Whatever Happened to the Bitcoin and Ethereum Sweater Guys?

The San Francisco Bitcoin Meetup holiday party in December 2017 was a scene of unbridled enthusiasm, with cryptocurrency hopefuls gathering under the glow of fluorescent lights. The air was electric with optimism, as Bitcoin had just reached nearly $20,000 and Ethereum held steady above $700. Amidst this fervor, two young men made an indelible mark on crypto history.

Frédéric Fortier wore an Ethereum sweater, while Mathieu Baril sported a Bitcoin one. The duo's image was captured in a photo that would become one of crypto's most enduring snapshots, later published in a New York Times feature under the headline: "Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich and You're Not."

Weeks later, however, the market began to crack, and the 2018 crypto meltdown, dubbed the "Great Crypto Crash," took hold. Bitcoin plummeted over 80% from its all-time high, triggering a broader wipeout across nearly all digital assets. The downturn was accelerated by regulatory fears, a $530 million hack at Coincheck, and ad bans from Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

By December, Bitcoin had dropped to around $3,100, an 84% drawdown from its peak that surpassed the scale of the dot-com collapse. As the dust settled, few knew what happened to the sweater-clad duo. Threads on X resurfaced the image sporadically, with some jokingly referring to the Ethereum guy as "slow rugged." Others speculated that they'd cashed out and disappeared.

However, it appears that Fortier has remained active in the crypto space, listed as a co-founder and lead contributor at DerivaDEX, a decentralized derivatives exchange. According to Crunchbase, LinkedIn, and X profiles reviewed by Decrypt, he built trading infrastructure at Enigma, where he helped launch Catalyst, one of the earliest algorithmic crypto platforms.

DerivaDEX is built through a research and development group called DEX Labs, indicating Fortier's continued involvement in the Ethereum ecosystem. Notably, his first name was spelled as "Fredric" in the original New York Times piece, not Frédéric as his LinkedIn profile suggests.

In contrast, Baril took a different path. He's now CEO of Octav, a Web3 analytics startup specializing in on-chain transaction labeling for DAOs, crypto treasuries, and institutional clients. He also teaches treasury strategy at the Crypto Accounting Academy.

"Oh shit, my photo again! Is it the top ?" Baril tweeted on Wednesday. "Should I put it on again?" he later added. Despite neither making a huge deal of their early crypto fame, the legacy of that iconic photo continues to resonate, with the image frozen in time as a snapshot of 2017 euphoria.

While the image has been reworked to present the current hype cycle, pointing to Pump.fun and Hyperliquid as the new Bitcoin and Ethereum, it's clear that Fortier and Baril have built something more substantial than fleeting notoriety. Their paths reflect an observable split in the crypto space itself: spectacle versus substance.

As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, one thing is certain – the sweater-clad duo has left an indelible mark on history, their grinning faces still popping up from time to time in memes, explainer decks, and nostalgic Twitter posts. Their story serves as a reminder that in the world of cryptocurrency, even the most iconic images can be just a starting point for something more meaningful.