Yellow – Beyond the Polyester
Hosted by John and Anthony
Interviewed and transcribed by Happy
Fact checked by Peter
Produced by RatPoison
Written by Waldo
Humble beginnings
On May 21, 2023, Stackchain Magazine conducted an interview with an OG Bitcoin and meme legend, the one and only Yellow. What follows is a story about that glorious day.
The interview began with Yellow in the dumps after his team, Olympiacos, just lost in the European Basketball League. Soothed by some Red Bull and banana bread, Yellow was ready to proceed with the interview.
After some wasted minutes by Stackchainers, as is often the case, Happy finally got around to asking Yellow a question, which was how Yellow remained persistent for the DSB spaces, especially on days when he’s not feeling up to it, as Episode 559 of the spaces was slated for later in the day. Yellow replied, “I cry all the time, when I’m in the shower, in the fetal position. It’s a good and healthy way to rejuvenate yourself. I feel better after that.”
Happy proceeded, asking Yellow for one key element to hodl successfully, to which Yellow responded, perhaps half-jokingly, “not having a social life… like don’t speak to people, not having friends, less family, all that is a distraction from your holding.”
Happy followed up with a question about Yellow’s own bitcoin rabbit hole story. Yellow stated that he didn’t at first realize what bitcoin was, even though he had some sats. He said in the early days, everyone was just donating sats like crazy, not knowing how much value bitcoin had; it was an experiment.
Early mistakes
Yellow also mentioned that he didn’t really understand bitcoin until he got rekt; he made all the mistakes out there for a beginner: mining shitcoins, trading, getting rugged, having coins in Mt. Gox. After that pain, he understood the true value of bitcoin. He noted, “I’m saying all over to newbies that are asking for advice and stuff like that, ‘I’m a fucking idiot. I seem to know stuff because I’ve done all the mistakes. That knowledge doesn’t come from being smart. That knowledge come from pain.’”
Yellow went on to say his next level really started with the Meme Factory (which of course, doesn’t exist). He said up until then, he thinks he was the only guy memeing bitcoin and he didn’t have a sense of real friends around bitcoin, to be sharing the same values and ideas, thinking similarly and having fun, having similar humor. He continued, “Like you guys found with Stackchain. I found all this with the Meme Factory.”
He continued that until then, of course one knew a few people who were bitcoiners, one did talk to them in DMs on Telegram, but it wasn’t that everyday sense of like “GM you fuckers. What’s up? You know? Like you wake up and you’re already with your friend talking about your day and what’s happening in your real life. So that kind of feeling started with the Meme Factory for sure.”
Anthony added that the Meme Factory has been such a huge inspiration in the community, and similar to the DSB spaces, it’s a foundation for us to come back to, and just feel the love, feel the ‘Go Fuck Yourself”, and move forward, stacking some more.
Environments shape us
Happy then asked Yellow about another aspect of his own journey, specific to him , that of the relationship between Greece and the EU and how that played into everything for him.
Yellow acknowledged that he is a product of his environment. He noted, “When I was about to hit the job market out of university, all the mess happened with austerity measures in Greece. Basically the 10 years of austerity started, people losing their jobs, people losing their homes. Friends and family, a lot left to find jobs in other countries. It was hard. Those years and those things happening around me made me look for answers. Even though I was politically active a little bit – I did like to research history and why things are the way they are – that made me go deeper into how specifically the economic structure works. That led me of course to Max and Stacy. And then I found some forums, and then I found someone talking about bitcoin, and then because my background has to do a little bit with computers, I was like ‘oh that’s interesting’. So that’s how I’m here. After a lot of mistakes.”
Yellow and Happy exchanged some quick dialogue, with Yellow noting that it was really necessity that made him be here, his environment made him be here [as a bitcoiner].
Making sacrifices
Happy connected this to sacrifices one makes as a bitcoiner, asking Yellow what types he has made. He replied, “That’s a thing I struggle with and I say often. I have an allegory. That goes like, in a space that everybody loves to be Neo, you have to understand your inner Cypher. He felt like the choice in ourselves as bitcoiners… what that means it has to do with sacrifice so whoever doesn’t remember that Matrix meme and the movie, Cypher was the traitor; he was the guy that basically believed that he was tired, he was extremely tired. He felt like the choice between the blue pill and the red, or we should call it orange pill, was not 100% presented with the true facts so he felt betrayed by Morpheus that if he knew how hard it was gonna be, he would choose differently, so obviously I’m not saying that, but, I’m saying that in ourselves as bitcoiners, I think we all have a part of that in us. And you have to learn to deal with it. Because it does require a lot of sacrifice: hodling; it’s not an easy thing.”
