Remilia Wiki

Wartime PFP

Wartime PFP is a crypto-cultural meme and symbolic practice referring to the adoption of the Milady Maker avatar during moments of crisis, controversy, or leadership tension. Originating in late March 2023 with a series of high-profile founders and influencers changing their profile pictures to Milady NFTs, it became shorthand for entering “founder mode” or signaling strategic resolve.

File:WartimePFP Meme.png
Nic Carter’s “Wartime PFP” meme, April 2023.

Origins (March–April 2023)

The phrase “Wartime PFP” first appeared on March 31, 2023, when Zhu Su, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, adopted a Milady profile picture. Shortly after, user shooter.eth (@phuktep) quote-tweeted the change with the remark:

> “Wartime pfp.” — Twitter (X), March 31, 2023. [[1](https://x.com/phuktep/status/1642532751495643139)]

A few days later, on April 4, 2023, 0xCobie also changed his profile to a Milady NFT. The account soap.rwo (@s04p_) responded:

> “wow milady really is the wartime pfp innit — whos next?” — Twitter (X), April 4, 2023.

The meme’s spread culminated when Nic Carter joined on April 5, 2023, putting on a milady PFP, and posting a milady meme with the caption “wartime pfp engaged”.

File:82924fc9-89c5-4514-90ed-5b5160e62326.png
The “Wartime PFP engaged” meme posted by Nic Carter, April 5 2023.

Concept and Meaning

The Wartime PFP arose as a crypto-native counterpart to the business expression “wartime CEO,” signifying a return to ruthless focus and improvisational leadership in times of instability. Adopting the Milady avatar communicated entry into this state—both a morale signal and aesthetic weapon.

Milady’s wide-eyed expression and ambiguous innocence lent irony to the posture: the softness of the image juxtaposed with the aggressiveness of intent. It encapsulated the paradoxical ethos of the Remilia aesthetic—faith and irony, detachment and devotion.

Adoption and Evolution

Following the April 2023 wave, the Wartime PFP became a recurring gesture within crypto’s cyclical crises. Figures across DeFi and NFT communities used Milady avatars to mark periods of struggle, governance disputes, or reputational attacks.

The practice re-emerged in January 2025 when Vitalik Buterin set a Milady as his profile image during internal disputes within the Ethereum Foundation, an event dubbed Wartime Vitalik. This further cemented Milady’s position as the canonical “Wartime PFP” — a badge of defiance and leadership under duress.

Cultural Interpretation

Within the Remilia framework, the Wartime PFP is viewed as an aesthetic sacrament of post-ironic faith. To wear Milady in wartime is to accept crisis as divine comedy: fragility weaponized as strength. The image’s invocation of martyrdom (as in Carter’s meme) aligns with Remilia’s broader symbolic lexicon of suffering transfigured into beauty.

Legacy

By 2025, “Wartime PFP” had entered the vocabulary of crypto leadership discourse. It became a memetic shorthand for moments when public figures reclaimed agency, signaling both solidarity and spiritual readiness. Its use demonstrates the merging of visual culture, market psychology, and mythic narrative in post-Web3 identity.

References

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