The laser eyes meme is a profile picture edit that adds glowing red beams to a person's eyes, and in bitcoin circles it signals that you are bullish and in for the long haul. The bitcoin version started on Twitter in February 2021 under the hashtag #LaserRayUntil100K, a pledge to keep the lasers on until one bitcoin was worth $100,000.
It spread from a small group of meme makers to members of Congress and a head of state within months. Here is how that happened, what the eyes are meant to say and how to make your own.
Where the laser eyes meme started
Glowing eyes were a meme long before bitcoin borrowed them. They are a classic image-macro trick for showing someone is powered up, furious or very determined.
The bitcoin trend has a clear starting point. On February 16, 2021, a Twitter user called Chairforce, part of a group of bitcoin meme makers who called themselves The Meme Factory, gave his own profile picture laser eyes and posted the #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag (Know Your Meme). He had already been adding lasers to friends' avatars, and the hashtag had been suggested earlier while bitcoin traded lower.
The timing helped. Bitcoin had just passed $50,000 for the first time, and lots of people were paying attention. In a later account for Bitcoin Magazine, Chairforce said that within 72 hours members of Congress, celebrities and plenty of everyday bitcoiners had put on the lasers (Bitcoin Magazine).
Some notable moments:
- Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming added laser eyes to her real photo within days of the launch.
- Investors and company founders across the bitcoin industry joined in the same week.
- El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele added laser eyes in June 2021, around the time his country moved to make bitcoin legal tender.
Bitcoin laser eyes meaning
The eyes say a few things at once, depending on who wears them:
- Conviction. You think bitcoin matters, and you are not shy about it.
- Membership. It is a visible badge that says you are part of bitcoin Twitter, the same way a HODL shirt says it in person.
- A public bet. The original hashtag tied the eyes to a price target, so keeping them on through a drop showed you were not going anywhere.
- A joke about yourself. Glowing demon eyes on a LinkedIn-style headshot are funny, and most people wore them with a wink.
A quick note: this is meme history, not a price call. The $100,000 line was a rallying point, not advice.
Why people have laser eyes on Twitter
If you have seen laser eyes on Twitter, now X, and wondered why, the answer is usually one of those reasons. The eyes made support for bitcoin visible at a glance, in a feed where everyone is scrolling fast. They were also free, needed no permission and took two minutes to make, which is exactly how a meme spreads.
You will also see people write the hashtag as #LaserEyesTil100K or similar. The original was #LaserRayUntil100K, but the spelling never mattered much: everyone knew what it meant.
How to do the laser eyes meme
You do not need a special app. Any photo editor that supports layers will do, and many free online laser eyes meme generators do it in a few clicks. The manual method:
- Pick a clear, front-facing photo. Profile pictures are small, so a close crop works best.
- Find a laser eye graphic. Search for a red laser eyes PNG with a transparent background, or paint a bright red dot with a soft glow brush.
- Place one over each eye. Line up the bright center with the pupil, then rotate the beam so it shoots outward.
- Blend it in. Setting the layer to a Screen or Add blend mode makes the glow look like light rather than a sticker.
- Add a little haze. A soft red glow around the eye sells the effect.
- Export and upload. Save as PNG or JPG and update your profile picture.
A few tips make the difference between a convincing edit and a cheap one. Keep both beams the same size and angle, or the face looks lopsided. Match the glow to the photo: a dark, moody picture can take a strong beam, while a bright outdoor shot needs a softer one. Don't let the beams cover the whole face, since people still need to recognize you. And keep a copy of the original photo for the day you retire the lasers.
Use your own photo or one you have permission to edit. Putting lasers on someone else's face for a joke is fine among friends, but not on a stranger's.
Is laser eyes still a thing?
Bitcoin crossed $100,000 for the first time in early December 2024, and a lot of people celebrated by retiring their lasers, since the pledge was technically complete. Others kept them on out of habit or affection, and Chairforce had already floated a follow-up idea, #LaserEyesUntilFiatDies.
Today the eyes are less of a campaign and more of a permanent piece of bitcoin visual language. Glowing red or orange eyes turn up in bitcoin art, stickers and memes, and anyone who was online in 2021 knows exactly what they mean. Our bitcoin slang glossary covers the other memes from that era.
Wearing the same energy
We don't make a laser eyes shirt yet, but a few designs carry the same spirit off the screen:
- HODL is the original hold-through-anything message, with an orange coin for the O. The story behind it is in what does HODL mean.
- There Is No Second Best puts a portrait in bitcoin sunglasses inside a ring of lettering.
- No 2nd Best says the same thing with type only, for people who prefer words to faces.
More options are on our bitcoin meme shirts page.