“And you can see it in your everyday lives. I don’t know how much you sacrifice as it’s in everyone; some might sacrifice a lot, and some might sacrifice more. Depending on your choice of this thing and how much you believe it, you can see it; you can see your normie friends being not that worried for the things happening around them and you’re freaking out and they’re taking loans, and they’re enjoying their printing fiat life, and you are here like stuck and saving in bitcoin and your tee shirt has holes. [insert Yellow chuckling]. So there is an amount of sacrifice because you know; you have the knowledge right? So that knowledge brings sacrifice. And that also happens because we’re not in the so-called ‘hyperbitcoinized world’. We are in the between, the transition. And these are the most difficult years I feel like. The easiest years were the very very early years if you entered because the rise was tremendous, right? And then as we are getting more and more near the hyperbitcoinized world… I feel like now are the most difficult years for that sacrifice.”
Anthony then added his two sats, saying that things we can rally around together, like DSB spaces and like Stackchain, to see how other people manage the sacrifice and maintain the conviction are extremely important. He highlighted that Yellow is the one that taught a lot of people about that, about how it works, leading by example.
Peter jumped in, saying that seeing an OG bitcoiner such as Yellow participating in Stackchain was very inspirational for him because it’s someone who has been in bitcoin for a long time, who is still purchasing, showing that conviction. He ended by asking whether or not Yellow still viewed it as a sacrifice or just a matter of course.
A lull in the interview was observed. As Yellow contemplated the question, it was obvious he was preparing to answer from a place of pure humility.
How stacking changes over time
Yellow began, “That’s a good question. I started in the worst kind of level. Let’s say. As I said I started stacking at the start of the 10-year austerity here in Greece and I started stacking with my buying power being very very low. On top of that, I have learned everything by making mistakes so I am paying for those mistakes. So to be honest, I don’t know if I didn’t make some of those mistakes I would be saying what I’m saying now, that like I don’t if I really reached a goal that I have in mind that I would have been stacking the same. I feel not the same but I will be stacking because there comes a point that you stack because you’re feeling the price is gonna go up; like a lot of us are in this space for that and that’s okay. You can enter for that, that’s like a cheese you know? You are enticed with that.”
“But slowly you figure out like, ok if I’m going to get paid now, why am I going to keep it in fucking fiat? You understand that I’m gonna lose 20% let’s say, bitcoin drops. Like I can also lose that money with somebody from a closed-door bureaucracy thing like calling the bank saying close his account. Why don’t I hold my keys? Why don’t I hold my own money? So there’s that level then. And then you start stacking for that reason and then a few of us – I’m not there yet – are stacking for purely big picture types of reasons, like they are envisioning and seeing very close a hyperbitconized world. I have to admit I’m not there yet; it’s going to be difficult. I’m talking about people like Gigi, figures like that. I do know that I’m not there. So yes , I will be stacking but my vision for stacking now is gonna be completely different from the reasons I started stacking when I first entered this thing.”
Nothing is easy
Switching topics, Happy moved on to Yellow’s knack for detecting scammers, a badge of honor for many bitcoiners, asking him about red flags.
Yellow replied that there’s no easy thing. That’s it. Whenever you see something that seems too easy, it’s a scam. People have ulterior motives. He went on to say, “Even bitcoin is not easy. It seems easy, your timing might be perfect and you might enter right before the rise of the four-year bull market, but you’re gonna experience the fall, you’re gonna set yourself up.”
“Your normie friends are gonna be making fun of you, and that’s gonna make you mad. You will question yourself. You question your decisions, which will make you research more or exit the market depending on your character, and the turnaround is not easy. So if you see something easy – nothing is easy. Everything takes work. Proof of Work as we say.”
Memes lead the way
Transitioning to the role of memes in the path toward hyperbitcoinization, Happy asked Yellow about his view on them, perhaps what he is most well-known for on Bitcoin Twitter.
Yellow replied, “It’s an easy way to defuse some walls people have and breaking them down a little bit, so you can have your message known easier a little bit. Through humor, right? Using humor those guys against you drop their guard a little bit and then your message is passed a little bit more and that happens through memes easier even because it’s a picture; it’s faster let’s say.”
“Other than that, it’s not that important. Let’s not oversell what it is. It is fun, it is meaningful, it has its meaning, it has its place in this thing. But it’s not the most important thing; like to meme, ok you’re making memes dude, ok. The other guys for 20 years are making code. I respect Devs more than the memers even though I am a memer in the end; I’m just a fucking jester like yeah I have the freedom to go to Breedlove and whatever big head is out there that thinks he’s the big shot and tell him what it is and I can tell in a humorous kind of way, that he gets it a little bit. I have that kind of power but ok. That’s it. It’s not that important I feel. Like I feel in a lot ways we are overselling what memes are – like it can move mountains and it’s the informational world you are the soldiers – like ok dude chill out, we’re making memes here. If bitcoins breaks then memes don’t mean shit. That’s what I’m saying basically. Let’s not overdo it.”
