Remembering 3AC’s Su Zhu in 10 Legendary Tweets

Chris Williams explains why crypto’s water cooler is a much less entertaining place with out the Three Arrows Capital co-founder.  

Su Zhu on Crypto Twitter

For nearly so long as crypto has been a factor, Twitter has served because the neighborhood’s water cooler. “Crypto Twitter,” because it’s affectionately recognized, is the place that made stars of personalities like Cobie and Andreas Antonopoulos, attracting numerous new believers with each mania-driven retail bubble. If you wish to keep on top of things on this house, you could be on Crypto Twitter—the likes of Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Vitalik Buterin know this (each are lively tweeters with large followings). 

Crypto Twitter has traditionally obtained a brand new lease of life with each bull run, however the 2021 market cycle was arguably its most absurd section but. There have been memes, laser eyes, astrology readings, and CryptoDickbutts. Among the many tens of hundreds of whales, merchants, anons, business people, and common individuals who merely purchased into the “WAGMI” mantra, Three Arrows Capital’s Su Zhu was arguably CT’s biggest person. 

Till the multi-billion greenback hedge fund he oversaw alongside classmate Kyle Davies collapsed in a market downturn in June 2022, Zhu was notorious for his snappy takes, sharing rounded views in the marketplace with a facet serving of optimism and Tao Te Ching-style knowledge. Zhu’s inimitable writing fashion would typically evoke laughter and confusion amongst his followers, to the purpose the place some accused he and Davies of psyops and pump and dump antics on the expense of their followers. 

Zhu’s mystique attracted a cult-like following over the course of the 2021 bull run, however in the long run, he underperformed each worthwhile dealer available in the market after 3AC suffered a blowup within the fallout from Terra’s implosion. Zhu went silent together with Davies after it emerged that 3AC had taken out billions of {dollars} in uncollateralized loans from a few of crypto’s greatest whales, but when we have been to debate these occasions in full, this piece would find yourself longer than the courtroom paperwork recording Teneo’s liquidation order towards the agency. 

Crypto is approaching one 12 months because the peak of the bull run that made Zhu well-known, and whereas CT is surviving below Elon Musk’s reign and suppressed market costs, few would argue that it’s a worse place with out Zhu round. “I miss his tweets” has been repeated on a number of events all through this 12 months, and Zhu is such a CT icon that individuals typically paraphrase him in part-tribute-part-mockery. 

As we replicate on the rise and fall of the crypto market over the previous couple of years, we dug out 10 of Zhu’s masterpieces charting his personal rise and fall from 2021 by 2022. Learn extra beneath. 

Asking the Worth (03/05/2021)  

Many ppl suppose they wish to achieve success however hate asking what the value is

Work out the market worth of what you need and boldly pay it

Worth of health is self-discipline, sacrifice
Worth of wealth is threat urge for food
Worth of life is to not worry demise
Worth of $BTC is $5m+ https://t.co/lmv3wBxGRc

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) March 5, 2021

In March 2021, days after making an UpOnly podcast debut by which he publicly peddled the “Supercycle” narrative for the primary time, Zhu took to Twitter to debate the idea of “worth.”

“Work out the market worth of what you need and boldly pay it,” he wrote, explaining that property like health and wealth include a worth (Zhu would later tweet earlier than and after pictures of himself topless on the fitness center, as if following up on his concepts on worth).

The tweet landed within the early phases of the bull run because the King was taking a lead. Musk’s Tesla had simply acquired their first sats, Michael Saylor was nonetheless on the helm of MicroStrategy, and nothing may shake the market’s confidence. Reflecting on Bitcoin’s seemingly unstoppable rise, Zhu wrote that the value was no less than $5 million, or “$5m+.”

Bitcoin was approaching $50,000 on the day of Zhu’s tweet, which is about 1% of his $5 million name. It by no means got here near his goal after peaking at $69,000 in November 2021, and at right this moment’s costs, it might have to rally greater than 24,000% to hit the lofty milestone. 

Whereas there’s an affordable case to be made that Zhu ought to have toned down his bullish stance to his followers right here, it’s price remembering that he and Davies genuinely purchased into their Supercycle thesis. It was solely when Bitcoin dropped beneath $21,000 in June 2022 for the primary time in 18 months that rumors of the agency’s collapse first surfaced, and it later turned clear that the pair had guess the farm—and a bunch of different folks’s farms—in the marketplace holding and misplaced. “Supercycle worth thesis was regrettably incorrect,” Zhu conceded on Could 27. 

