WAGMI (We're All Gonna Make It)

WAGMI originated in fitness culture (attributed to the late bodybuilder Aziz "Zyzz" Shavershian) and was adopted by crypto communities, particularly in the NFT and DeFi ecosystems, during the 2021 bull market. It expresses the belief that everyone in the community will achieve financial success through their crypto investments.

The positive function of WAGMI is real: it builds community solidarity, encourages long-term thinking over panic selling, and provides emotional support during drawdowns. During the 2022 bear market, WAGMI messaging helped some communities maintain engagement and conviction, which was rewarded when markets recovered in 2023-2024.

However, WAGMI has a dark side. A study by the Blockchain Research Lab (2023) analyzing NFT communities found that projects with the highest "WAGMI sentiment" on Discord and Twitter had an average 90-day return of -47%, compared to -23% for projects with more measured community communication. The correlation suggests that excessive positivity often masks deteriorating fundamentals and discourages the critical questions that could protect investors.

The truth is that in crypto, we are definitely not all going to make it. CoinGecko data shows that roughly 90% of altcoin projects from any given cycle fail to outperform Bitcoin over a full market cycle. The majority of crypto traders lose money, with studies consistently showing that 70-80% of leveraged traders are unprofitable (Binance Research, 2022).

WAGMI is best used as genuine community encouragement when applied to fundamentally sound projects with real utility and adoption. It becomes dangerous when it substitutes for due diligence, shuts down legitimate criticism, or creates social pressure to hold failing investments. The healthy investor response to WAGMI culture: appreciate the community spirit, but make portfolio decisions based on data, not slogans.