December 23rd, 2022
Moving on to Yellow’s now infamous call of the bear market cycle bottom, Happy asked Yellow what the prophecy of his dream looked like.
Yellow stated that this was not the first time, that he also called the bottom during the last bear market, that he is indeed a prophet! He laughed, noting the joke, before explaining how he interprets psychology on Twitter.
“That has to do with my ability to see a little bit the psychology of my timeline,” he continued on. “That’s it basically. I can see the psychology of the plebs, I can see the psychology of the degens, even the companies and even myself and how I’m gonna react. I have the ability to think I have to take myself out of myself and see myself going to do something, going to act somehow, and I’m able to stop myself and figure out why, why do you wanna do that? How do you feel about doing that? And have that feedback with myself, and it all has to do with psychology.”
“So basically when I see a lot of blood and a lot of crying and a lot of rage quitting, and bitcoin whatever you throw at it news-wise like FUD, and it doesn’t go down, you know what: maybe this is the bottom. Maybe this is a good segment to start a meme and play the prophet and the prophecy will be fulfilled and of course the meme will be self-explanatory, like in the end you know it’s gonna go up. The fucking thing is capped, so what do you think is gonna happen in the end? You just have to find the right time. And even if you’re off by like a week, I was thinking, ‘play it like you’re not’. That’s pretty much it – psychology.”
Stackchain
Next, Peter and Happy jumped in to get Yellow’s view on Stackchain, particularly as Yellow is also a Stackchainer in addition to his many other talents and obligations. Happy asked what came to mind when Yellow heard the term “Stackchain”.
Yellow said, “Fun basically. Fun and hate.”
Happy probed for more information.
Yellow replied, “Yeah whenever I hear ‘Stackchain’ I think of you guys having fun because I know most of you guys and then I think of who is hating on Stackchain. I know you guys have haters. So fun and hate.”
Anthony continued on, mentioning Yellow’s trilogy blocks on Stackchain, “The Prophecy Blocks”, which Yellow stacked on December 23rd, 2022. These blocks, 2516-2518 on the mainchain of Stackchain, are immortalized forever to mark Yellow’s 12/23/22 conviction as well as his contribution to Stackchain and all the plebs who have stacked on it and will continue to stack on it for years to come.
Yellow explained this special moment: “I wanted to do it once big and so I was saving for like five months and I was making the memes another week. And I was like ok now those memes getting pumped, and I think they are gonna see the first one and be like ok. And then they gonna see the second one coming and be like oh wow. And see the third one and everyone’s gonna get excited. I think I have a good strategy here to get pumped. To get the people pumped. I think it did work. It made people and the combination with the prophecy meme going like crazy. Those days it had an impact I feel. At least to us having fun.”
However, Yellow was quick to point out that while memes have their meaning and they have gravity, it’s important to again not overdo it. He stated, “Devs for me are more important. Even some companies are more important. Even plebs stacking are more important. Then comes memes. It has an impact for sure. But I hear it on podcasts so much and I cringe with that. Maybe I’m doing this too much.”
Last words
As is the Stackchain tradition, every Spaces comes to a conclusion with last words.
Yellow obliged, saying “Last words em. Huhhhh I’m trying to think of something. Breedlove would say em. Penis. No wait god damnit. God damnit Rope! Em. Nah if you can, uhh and you are able. And you want to. Meet me at ES beach at the halving party. I feel that is gonna be a life changing experience for all of us. It’s gonna be fun. I’ve never been to a conference, never been to a meet-up. I’m gonna be there god-willing and obviously if you wanna stack, that’s completely understandable. But if you wanna join us, we’re gonnna have fun. That’s it.”
The official interview ended. But Yellow and Stackchainers stayed on for an additional hour, just talking and sharing their time together. At the very end, Yellow was asked again for his last words.
He said, “In the end I would say, everyone of us comes to this thing for different reasons. Yes, we all buy bitcoin, yes, we all stack bitcoin, but why are you on Twitter? You don’t have to be on Twitter. You don’t have to be on this thing, this Space now and talk to each other. It has to do with people want to connect with other people. I think that’s a universal thing. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, that desire to connect with like-minded people is in us, and I think that if you wanna create something, you wanna make something in this thing, go ahead and do it. Don’t ask for permission. Don’t listen to the haters. The haters are doing the same thing that you are doing, that you are creating. It’s the same thing; they also want to connect but by destroying something. Even if we are over-connected in this world, we’re so alone sometimes. Even those guys who are hating are basically projecting. Don’t take it too seriously, and do what you wanna do in this space. And don’t listen to anybody; just do it. And in the end, have a little bit of fun. Check your ego sometimes in whatever you do. Take a moment and check yourself. Like, ‘what am I doing here? Does this have any positive effect for me and my friends in the ecosystem?’ Check your ego at some point. And yeah, keep doing what you’re doing man.”