Crypto because the 4th Epoch of Augmented Reminiscence (03/07/2021) 

Most are conscious that crypto is the 4th computing paradigm, however it’s also the 4th Epoch of Augmented Reminiscence

I: folkloric verbal poetry

II: tomes of written phrases

III: images, video

IV: crypto

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) March 7, 2021

Zhu shared his philosophical facet with CT on many events in 2021, and his contextualisation of crypto’s place in world historical past helped him appeal to a herd of true believers.

Maybe his most weird take got here when he described crypto as “the 4th Epoch of Augmented Reminiscence,” making the case that Web cash serves as a robust switch of knowledge akin to verbal poetry, tones of written phrases (i.e. books), and picture and video. 

If we have been being cynical, we might say that this tweet reads as pretentious drivel, particularly coming from somebody who spent the bull run borrowing off others, publicly endorsing doubtful Layer 1 initiatives he’d backed, and getting unhealthy entries on majors lengthy after the market tanked. Nonetheless, if we have been giving Zhu the good thing about the doubt, we’d simply say this one is a little bit tough to decipher.

A Powerful Century (03/21/2021) 

In the event you do not perceive crypto and refuse to be taught, it is gonna be a troublesome century for you.

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) March 21, 2021

Say what you want about Zhu and 3AC’s enterprise actions, the fitness center pics, and occasional inflated ego, however there’s an excellent cause Zhu turned so well-liked. 

When he tweeted out messages like “when you don’t perceive crypto and refuse to be taught, it’s gonna be a troublesome century for you,” it was as if he was rallying a military into battle to convey Bitcoin mainstream. Whereas he obtained carried away with the shilling on far too many events, messages like this instilled confidence available in the market and genuinely made the “up solely” meme really feel like a actuality.

Alongside his pal, Terra co-founder Do Kwon, Zhu was a grasp at making his followers really feel like he was with them towards the world to assist crypto cross the chasm (in actuality, in fact, Zhu was a multi-millionaire dealer dwelling in a unique world to CT’s on a regular basis males). Kwon suffered an excellent greater fall from grace than Zhu after Terra failed, so maybe CT could be suggested to take any rally cries like this with a heavy grain of salt subsequent time the market picks up. 

Preferring Wealth (04/23/2021) 

Have actually zero curiosity in abroad property as a retailer of worth. Insane frictional prices, illiquid and cumbersome to handle, and add some geopolitical/taxation threat on high as effectively when shopping for as a nondomicile.

In the event you favor wealth you favor crypto.

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) April 23, 2021

Sooner or later over the previous few years, Zhu and different crypto people started evangelizing the concept of “preferring wealth,” which was basically a self-congratulatory meme to seek advice from the excessive beta property like Bitcoin and Ethereum loved in an period of unprecedented fiscal experimentation and cash printing. The final gist was that crypto was the place to retailer wealth, and when everybody was speaking about company Bitcoin adoption, Ethereum NFTs have been taking off, and trash was hovering left, proper, and heart, it appeared to make affordable sense. Now that rates of interest are excessive once more, to favor {dollars} is to favor wealth, nevertheless it’s straightforward to suppose the bull run will final eternally while you’re experiencing it. 

“In the event you favor wealth you favor crypto,” Zhu wrote in a observe about his aversions to investing in property abroad in 2021, as soon as once more reassuring his followers that they have been in the precise place for cash’s greatest shift in historical past. Zhu then added a caveat, presumably aimed on the fraction of readers who had occurred to amass a portfolio of eight figures or extra: “W that stated def get a fairly sized home and fairly sized boat in your nation of residence” The recommendation prompted a flurry of questions from CT associated to applicable boat sizes and different potential shops of worth, although Zhu uncared for to elaborate. 

Notably, Zhu additionally turned an advocate for linear wealth over logarithmic wealth—pushing the concept most individuals promote their cash too early to safe modest positive factors. Given the character of 3AC’s downfall, which noticed the agency recklessly betting billions of {dollars} in overleveraged trades, one may argue that Zhu’s pursuit of linear wealth was his final downfall.

Fairly Scarce JPEGs (08/10/2021) 

Wow quickly $15m cannot even get you a fairly scarce jpeg a lot much less a fairly sized home

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) August 9, 2021

3AC was credited with kickstarting a heady interval available in the market that turned generally known as “NFT summer time” when it swept the ground on the CryptoPunks NFT assortment, however Zhu and Davies didn’t cease at Ethereum’s most prestigious avatars. 

