France national team player Michael Olise is being compared to a Bitcoin investment by football fans. This “Michael Olise Bitcoin” meme is a very popular social media ‘POV’ format used by football fans to describe the feeling of getting in incredibly early on an elite, world-class talent before the rest of the world fully notices them.
The meme uses Bitcoin’s financial history as a metaphor for player scouting and hype investment.
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency operating completely without any central bank. It uses a highly secure public ledger called a blockchain to record and verify peer-to-peer transactions across a global network of computer. By guaranteeing a strict limit of twenty-one million coins to prevent inflation and ensure long-term digital scarcity.
When Bitcoin was launched by Satoshi Nakamoto in January 2009, it had no established real-world value. For most of its first year, Bitcoin’s price was officially $0.00 because it wasn’t traded on any public exchanges. In October 2009, the first-ever technical valuation was established by New Liberty Standard. They set the exchange rate at $0.00076 per Bitcoin (meaning you could buy 1,309 Bitcoins for just $1). Later that year, the first recorded peer-to-peer cash transaction valued Bitcoin at roughly $0.00099.
But then steadily the value of Bitcoin increased and become popular worldwide. Currently, Bitcoin trades at approximately $62,500. This growth represents a mind-boggling appreciation of over 6.3 billion percent from its initial 2009 transaction price.
The ‘Bitcoin in 2009” and ‘Bitcoin in 2015’ memes are the most widely used on social media to highlight how unexpectedly good he became through the years. The metaphor implies that supporting Olise early on is like buying Bitcoin when it was virtually worthless, birthing a satirical narrative that these early fans behave like time-traveling crypto geniuses. In the post-COVID era, Bitcoin’s value has skyrocketed so much that ordinary people struggle to buy even a fraction of a coin.
In this context, viewing Olise as a Bitcoin investment means that long before Olise become a world class player; certain fans noticed him during his time in Crystal Palace and had believed that one day he would be among the best football players in the world.
The fans who rated his talent during his early developmental years at Reading or his breakout era with Crystal Palace began to use the meme to brag (in the modern internet slang as ‘flex’). These fans act like ‘football millionaires’ because their early assessment yielded an astronomical return on investment.
The bitcoin meme is also about how top English clubs not recognizing Olise’s worth when he was at Reading.
Before joining Reading, Olise spent his developmental years bouncing through the academy systems of Chelsea and Manchester City, both of whom short-sightedly let him go. Thus, in 2017, he signed for the EFL Championship side, Reading and played for them till 2021. His career breakout performance was when 2020-21 season where he scored 7 goals and provided 12 assists, as he stormed through the second division of English football tier, and eventually winning the best young player EFL that season. Due to a highly publicized contract anomaly, Olise’s deal at Reading included an incredibly low £8 million release clause.
The English top clubs could have a player worth 200m for a paltry fee when Olise was at Reading at that time. They hesitated to take the gamble. Instead, Crystal Palace quietly stepped in, activated the clause in July 2021, and watched his value skyrocket. Then selling him to Bayern Munich in 2024-25 for £60 million with add-ons as Olise signed for five-year contract with the club.
Then, top English clubs watched the rise of value of Olise has he performed for Bayern outstandingly. Missing the opportunity to have one of the greatest players in the world currently. Clubs might not have expected that out of nowhere ‘the bitcoin’ would raise to such a high amount.
POV: Bitcoin in 2009 pic.twitter.com/cPgzBF2oDo
— King™️ 🇦🇷 (@UTDxKing) June 30, 2026
The meme mocks the elite clubs because they treated Michael Olise at Reading like Bitcoin in 2009. They just viewed him as an unproven, volatile ‘penny stock’ from a lower division that wasn’t worth the immediate risk.
By failing to buy him for a paltry £8 million when they had the chance, clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, and Manchester City are now forced to watch him perform as a £150m–£200m world-class asset for Bayern Munich.
The meme has gained huge popularity due to Olise’s dominant, record-chasing performances for both FC Bayern Munich and the French national team. Since moving to the Bundesliga, the forward has generated sensational creative numbers in goal contributions, making his footballing stock skyrocket. During the 2025–26 season, he bagged 20 assists and 15 goals in the Bundesliga, alongside 6 assists in the UEFA Champions League.
This playmaking masterclass continued directly into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where he emerged as a core part for France squad, by contributing 5 assists in 6 games. This relentless output has even sparked fan comparisons to Lionel Messi.
Some English football fans are deeply mad about Olise choosing to represent France internationally over England, the country of his birth. Fans cannot believe the FA allowed that to happen and deeply regret it, wishing Olise had chosen England instead.
This insane performance for France was a key factor in helping France reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup stage. They will face Morocco, who just set the record for the longest unbeaten run in international football history at 39 matches, at the Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9.
Ultimately, the Bitcoin meme has evolved into a badge of honor for internet-era scouts.
