What Does NGMI Mean in Crypto?

By Julia Cook
Published Sep 27, 2022 and Updated Mar 20th, 2023

NGMI stands for ‘Not Going to Make It’ and is the opposite term for WGMI or We’re Going to Make It.

‘Not Going to Make It (NGMI)’ was conceived in opposition to the ‘We’re Going to Make It (WGMI)’ slang. It means that a HODLer is not going to succeed in their investment due to an error in judgement, such as HODLing cryptocurrency for too long or too short, investing in junk coins or at the wrong time, or falling for scams, among others.

Although WGMI (or its variant ‘WAGMI’) are used in the cryptocurrency space, they are more frequently used by NFT enthusiasts. It came into mainstream use during the NFT bubble in 2021, after @niftynaut, an Ethereum NFT enthusiast, Tweeted a viral meme using the logos of Netflix, Google, Meta and Instagram to spell ‘NGMI’ with the Tweet ‘Can’t unsee it anymore.’

NGMI ca also be used as a noun to describe someone who does not believe in the future of cryptocurrency, or even just in the future of altcoins. It could also refer to a person in the cryptocurrency or NFT community who holds views that are in opposition to the rest of the group, therefore meaning that the person is not going to make it within that community.

It can also be used to refer to an adversary or other bad actor in the cryptocurrency space. For these reasons, it is usually viewed as a highly offensive term when directed at someone, say during an interaction on a forum or social media site like Twitter. However, in could be used in a non-inflammatory way, such as to simply imply that a crypto investor is going to miss a huge opportunity if they fail to take advantage of a certain deal.

Alternate Meaning

$NGMI is the name of a memcoin that launched in May 2021.