Dave Portnoy Sells 35.79% of GREED Tokens, Netting $258,000

Dave Portnoy, known as “El Presidente,” has expressed his reservations about memecoins, describing them as “legalized Ponzi schemes.” In an interview, Portnoy revealed that he initially got involved with memecoins with the intention of launching a Barstool-branded memecoin. However, his concern for his followers' financial well-being led him to reconsider. He warned that memecoins lack intrinsic value and that the key to profiting from them is to enter and exit before they crash.

Despite his cautionary stance, Portnoy has launched other memecoins. In February, he introduced GREED, a token that reached a market cap of $41.5 million. Portnoy purchased 357.92 million GREED tokens, which constituted 35.79% of the total supply, and subsequently sold all of them in a single transaction, causing the price to plummet. This move netted him approximately $258,000. In the aftermath, Portnoy took to social media to clarify that he had warned his followers about the potential for him to sell, and that while some people made money, others lost out.

Portnoy's journey into the world of finance began during the COVID-19 pandemic when he started trading stocks. He launched the YouTube channel Davey Day Trader, where fans could follow his trades. Although his trading strategies were not always successful, they were entertaining. One notable instance involved him pulling letters from a Scrabble bag to form the ticker symbol RTX (Raytheon Technologies Corporation) and investing $200,000 into the stock.

It was around this time that Portnoy was introduced to bitcoin. He acknowledged the growing importance of cryptocurrencies in the financial landscape, describing his relationship with bitcoin as love/hate due to his frequent missteps in timing the market. Over the years, he has also experimented with other cryptocurrencies like XRP. Despite his interest in cryptocurrencies, Portnoy admitted that he still struggles to understand how to integrate blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies into his business model. Barstool once accepted bitcoin as part of its Barstool Fund to support small businesses, but the contribution from bitcoin was minimal, leading Portnoy to express skepticism about the crypto community's promises.

Portnoy's foray into the crypto world includes experimenting with memecoins, bitcoin, and even launching an NFT attached to his popular One Bite Pizza Reviews YouTube channel, which sold for $138,000. Despite his occasional misunderstandings, he has a fondness for the crypto community, finding them both hilarious and interesting. Portnoy will continue to share his experiences and insights at Consensus 2025 in Toronto on May 15.