What is HODL? HODL Perhaps the most popular cryptocurrency term, this word started out as a simple spelling mistake. In 2013, a member of the Bitcointalk forum wrote a post describing why he will be holding on to his tokens, despite the fact that markets were falling at the time. However, he mistakenly wrote “hodling” instead of “holding”. This typo became quite popular and eventually evolved into the backronym “HODL” which stands for “Hold on to dear life.”