Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, claims he collects memecoins as a hobby, even though he’s made at least $70,000 from them.
However, many of the coins he’s promoted have dropped by over 97%. Portnoy, who started his career covering sports and pizza shops, turned to day trading during the COVID-19 sports shutdown to keep his audience entertained.
He has since become a crypto promoter, pushing memecoins that have often failed to hold their value.
According to a post from Protos, Portnoy promoted several tokens, including MONTOYA, Stool Prisondente (JAILSTOOL), GREED, GREED2, and KOLHAT. MONTOYA had a market cap of $2.75 million when Portnoy promoted it.Â
Afterward, the token’s value jumped to $9.95 million within two minutes. However, it has since dropped by 99.7%, now valued at under $25,000. JAILSTOOL, Portnoy’s original memecoin, peaked at $217 million in February 2025 but is now worth under $7 million, a 97% drop.
Portnoy named JAILSTOOL after a misspelling of his X username, StoolPresidente, which he found amusing. The name was meant to mock the SEC, which regulates such schemes.
Despite the decline in value, Portnoy continued promoting coins like GREED, which has fallen 99.9%, and GREED2, which is down 99.5%. KOLHAT has also dropped by 99.8%. These huge drops are typical of the memecoins Portnoy has endorsed.
His strategy seems to be buying the coins early and promoting them until their value spikes. Then, once the hype dies down, the value crashes. Despite the massive losses, Portnoy has made money off these coins during the short-lived pumps.
Even when he lost $5 million on a fake version of the LIBRA token, he got refunded. The LIBRA token was connected to Argentinian President Javier Milei, and Portnoy was refunded by the team behind the token.
Portnoy’s actions stirred up criticism, as many see them as risky and speculative. Some have questioned whether he is taking advantage of his followers by promoting coins that are bound to lose value.
However, Portnoy doesn’t seem bothered by the backlash and continues to promote his memecoin picks. Even though the tokens have crashed, he has made a good amount of money from them.
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