The term HODL originated in a December 2013 post on the Bitcoin Forum message board by an apparently inebriated user who posted with a typo in the subject, "I AM HODLING." In 2017, Quartz listed it as one of the essential slang terms in Bitcoin culture, and described it as a stance, "to stay invested in bitcoin and not to capitulate in the face of plunging prices." TheStreet.com referred to it as the "favorite mantra" of Bitcoin holders. Though originally used in relation to holding Bitcoin, it is now also used to describe holding other cryptocurrencies and tokens such as Ethereum, EOS, and Polkadot, among other cryptos.
HODL was originally a spelling mistake by a user named ‘GameKyuubi’ on Bitcointalk. In the original BitcoinTalk thread titled “I AM HODLING,” GameKyuubi wrote:
I typed that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong. w/e. GF's out at a lesbian bar, BTC crashing WHY AM I HOLDING? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. It's because I'm a bad trader and I KNOW I'M A BAD TRADER.
The cryptocurrency term HODL also inspired the creation of a similar term BUIDL, which is commonly used by the cryptocurrency community to refer to the many kinds of Decentralized application (DApps) that are being built within the blockchain industry.
