Original Author | Decrypt

Compile | Odaily Planet Daily Nanfang

On May 13, Roaring Kitty reappeared in the public eye.

He didn't even mention GameStop (GME) directly when he returned to Twitter (Platform X), a stock that has garnered global attention and been made into a documentary. But his return still led to a short-term doubling of the GME share price and sent the price of the eponymous meme Token GME on Solana soar by 1900%. **

Roaring Kitty, whose real name is Keith Gill, what is his connection to bankrupt video game retailers GME and Meme coins?

Gill is the protagonist of the 2023 film "Dumb Money", which tells the story of the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, and Gill's analysis and promotion actions for GameStop that year largely sparked the fires that swept Wall Street in 2021 and led him to testify on Capitol Hill.

He announced his return with a tweet, the first in 150 weeks, that could bring another storm in encryption and traditional investment circles.

Who is Roaring Kitty

Before he made a splash in the financial world under the name Roaring Kitty (or DeepFuckingValue on Reddit), Gill had dreams of becoming a track star, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gill's first attempt at creating content on YouTube was posting a 4:33-mile running video.

Although his track and field dreams were not fulfilled due to injury, Gill turned his attention to the stock market. In 2019, Gill became the Director of Financial Wellness at MassMutual, a life insurance company. That same year, he joined Reddit and started posting on the WallStreetsBets subreddit.

Gill is widely known for his role in the GameStop stock short squeeze that occurred on January 27, 2021. On Reddit, he gained a legion of followers for investing in GameStop's stock, promoting the asset on social media, and his Roaring Kitty YouTube channel.

In a 2020 Reddit post, Gill wrote: "FYI, prices are set to pump in March, and GME continues to lead the market relatively speaking. ”

**The stage is ready. **

GameStop

At the time, the gaming retailer was struggling financially, and longing institutional investors and hedging funds believed GME stock was overvalued and shorting GameStop stock.

At the time, one GME stock was worth about $5.16. Before GameStop's stock big pump, its share price was well below its previous ATH high.

Users on the r/WallStreetBets subforum, including Gill, noticed an increasing number of short positions at GME and sniffed an opportunity to trigger a short squeeze. The so-called "short squeeze" refers to a sharp rise in the price of an asset, forcing those who "shorted" traders to be liquidated.

(Odaily note: At the same time as liquidation, short positions need to buy assets to cover short positions, which in turn further drives the stock pump. ）

While Gill didn't single-handedly trigger GameStop's short squeeze, he was an important figure in the debate, and was one of the first to go against mainstream opinion that GameStop was underrated.

Gill wrote on Reddit as DeepFuckingValue: "People talk about the decline of GameStop, but they're going to make $2 billion in revenue in a quarter at the end of a console's life, and the "digital transformation" narrative is overblown. There is still potential for this business model to grow, and the new host will be an important driving force. ”

As GME shares pump, long companies betting on GameStop's fall were forced to Close Position,** notably Melvin Capital, which lost nearly $3 billion to shorting GameStop. **

On January 28, the day after the GameStop short squeeze, which was also a historic pump, Robinhood, the retailer's preferred platform, was hit with two lawsuits after it blocked customers from buying more long GameStop stock. The stock price had already reached $492 when Robinhood blocked the purchase of GameStop, but soon falls to $193.

(Odaily Note: Robinhood introduced a large number of retail investors at that time with easy operation and 0 transaction fees. Robinhood's "unplugging the network" behavior includes not only GME, but also stocks such as AMC and NOK. Some other platforms have also introduced regulations prohibiting entering a position and only closing positions. ）

GME Aftermath

On February 18, 2021, Gill was summoned to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. He was joined at the hearing by the CEOs of Robinhood and Citadel, a multinational hedging fund.

Gill said at the hearing: "It's true that my investment in that company has increased longing times over. I feel very fortunate for that. I also believe that the current share price proves that I am right about this company. I don't have clients and I don't provide personalized investment advice for fees or commissions. I'm just an individual investor, and my investments in GameStop and social media content are based on my own research and analysis. ”

To dispel misconceptions about his identity, Gill also told members of Congress that he was neither an institutional investor nor a Hedging Fund. The idea that he was able to use social media to drive GameStop stock and influence the market is ridiculous.

The last time Gill previously posted on Reddit was April 16, 2021. He quietly withdrew from social media on June 18, 2021, and finally posted a video of a sleeping cat on platform X.

GameStop has tried to capitalize on the crowd's attention to grow its business, even entering the Crypto Assets and NFT space. However, the company's Crypto Assets business didn't go far, shutting down its NFT Wallet operations in August 2023 due to regulatory uncertainty and its NFT marketplace in January this year.

GameStop's short squeeze and Roaring Kitty's role in it became the centerpiece of a documentary and film. In September 2022, Netflix launched the miniseries "Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga," followed by the feature film "Dumb Money" in 2023.

Regression

The news of Roaring Kitty's return has once again caused a storm on social media.

For example, meme stock pioneer and social media celebrity Andrew Tate, who will sell $500,000 worth of Bitcoin to join the latest GameStop short squeeze.

Encryption top VAnsem responded to Roaring Kitty's tweet: "What to buy? ”（Hey bro, what we buying?）

Even David Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, was ready to join in, quoting a line from The Godfather 3: "If you want to go crazy, go crazy!" Every time I thought I was quitting, they pulled me back again. ”

It's unclear why Gill chose to return to Platform X, or if he actually returns. His Reddit and YouTube accounts remain inactive, having posted only a dozen video clips since his first return tweet and has yet to respond to Decrypt's requests for comment.

But his apparent reappearance apparently piqued the enthusiasm of the GameStop community, sparked a torrent of memes on Solana, and stirred up the broader meme market, which included DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE pump 5.7%, 5.0%, and 15.4%, respectively.

The eponymous meme token on Solana also pumped in a round of big pumps, led by GME and KITTY, with the recent highest market capitalization of $100 million and $30 million, respectively, both pumping more than ten times yesterday. Other GME-related mes of the same name have also pumped to varying degrees, and the concept has even been extended to GME-Get liquidated institutions Melvin Capital, etc.

It's all triggered by a series of video posts, and if Gill, or whoever currently controls @TheRoaringKitty X account, starts tweeting explicitly about stocks or Crypto Assets, the market is likely to blow up again.