The agency went on to accumulate tens hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of JPEGs, taking a very eager curiosity within the Artwork Blocks generative artwork scene. Their most outrageous buy was Ringer #879, which they purchased for 1,800 ETH price over $5.6 million. “We just like the goose,” Zhu said in reference to the art work’s goose-like depiction. 

The sale for the Goose Ringer rocked CT and the broader NFT house on the time, however Zhu left a touch it was coming to his most eagle-eyed followers. “Wow quickly $15m can’t even get you a fairly scarce jpeg a lot much less a fairly sized home,” he wrote on August 10, referencing a now-deleted 2020 tweet by which he had prompt that $10 million was a comparatively paltry sum within the moderately sized home market.

Although Zhu may be applauded for calling the peak of NFT mania, 3AC obtained issues incorrect in the event that they have been hoping to generate income on their JPEG buys. They purchased into the NFT market’s priciest grails and signaled their intentions to boost $100 million for a devoted fund referred to as Starry Night time Capital on the top of the mania, shopping for the highest earlier than costs tanked in Ethereum and greenback phrases. Teneo has since received approval to liquidate Starry Night time’s holdings. 

Abandoning Ethereum (11/21/2021) 

Sure I’ve deserted Ethereum regardless of supporting it up to now.

Sure Ethereum has deserted its customers regardless of supporting them up to now.

The thought of sitting round jerking off watching the burn and concocting purity checks, whereas zero newcomers can afford the chain, is gross.

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) November 21, 2021

Zhu was considered one of CT’s hottest accounts through the 2021 bull run, however because the cycle neared its finish, his tweets turned much less inspiring and extra “put money into my luggage earlier than the run ends.” 

By the autumn of 2021, Zhu had turned his consideration to the so-called SOLUNAVAX commerce, having misplaced curiosity in Ethereum amid hovering fuel charges (Zhu spent months endorsing ETH earlier than SOLUNAVAX caught on, concentrating on a $25,000 ETH on a Bankless podcast simply earlier than the market suffered a crash). 

After 3AC introduced that it had co-led a $230 million Avalanche elevate in September 2021, Zhu’s AVAX endorsements have been about as delicate as that Instagram put up that the SEC pulled Kim Kardashian up on for shilling EthereumMax. He repeatedly obtained behind Avalanche in his tweets, drawing the ire of many who had seen him doing related with Ethereum simply weeks prior when it was in vogue on account of EIP-1559 hype. 

A type of dismayed onlookers was Synthetix co-founder Kain Warwick, who later posted a tweet about shedding respect for some individuals who had chosen “opportunistic positive factors” over rules over the course of the bull run (he didn’t make clear if he was talking about Zhu). A really public spat ensued by which the pair mentioned all the pieces from their multi-million greenback property portfolios to Optimistic Rollups, which led Zhu to return out along with his legendary tirade towards Ethereum. “The thought of sitting round jerking off watching the burn and concocting purity checks, whereas zero newcomers can afford the chain, is gross,” he wrote, saying that Ethereum had “deserted its customers.” Avalanche was buying and selling at all-time highs on the weekend the drama went down, which can have given Zhu some confidence. Nonetheless, he quickly backed down and apologized after lots of of members of the Ethereum neighborhood referred to as him out on his bewildering message. AVAX and ETH have each suffered staggering drops since, although Avalanche has taken the toughest hit together with the remainder of the “various Layer 1” house. 

Froth, Adoption, Cope, and Hope (01/21/2022) 

On the high indicators of froth are indistinguishable from indicators of adoption

On the backside indicators of cope are indistinguishable from indicators of hope

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) January 21, 2022

Since 3AC went all in on crypto in 2014, Zhu has turn into famend for his unimaginable ability at timing market tops and bottoms—one thing that may yield larger returns in crypto than every other monetary market on earth. In late 2018, he memorably warned that “we’ll pump off the underside extraordinarily shortly, leaving most sideline buyers caught in fiat,” basically calling the market’s ultimate capitulation and giving delivery to a meme that’s still going strong right this moment. 

The 2021 rally examined these attempting to time the highest and backside more durable than ever by hinting that crypto might have lastly made it earlier than sending all the pieces into the pink in a Could downturn that overshadowed each bull run correction earlier than it. As mainstream caught on, issues appeared frothy from the start of the run, however those that bought early on missed out on large positive factors afterward. Equally, it felt like all hope was misplaced after the Could correction (although Zhu was considered one of few to recommend in any other case), however crypto topped $3 trillion six months later. 

