Memeing through the crisis: a conversation with FinTwit's famous Ramp Capital

Podcasts • April 28, 2020, 6:54PM EDT

UPDATED: April 28, 2020, 7:15PM EDT

Episode 15 of Season 2 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with Frank Chaparro, Ryan Todd, and Finance Twitter’s favorite anonymous meme-er Ramp Capital.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected].

Despite the world being beset by the COVID-19 pandemic and a financial crisis, humor is something we can all find respite in. This is even the case, believe it or not, for Wall Street.

From the Ghana funeral that's swept financial services Twitter (FinTwit) following Ray Dalio's "cash is trash" call to the much-loved "Money printer go brr," this crisis has seen its fair share of memes. Indeed, it's fueled engagement for meme accounts, such as Ramp Capital, the anonymous, self-declared CFO of FinTwit.

An engineer by trade, the man behind the Ramp Capital account has been tweeting about the financial services world since 2013, bringing a degree of humility to an ecosystem long known for its buttoned-up style. He's ramped things up, pun intended, since global markets began gyrating in February.

On this episode of The Scoop, The Block's Frank Chaparro and Ryan Todd talk to Ramp about memeing through the crisis and its wild stock market swings, Ramp's crowdsourced stock portfolio – $WERAMP – and Ramp's observations on the key difference between market sentiment and Twitter sentiment.

About Authors

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

Ryan Todd is a research analyst at The Block where he focuses on the convergence of fintech and digital assets. Previously he worked at Deutsche Bank as an equity analyst covering consumer finance and payments companies, and also spent time at ConsenSys exploring the broader Ethereum ecosystem. Ryan holds a BS in Economics and Accounting/Finance from Florida State University, and MS Finance from Vanderbilt University.