a dinner for the top holders of that meme coin would’ve also made the cut. But someone creating another meme coin inspired by that dinner?
OK, sure, why not? An anonymous attendee of the Trump meme coin dinner created a Solana meme coin from his phone, and shared videos from inside the exclusive event on Telegram. In that chat, the meme coin creator showed Trump dancing to the famous gay anthem “YCMA,” Justin Sun posing for a photo, and, of course, the food.
Sadly, the DINNER token failed to gain much traction. It topped at a measly $450,000 market capitalization before it crashed and burned, becoming one of the millions of meme coins that became yet another dog’s dinner.
3. A token for your twerks
A dude from California created a crypto-fueled competitive twerking competition.
Viewers could vote by sending gifts that were purchasable via crypto, as well as bet via a crypto sportsbook. Though the initial heats were more like popularity contests than sporting events, the founder of Twerk From Home said his goal is to make the contest a legitimate sports league akin to the UFC.
Congratulations to dancer Laura Cintron, who won the competition and took home a $10,000 cash prize.
4. Chill House not so chill
Absurdist Pump.fun-created meme coin Chill House went on a rampage across social media, cussing out all of the biggest founders and influencers in the space in October—which somehow managed to pump the token.
The X account tagged Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, prominent Solana builder Mert Mumtaz, as well as Coinbase executive and Base network head Jesse Pollak, just to say “fuck you” and ridicule their projects.
Biting the hand that made the pumping fun possible, Chill House even called Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen a “cuck.” Naturally, some took the bait, including Pollak, who sparred with the account—while others, including Buterin, ignored the troll.
5. The Jack Off 500
Two college students provided “samples” of their sperm, which were then raced against each other in what is one of the most viral and disgusting moments of the year. It almost goes without saying that people could gamble on the race via a crypto sportsbook.
Clearly not weird enough, the event was such a success that a second Sperm Racing event was sponsored by major blockchain Solana, with top livestream influencer iShowSpeed in attendance.
But was the spunk junk? It turns out that the race that was broadcast was actually a dramatic computer-generated visualization, not the actual loads. Which, come to think of it, was probably for the best.
6. Dumpster diving for dollars
James Howells took one of the biggest losses of the year when his local Welsh council rejected his bid to buy a landfill for $3 million at the beginning of the year. Why did he want to take the dump? Well, 12 years ago, his then-girlfriend, now very much his ex-girlfriend, threw away his hard drive containing a crypto wallet with 8,000 Bitcoin in it—worth over $774 million at the time of the council’s rejection.
In April, Los Angeles-based production company Lebul bought exclusive rights to tell his story via a documentary. And as the summer came to an end, Howells quit his decade-long pursuit of recovering the hard drive.
Now he’s trying to launch a Bitcoin layer-2 network that would be backed by his legal ownership of the funds, despite not having access to them. Is it crazy enough to work? Anything is possible in crypto.
7. Getting Buzz and influencing people
A little-known X user known as Buzzlamic Jihad helped pump the price of Aptos in February, after months of spamming Aptos-related memes. His catchphrases “Aptos looking good here,” “motion not priced in yet,” and “sidelined?” quickly became major crypto memes this year.
As the influencer turned into a mascot for the network, Aptos decided to bring him onboard as an official advisor.
It turns out that Buzz was always more than just a shitposter. He told Decrypt that he had a growth marketing business, specializing in Facebook advertising, and claimed to have made millions in the venture. The cherry on top is that his mentors during this period were none other than Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, who went on to co-found the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial.
8. You too can create a treasury
Amid the digital asset treasury trend—or bubble, depending on who you ask—a lingerie mixed fighting league created its own crypto treasury. It started with $2.23 million worth of Bitcoin; later approximately $65,000 worth of Dogecoin was added to the coffers.
“Is it jumping on a trend a little bit? Of course,” Shaun Donnelly, founder and CEO of Lingerie Fighting Championships, told Decrypt, adding that “we need to get in the game now while we still can, because if some of the projections come true, there might be a point where you just can’t get into the market anymore.”
9. Lone Star cops lasso a Bitcoin ATM
Texas law enforcement used power tools to crack open a Bitcoin ATM to recover $32,000 after a local family said they were scammed out of funds. Yeah, you read that right: The family was tricked into paying some hackers $32K, but instead of trying to figure out who the actual thieves were, the cops smashed open a BTC ATM, grabbed the funds, and repaid the victims.
Bitcoin Depot, the owner of the ATM, said that the “rogue law enforcement officers” were just “creating another victim” by damaging the company’s property and taking their money. Weirdly, the long arm of the law has been making similar moves in Arkansas, Iowa and elsewhere, apparently believing that by facilitating the transactions, Bitcoin Depot is liable. The courts, however, disagree.
10. Melania bolognia
Move over, Donald. Not to be outdone by her husband, in January U.S. First Lady Melania Trump launched her own meme coin. But in a twist, her venture spiraled into a legal and technical farce involving Argentine President Javier Milei, a class-action lawsuit, and a million-dollar “oopsie.”
The drama began when Melania’s token was swept into a massive fraud and racketeering lawsuit filed in April (and amended in October). Investors claimed Meteora co-founder Benjamin Chow was secretly puppeteering a “constellation of scam tokens,” using high-profile figures like Melania and Milei as bait to lure in buyers.
Things got weirder still in October. Just days after the lawsuit accused Chow of running a “pump-and-dump” scheme, his own platform, Meteora, accidentally airdropped $1.2 million worth of tokens directly to the wallets at the heart of the scandal.
11. BOOM headshot
Has crypto learned its lesson to not play with fireworks? Apparently not.
Controversial British content creator Sam Pepper fired a Roman candle-style firework into a crowd during the Diwali festival in New Delhi, India. “HEADSHOT,” someone screamed from behind the camera, as a young girl was apparently hit directly in the eye and was rushed to the hospital.
Pepper claimed to have sent someone with the victim to the hospital to pay for her hospital fees, although travel YouTuber Raj Chauhan claims the family hasn’t seen any of that money.
12. Dogwifhat, but not wif Sphere
Popular Solana meme coin Dogwifhat confirmed, retracted, and then implied that it was going to be advertised on the Las Vegas Sphere via social media, prompting the token to jump double digits in a single day. “Officially confirmed. Viva hat Vegas,” a now-deleted X post read, accompanied by a photo of the mascot wearing the Sphere as a hat.
But after Decrypt wrote about the post, Sphere PR reached out to say that, actually, there was no deal to advertise Dogwifhat on the Sphere. Indeed, the venue’s team was “distressed” the meme coin was using its name for “fraudulent purposes.”
The Dogwifhat team quickly retreated from their position and refunded everyone who had helped raise $700,000 for the hopeful advertising campaign.
13. Yu gotta be kidding
Jeff Yu, the creator of an AI musician, faked his death and created a supposedly posthumous legacy coin, or legacoin, accompanied by a lengthy blog post. The token soared to a $105 million market cap before it crashed 87% in just an hour.
Just days later, Yu was found alive at his parents’ house.
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