Zhu summed up this local weather in a succinct two line tweet in late January, simply after the market slid and forward of one other 10 months of sluggish motion. “On the high indicators of froth are indistinguishable from indicators of adoption… On the backside indicators of cope are indistinguishable from indicators of hope” Zhu is, in fact, right right here; that’s partly why crypto remains to be such a risky beast. 

Bears Constructing Purchase Partitions (05/25/2022) 

Bears will construct and pay for the purchase partitions of the long run

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) May 25, 2022

We’re unsure what Zhu was getting at when he prompt that “bears will construct and pay for the purchase partitions of the long run,” and judging from CT sentiment, nobody else did on the time.

Nonetheless, the timing of his put up, touchdown days after the Could 2022 Terra collapse, means that he was hinting at a potential future by which selloffs set the foundations for future rallies. 

In CT tradition, bears are extensively seen with disdain, and Zhu had turn into a beacon of bullish hope over the 2021 run. So it matches that he would replicate on bears dumping with an air of positivity, whilst 3AC confronted what would turn into deadly losses within the downturn.

The Subsequent Era of Algorithmic Stablecoins 

Boomers thought Luna1 collapse would take down the crypto business

As a substitute, Tron, Waves, and different chains nonetheless working exhausting on next-gen algostable cash

Luna2 reuniting the Terra neighborhood as they rebuild the ecosystem

All w/ zero want for govt bailouts

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) June 1, 2022

As soon as once more, this one has us stumped. Within the fallout from one of many greatest disasters in crypto historical past, a completely predictable occasion that erased $40 billion of worth in a number of days and led to bankruptcies, suicides, and elevated regulatory consideration, Zhu thought it might be a good suggestion to supply one other of his contrarian takes in what reads like a protection of Terra. 

Zhu identified that whereas LUNA had collapsed, different initiatives have been engaged on algorithmic stablecoins, apparently lacking the memo that no algorithmic stablecoin (arguably barring FRAX) has ever labored with out no less than briefly shedding its peg. 

“Luna2 reuniting the Terra neighborhood as they rebuild the ecosystem,” he added, referencing Kwon’s questionable second try at a LUNA coin after Terra’s failure. After Kwon turned crypto’s public enemy primary within the fallout, one would have thought Zhu would have reconsidered such an ill-judged tweet earlier than posting, although in equity 3AC was going through a $600 million loss on the Terra collapse. Maybe he was coping, which might perhaps make his weird assertion extra comprehensible.

In what could possibly be described as a poor paraphrasing of Satoshi Nakamoto’s hidden message within the codebase of Bitcoin’s Genesis block, Zhu identified that there had been “zero want for govt bailouts” throughout Terra and the opposite algorithmic stablecoin initiatives. Sure, there have been no authorities bailouts—we simply obtained extra regulatory consideration and doubtlessly draconian guidelines for stablecoins from them as an alternative. Congratulations to Terra and those that supported it!

Speaking With Events (06/15/2022) 

We’re within the means of speaking with related events and totally dedicated to working this out

— Zhu Su ? (@zhusu) June 15, 2022

Market sentiment felt prefer it was at all-time low when Bitcoin failed beneath $21,000 in mid-June. In response, Celsius took the unprecedented resolution to halt buyer withdrawals, basically blocking customers from accessing their funds, then rumors of a significant fund blowup began to floor. 

The discuss was that one of many greatest whales within the house had imploded on the downturn, and there have been just a few events that matched the outline. It couldn’t be Alameda, folks stated—they have been simply too good. And Leap had obtained burned on Terra however everybody knew that they had more cash than they knew what to do with after backing Solana. The opposite title doing the rounds was 3AC, however few believed it. Absolutely there was no manner {that a} $10 billion fund like Three Arrows—the Three Arrows run by Su and Kyle—had gone bust?

Later that day, Zhu surfaced and all however confirmed the query everybody had been asking over the earlier 24 hours. “We’re within the means of speaking with related  events and totally dedicated to working this out,” he wrote in characteristically elusive style.

It later emerged that the “related events” Zhu was referring to have been the whale-sized lenders like Voyager Digital and Genesis that had entrusted 3AC with their funds in hopes of a tidy return.

Three Arrows Capital filed for Chapter 15 chapter on July 1 after it defaulted on over $3.5 billion price of loans because of the market collapse. 

Zhu and Davies’ precise location is unknown, although the pair signaled their intention to relocate to Dubai in a July Bloomberg interview. 

Zhu last tweeted on July 12. 

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this piece owned ETH and a number of other different digital property.