Choose Rich Nick Breaks Down How He Went Viral

Welcome back to Talking Tokens and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We’re kicking off this New Year with a fun episode with Choose Rich Nick.

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For this week’s Thursday episode, I interviewed Nick O’Neill, Co-Founder and CEO of BoDoggos — better known as Choose Rich Nick.

He shares how years of running The Nifty, one of the largest NFT media companies, shaped his understanding of community behavior, storytelling and internet culture and how that experience ultimately led to BoDoggos.

Nick reflects on the psychological cost of operating as a character, how satire bleeds into reality, the tension between being informative and being entertaining, and why mixing humor with truth is harder (and more effective) than playing either side cleanly. Nick also shares stories behind his most famous stunts including staged scandals, yacht controversies, fake breakups, and sketch-comedy girlfriends and why narrative arcs outperform standalone posts.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – Intro

03:25 – Dating life, fake girlfriends and how his online persona affects relationships

06:52 – Virality, trolls and how attention works on X

09:04 – Screen time habits, muting posts and handling backlash

11:27 – Comedy versus news, satire runs and experimenting with formats

13:33 – Filming in public and New York being ideal for chaotic content

15:38 – What makes a crypto capital city

16:13 – Origin of “Choose Rich” persona and the run that blew him up

18:06 – Quote tweet culture, algorithm changes and why narrative arcs matter

21:02 – The Dubai meme, stereotypes and how jokes spread through quote tweets

22:05 – Community notes, gaming, satire, yachts and how stunts go viral

27:45 – When fans think the character is real and dealing with public reactions

33:10 – The emotional and creative load of playing a character long term

36:07 – The famous Avalanche yacht stunt, how it was staged and how the narrative exploded

41:03 – Reputation risks, brand concerns and the line between humor and harm

44:08 – His view on crypto culture, memes, trading identity and what web3 became

46:57 – Technical versus cultural crypto, NFTs, and educational content

49:20 – Why serious content doesn’t perform well and blending humor with truth

51:32 – BuzzFeed era, ads in the feed, and the collapse of journalistic integrity

53:02 – The MicroStrategy subway rant and his opinion on the company

54:46 – Bitcoin, institutional flows and how he thinks about investing

55:32 – What he wants next in life including family, audience growth and coding

56:26 – Final advice on consistency, surviving the content cycle and momentum

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Money and people moves

1. Korbit fined $1.9 million for anti money-laundering, customer verification breaches (CoinDesk)

2. Trump Firm to Start New Cryptocurrency for Shareholders (Bloomberg)

3. David Beckham-backed supplements firm quits Bitcoin buying strategy after raising $48 million (The Block)

4. Winklevoss-backed Cypherpunk buys $28 million of zcash, now owns 1.7% of supply (CoinDesk)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.