Barstool Sports creator, David Portnoy, has found himself in a controversy following discussions about recent memecoin trades with his over 3.5 million followers on his X account.
Portnoy started his crypto journey with a coin inspired by a participant in the Spanish reality program, La Isla De Las Tentaciones, named “Montoya por favor.” Portnoy excitedly announced his entry into the crypto world on X Friday, stating, “Uh oh. Davey learned how to trade shitcoin and is already up a billion percent on my 1st one!!!!!!” The token soared to an almost $14 million market cap before plummeting to a mere $1 million.
Portnoy also invested in a memecoin named after Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, known as the “Josh Allen MVP coin.” He cautioned his followers, “Buy at your own risk. I just bought it. I’m gonna sell it. Don’t buy what ya can’t lose.” The memecoin rapidly reached a market cap of over $12 million, only to crash to about $58,000.
Criticism followed Portnoy’s trades, with accusations of dumping on his followers. However, Portnoy defended his actions as transparent. In a series of videos, he defended his actions, stating, “I turned like 10 grand total into like 75 grand…I don’t even know what I’m doing with my life,” questioning, “Do you go to jail for this? Can I not do this?”
The following day, Portnoy continued his crypto journey by endorsing the “JAILSTOOL” token. He wrote, “I may dump it eventually but I’ll let all you righteous losers dump on each other first,” warning his followers not to invest more than they could afford to lose.
Portnoy has previously promoted cryptocurrencies, like Safemoon, whose founders faced SEC accusations of market manipulation and fraud. He has humorously remarked, “Im only guy who loses all his money in [Safemoon] and gets sued for it.”
In 2020, Portnoy was live-streaming his day trading activities in cryptocurrencies. He commented, “The thing I like about pump and dumps in crypto is it’s encouraged,” contrasting it with the stock market where such practices are regulated.
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