TL;DR: Weeks ago, Kyri Andreou was simply a good-looking businessman of a certain age who enjoyed working out. And then something happened. Crypto Twitter got ahold of his image, meme-ing Andreou into a social media celebrity: Gym Friend. It’s quite a story, and so emblematic of the cryptocurrency ecosystem everyone wants to meet him. Here’s your chance. Live. Tonight at 9pm EST.

Gym Friend Live YouTube Interview

We’ve had to hold onto Collin Enstad’s “get” for a few days now. Enstad, host of Collin’ It Like It Is, found Gym Friend on Instagram. At first, the CoinSpice team simply chatted among ourselves about living in a simulation, about the irony this dude had no idea he’d become a phenomenon. It turns out, he did know his image was being used, tipped off by those who wanted it taken down, but Kyri Andreou didn’t seem to mind.

Hey, it’s flattering. All that hard work in the gym paid off. Whatever else was going on, people were appreciating Andreou and his commitment to physical mastery. What few knew, and what Enstad discovered through a few pleasant messages with Andreou last week, was that Gym Friend is part of a tech-based equity startup, launching variations on initial public offerings with a blockchain tinge. We were floored. What are the chances!

Again, Enstad booked the interview for tonight a while ago, but had to sit on the exclusive news due to the meme’s growing infamy. Those who didn’t appreciate the contrast of a mousey, toy-clutching infant man with that of a young-lady-embracing masculine ideal were busy flooding Twitter with phony legal notices to have the meme’s main promoter, @karbonbased, kicked off the platform (it worked).

BTC maximalists, ever-prone to censorship and dog-piling, seized upon anyone who dared Like or laugh along with the Gym Friend meme. They chided a female journalist who took up the story, accusing her of being less-than-serious and tabloid for profiling Andreou. We care nothing for maxi fake bravado, and simply didn’t want to spook Gym Friend from his first live interview. True to form, however, Gym Friend is fearless and good-humored and understands marketing. It’s a wonderful chance to laugh at absurd, manufactured outrage culture, propagandists, discuss the nuttiness of the crypto space in general, and to promote his work. Don’t miss this.

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DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.