From $10K to $75K: How Dave Portnoy Pumped and Dumped a Meme Coin on His Followers

Crypto Twitter exploded on Friday after studies surfaced linking Barstool Sports activities founder Dave Portnoy to an upcoming meme coin launch with Meteora, the identical crew behind the $TRUMP token.

The hypothesis started when influencer Nick O’Neil posted that each Kanye West and Portnoy have been working with Meteora on new token launches.

Nonetheless, Portnoy rapidly shut down the rumors, calling O’Neil a “liar” and denying any involvement.

From there, issues escalated, permitting Dave to dump on his followers, who purchased due to his apparent but oblique promotion of the coin.

Crypto’s “Crime Supercycle”: How Dave Portnoy Bought Wealthy Off His Followers

Regardless of this forwards and backwards concerning affiliation, Portnoy’s mere affiliation with meme cash continued to shake the market as many expect one other related spiral launch like TRUMP.

In reality, the betting platform Polymarket noticed the percentages of Portnoy launching a meme coin collapse by 44% after his denial.

But, shortly after, Solana-based memecoin $MONTOYA skyrocketed previous a $10 million market cap inside minutes of a single submit from Portnoy on X (previously Twitter).

Equally, he publicly introduced his buy of the Josh Allen-themed MVP coin, initially investing $30,000. This single-handedly despatched the token’s market cap hovering, and inside hours, his holdings ballooned to over $220,000.

Whereas Portnoy has by no means shied away from his playing mentality, he brazenly admitted to treating these trades as high-stakes bets.

As he posted: “I misplaced one million {dollars} on the Payments Tremendous Bowl. I feel I could make one million again on Josh Allen MVP coin. Purchase at your individual threat. I simply purchased it. I’m gonna promote it. Don’t purchase what ya can’t lose.”

This blunt assertion, whereas cynical, is what many critics have lengthy identified: crypto hypothesis pushed by influencers is much less about fundamentals and extra about market manipulation.

Portnoy’s actions as soon as once more reignited the controversy across the ethics and legality of influencer-driven crypto buying and selling.

Blockchain analytics agency Arkham Intelligence reported that Portnoy made $75,000 from his meme coin trades simply at the moment.

This led to neighborhood reactions labeling this period because the “crime supercycle,” with influencer Jakey jokingly declaring, “CRIME IS LEGAL IN CRYPTO.”

Portnoy later tried to distance himself from the controversy, clarifying that his engagement with memecoins was distinct from launching his personal token.

“For the millionth time, me f***ing round shopping for shitcoins vs. me doing my very own is evening and day. I’ll by no means ever drop my very own coin until I’m 100% positive I don’t get scammed,” he insisted, including that if he ever did, it might solely be by means of his verified channels.

Nonetheless, Nick O’Neil and others preserve that they’ve proof linking Portnoy to the Meteora challenge, holding the controversy alive.

The state of affairs, whether or not linked to Portnoy or not, displays the broader affect of high-profile figures in crypto buying and selling.

“Studying From Historical past: The Risks of Meme Coin Influencer Hype

Portnoy is much from the primary influencer to revenue off meme coin mania on the expense of their followers.

Logan Paul notoriously promoted the disastrous CryptoZoo challenge, leaving many traders with nugatory tokens.

Equally, Kim Kardashian was fined by the SEC for failing to reveal that she had been paid to advertise EthereumMax, a doubtful token that rapidly plummeted in worth.

Portnoy’s meme coin trades are one other stark reminder that patrons should conduct analysis fairly than blindly comply with high-profile figures.

In the end, whereas influencers can generate monumental market motion, their incentives hardly ever align with long-term investor pursuits.

Curiously, Kanye West, who was reportedly entangled in all these initially, later posted that somebody supplied him $2 million to rip-off his neighborhood with a “faux ye forex.”

Nonetheless, because it stands at the moment, Kanye West has not launched any meme coin. Whereas viral hype can spark sudden worth surges, real understanding of a challenge’s fundamentals is essentially the most dependable defend towards pricey missteps.

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