What is the ‘choose rich’ crypto meme about?

Nifty co-founder Nick O’Neill, aka NFT Nick, created the memetic slogan “choose rich” to assert his wealth and grab the attention of money-seeking social media users. Unfortunately for him, it appears to have backfired as, like many aspiring wealthy influencers, NFT Nick’s wealth is largely self-proclaimed.

In a comical turn of events, Crypto Twitter discovered O’Neill’s numerous exaggerations and lies about his wealth. In doing so, users have taken the slogan and completely reversed its meaning.

For context, the phrase “choose rich” is a reference to the movie Tthe Wolf of Wall Streetin which Leonardo DiCaprio – speaking as disgraced trader Jordan Belfort – says: “I choose rich every time.” However, the phrase never gained any meaning until O’Neill made his own attempt to boost its adoption.

Community noticing NFT Nick’s lies

NFT Nick claims to own a ‘fleet of Ubers’ and a driver. In reality, though, that “driver” is likely a taxi or rideshare service.

In another flashy video he posted, the bottle of champagne he showed off probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 – not the $5,000 he claimed.

He also insulted some people who doubted his claims about paying $3,000 for luxury tea sets at a luxury New York hotel. The problem? That price was nowhere to be found on the menu.

Community notes on his X-posts (formerly known as Twitter) show he probably paid no more than $450 for that tea set.

NFT Nick also fired back at investigative journalist Coffeezilla for saying his penthouse was likely rented out. He posted an unconvincing response from the penthouse he claims to own.

Read more: We now know when Elon Musk got scared and sold Tesla’s bitcoin

Stop trying to make ‘choose poor’ a reality

NFT Nick’s flub is reminiscent of Mean girls Character Gretchen Wieners’ attempts to have ‘fetch’ adopted as a slang term. In the film, her friend repeatedly begs her, “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.”

Likewise, Crypto Twitter has clicked the Like button millions of times and posted thousands of disparaging comments about O’Neill’s slogan. His lies and exaggerations about his wealth are now common knowledge.