Thread by @SinoGlobalCap

Your Step-by-step Guide to Chinese Crypto Slang 🦧👀

For those interacting with Chinese crypto groups, you may get frustrated quickly if you can’t read some of the seemly strange phrases being thrown around.

Why are people in WeChat groups saying things like “don‘t ask, just 梭哈 (sūo hā)”? You’ll also hear people throwing strange insults like “you are such a 韭菜 (jiǔ cài / leek)”

Chinese crypto jargon, once used primarily for internal jokes in the early days of crypto chats like WeChat crypto groups or online forums, has now become part of the industry conversation.

While most of you are familiar with western slang like “moon” and “ngmi”, here’s a guide to Chinese homegrown crypto slang.

1.币圈 (Bì quān) — Literal meaning “coin circle.” Refers to the crypto space.
Example: He’s Chinese 币圈大佬 (whale in crypto space).

2.大佬 (Dà lǎo) — “Big Brother.” Refers to the boss who has the right/expertise to speak on a certain aspect, generally a person with a high level of seniority.
Example: See above (combine for your first slang sentence!).

3.赌狗(dǔ gǒu) — “Degen.” lit. Betting dog. Refers to degenerate gamblers who gamble blindly.

4.梭哈 (Suōhā) — The phonetic of English “Show Hand” a variant of five-card stud poker made popular by Hong Kong gambling films. Here, it means “all in.”
Example: "I worked so hard to learn so many K-line technical indicators. Not as good as 赌狗(degen)梭哈(all in) Dogecoin.”

5.韭菜 (Jiǔcài) — “Leek.” Also borrowed from stock markets: It’s a metaphor for newbie investors who get “harvested”— it's usually someone who can be repeatedly deceived and exploited, especially by the stock or crypto markets.

6.割韭菜 (Gē jiǔcài) — “Cutting leeks.” Refers to “rekt” retail investors who buy at high prices and sell at low prices and are constantly being “harvested”.
Example: “I’m such a 韭菜(Leek), always 被割韭菜 (being cut / harvested), buying high and selling low.”

7. 炒币(chǎo bì) — “Fry the coins.” Refers to crypto trading activities.
Example: 韭菜(Leeks)期待炒币(trading coins)暴富
Meaning: Newbie investors bet on trading crypto to get rich.

8.狗庄 (Gǒu zhuāng) — “Dog Whale.” The personal nicknames generated by retail investors for some institutions/traders that have large amounts of capital and influence that can control the rise and fall of the market. Typically used in complaints.

Example: 狗庄(dog whale) 如何 割韭菜(cut leeks) ?
Meaning: How did the whale cut the leeks?

9.薅羊毛 (Hāo yángmáo) — “Pulling out the wool” originally from ​​薅羊毛织毛衣 (pulling wool to make sweater). From financial markets: refers to the deal-hunter kind of investors who try to get as much profit as possible from auxiliary activities with 0 initial investment

e.g. airdrops, free tokens etc.
Example: 币圈(Crypto Space) 最全薅羊毛(best deal-hunters) 指南 (guide)
Meaning: The most comprehensive deal-hunting strategy in crypto space, some earn tens of thousands a day

10.拉盘 (lā pán) — Literal meaning “lift the plate.” Refers to “pump the market behavior”

11.砸盘 (​​zá pán) — Literal meaning “crash the plate.” Refers to “dump the market behavior”

12.中本聪 (zhōng běn cōng - lit. central, root, intelligent) — Satoshi Nakamoto

Additional Slangs for tokens:

大饼(Dà Bing) — Bitcoin, literal meaning Big Pancake, adopted to avoid China censorship. The round orange logo of BTC resembles a Chinese 饼.

姨太(Yi Tai)— Ethereum, phonetic from English, literal meaning Concubine.

柚子(You zi)— EOS, phonetic from English, ​​literal meaning Grapefruit.

山寨币(shān zhài bì)—Literal meaning “copycat coins.” Refers to Shitcoin/altcoin. 山寨 (lit. mountain camp) is an ancient phrase of Cantonese origin meaning mountain areas not under the jurisdiction of the king / emperor and is used to denote piracy / fakes / counterfeits /copies

空气币(kōng qì bì)—Literal meaning “air coins / empty coins”. Refers to ICO coins / coins that have no value

区块链(qū kuài liàn)—Blockchain, literal translation.

Enjoy the read, #WAGMI
Have a good day!