“Memecoins Are Legalized Ponzi Schemes”, says memecoin creator Dave Portnoy

The self-proclaimed "El Presidente" of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, has become one of crypto's most entertaining and contradictory figures. While he's dipped his toes into everything from Bitcoin to NFTs, to launching his own memecoins - the brash entrepreneur draws a hard line at one thing: putting the Barstool brand on a digital token. Which when you consider it, is a kind of arbitrary line to draw. But now, Portnoy is back in the headlines after a recent interview with Coindesk where he said memecoins are "legalized Ponzi schemes", with zero intrinsic value.

This from the man who launched, and spectacularly dumped, his own memecoin, on his own loyal community, earlier this year. That’s right! In February, Portnoy's aptly named ‘GREED’ token briefly rocketed to a $41.5 million market cap before he unloaded his entire bag, sending the price through the floor. The move sparked outrage in crypto circles, to which Portnoy characteristically responded on X:

"I warned people I could sell... Some people won. Some lost. Only the losers keep bitching."

So, without throwing too much shade on the man, take everything he says with a grain of salt. In fact, if you were to map out his moral compass on one of those D&D charts, he’d probably land on ‘Lawful Evil’. He wasn’t breaking the law by rug pulling everyone, but he wasn’t taking any moral high ground in doing so. Anyway, I digress.

Portnoy's chaotic journey through finance began in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic when he launched his "Davey Day Trader" YouTube channel. His unorthodox strategies, like picking stocks based on Scrabble tiles (resulting in a $200,000 bet on Raytheon), made for very viral content if not sound investing. It was around about this period that Bitcoin first appeared on his radar.

"I don't think you can be involved in finance today without crypto being a major part of it," Portnoy says. His timing however, has been notoriously poor: "I've been on the wrong side of it every time it rips". But he's continued dabbling in everything from XRP to NFTs. His "One Bite Pizza Review" NFT sold for $138,000, proving his brand's power even in digital asset form.

Portnoy's most revealing crypto moment came when Barstool attempted to integrate Bitcoin into its business model. During the pandemic, the company accepted Bitcoin donations for its Barstool Fund to help struggling small businesses. But just 30,000 of the 50 million raised came via crypto.

"They talked big, big talk," Portnoy says of the crypto advocates who pushed the initiative. "Crypto is the league leader in people telling you what you should be doing, and it's also the league leader in people I don't trust”. How ironic. Saef to say that experience left him skeptical about blockchain's practical business applications, despite his personal crypto adventures.

But its Portnoy's GREED token saga that epitomizes crypto's wild west/ memecoin era. After accumulating over 35% of the supply, his mass sell-off demonstrated the brutal reality of influencer-led tokens. Yet he defends his actions with typical Portnoy bravado: 

"I could have cashed out a million but let it drop 75% first."

This back and forth dance with memecoins highlights Portnoy's complicated-at-best, incredibly-hypocritical-at-worst, crypto philosophy: he'll play the game but won't risk his core brand.

"There's no value to it. You gotta get in and get out before it crashes."

It's a remarkably candid assessment from someone who's profited from the very ecosystem he criticizes. But if we’re being real, he clearly knows how the system works! 

Despite his criticisms of the space, Portnoy admits affection for the crypto community: "As much as I have back and forth with them, I actually love them. They're hilarious... an interesting group, which I guess I'm a part of." This tension between skeptic and participant, critic and exploiter, makes Portnoy one of crypto's most entertaining anti-heroes.

Now, as we said at the outset, take everything the man says with a grain of salt. But let’s be honest: he isn’t exactly blowing the lid off anything new. If you’re getting into memecoins, you should know by now that they’re the furthest thing from a safe investment. Not just in crypto, but basically anything!

As for Portnoy, his journey is a reflecting of crypto's broader cultural moment, currently: the ongoing tension between get-rich-quick schemes and genuine technological potential, between grifters and truly innovative technologies. As regulations loom and the market matures, figures like Portnoy serve as a living reminder of crypto's chaotic adolescence. An adolescence that we’re probably all eager to see the back of, but we might just miss it when it’s gone! So let’s just enjoy "El Presidente’s" entertainment while it lasts.