In short
- Mathieu Baril and Frédéric Fortier could be seen in a viral NYT photo during Crypttos’s first mainstream tree.
- Fortier has co-founder of a decentralized derivative exchange, while Baril is now leading to starting the Chain Senalysis Octav.
- Both seem to have quietly built serious crypto career, while the photo became a time capsule of the Bull Run 2017.
The San Francisco Bitcoin MeetUp Holiday party in December 2017 was full of crypto hopeful.
Bitcoin had just reached almost $ 20,000. Ethereum held over $ 700. Under the glow of fluorescent lamps and an atmosphere of optimism, two young men posed for a photo that would become one of the most sustainable snapshots of crypto.
Frédéric Fortier wore an Ethereum sweater. Mathieu Baril wore a bitcoin. Their image Landed in one New York Times Feature weeks later under the headline: Everyone gets hilarious and you are not.
Weeks later the market started to crack and at that time experienced one of its steepest falls in its history.
The crypto-meltdown of 2018, called the “Great Crypto Crash”, Bitcoin saw more than 80% falling from his all time high and caused a wider seesaw over almost all digital assets.
The decline Started in January of the year, accelerated by legal fears, a hack of $ 530 million on coincheck and advertisements from Facebook, Google and Twitter.
By December Bitcoin had fallen to around $ 3,100, a drawing of 84% from his peak that surpassed the scale of the DOT-COM collapse.
For years, not much really knew what happened to the duo covered with sweater.
Threads on X popped up the image sporadically. Some joke That the Ethereum man “slowly robust”. Others thought they had cashed and disappeared.
But they can be wrong.
Fortier is now mentioned as co-founder and head contribution at Derivadex, a decentralized derivative exchange, according to Crunchbase” LinkedInAnd X Profiles rated by Decrypt.
Derivadex was built through a research and development group called DEX Labs.
Those profiles indicate that he has built trade infrastructure in Enigma, where he helped launch Catalyst, one of the earliest algorithmic crypto platforms. He seems to have remained active in the Ethereum ecosystem, trade and builds through several tree-and-bustcycli.
In particular, the first name of Fortier was spelled as “Fredric” in the original New York Times piece, not Frédéric as his LinkedIn profile suggests.
Baril, on the other hand, took a different path.
He is now CEO of Octav, a Web3 Analytics Startup specialized in on-chain transaction laving for DAOS, crypto treasure boxes and institutional customers. He also teaches the Treasury strategy at the Crypto Accounting Academy.
“Oh shit, my photo again! Is it the top?” Baril tweeted On Wednesday. “Do I have to turn it on again?” He later added.
Neither of them has made much of their early crypto recognition. But the legacy of that photo, only two boys in Hodlmoon Holiday Sweaters, at the height of 2017 Euphoria, is still floating around.
While the image froze them on time, both moved, their dizzying, grinning faces appear from time to time in memes, army -decks and nostalgic Twitter messages.
Some others have edited The iconic photo to present the current hype cycle, pointing to Pomp.Fun and Hyperliquid as the new Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Yet their paths in one way or another reflect an observable split into the crypto room itself: spectacle versus substance. While others disappeared, they built.
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