“When Lambo?”

As cryptocurrency enthusiasts, we’re sure that you’ve encountered that phrase before on a meme, Tweet, or Reddit post. At first glance, it seems like a typo, which is so confusing that you may not even know what it’s trying to say.

However, there are so many levels to that phrase: the dreams, motivation, and risks a trader is willing to take—all rolled up into one grammatically incorrect pairing of words.

We know that owning a Lamborghini is a status symbol, even outside the cryptocurrency realm—but how did it become such a phenomenon with our digital assets?

Lamborghini: a symbol of new money

Cryptocurrency following aside, Lamborghini has always stood for new money. This association with new money is the reason you see models of the car in music videos like Kanye West’s “Mercy” or A$AP Mob’s “Yamborghini High”. It became a way for artists to scream to the world, “I’ve made it to the top and I need everyone to know!”

And it’s not only artists. Having a Lambo has a connotation of “making it” in America, the “Land of Opportunity.” However, it also had the connotation of “get rich quick, then fizzle out.”

Fortunately, the perspective of the cryptocurrency community has always remained positive. Since owning a bitcoin-bought Lamborghini equated to “making it,” many bitcoin holders saw the digital asset as a means of breaking out of their current financial struggles. They saw it as an alleyway to live a life of luxury and people were determined, to say the least, to “make it.”

Whenever a new coin pops up in the market, there’s always the question: When Lambo? When will it get to the point at which we can finally buy Lamborghinis with bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?

The legendary 4chan user

In 2013, a user on 4chan, a popular image-based Internet forum launched in 2003, bought a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo with bitcoin. It isn’t the earliest recorded purchase (supposedly), but it’s a legendary story that catches a lot of envy from traders in the cryptocurrency community.

The 4chan user went to the nearest dealership, which was in Newport Beach, California. The buyer leaked the purchase document and the story quickly went viral.

The buyer spent exactly 216.8433 bitcoins (209,995 USD at that time) on a fancy, yellow 2014 Lamborghini Gallardo—a V-10 and 552 horsepower piece of art that could go from 0 to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds.

The anonymous buyer’s post on 4chan included a photo of the car in the store with the caption:

“bought this today with bitcoin.

it gets here next week, what should i expect?

thx”

If that doesn’t scream, “I’ve made it,” then we don’t know what does. The mix of humility and “I don’t know what to do with this supercar” really adds a little extra flavor to the post. We believe the slang term for this kind of behavior is “flex.” The funny thing is, nobody even believed the “buyer”—so what’s the next move for a maximum “flex?” Yup, posting the receipt:

With the purchase going viral, the dealership quickly took pride in the new-age (and very expensive) sale they made. The press soon followed and as a result, the dealership found themselves having many new and serious crypto customers who want to exchange bitcoin for a Lamborghini. Around the same time, they were even able to sell a Tesla Model S for 91 bitcoins.

Thanks to sales like this and the luxury car purchases that came after, a newfound motivation for crypto holders to attain that level of success was born…but has it stopped?

The serious side of things

Let’s fast forward to today, where bitcoin is helping a significant population—the unbanked and underbanked. We’re at that point where bitcoin is mature enough to have actual real-use cases to provide a financial passport to virtually anyone.

The idea of “When Lambo?” came from a time where people only saw bitcoin as an investment tool. Now, cryptocurrency is something that’s so much more than that. Don’t get us wrong, there are still people out there who want to spend their crypto on a shiny new luxury car, but nowadays, you’ve got to look at crypto as a game-changing technology and a new form of money to be taken seriously.

We’re past the point of “getting rich quick” and we’re now at “cryptocurrencies can really help those in need.” That’s what it should be all about. Still, we can’t deny the symbolism of a luxury car like a Lamborghini. We can’t deny what it represents.

What does it represent? It represents the reality that dreams can come true. It represents your average Joe trying to make a name for himself. It represents a person’s way out of not knowing where their next meal is coming from, whose couch to sleep on tonight, or how they’re going to pay their rent. The Lamborghini is an indulgent way of expressing financial freedom. Got the money for it? Then, why not? Go buy yourself something pretty!

Something that started as a meme has now turned into something everyone can look up to. It can help people push themselves to new heights—showing them that the only way to get out of financial struggle is to keep moving forward and believe in yourself.