Dave Portnoy Launches Own Coin, Rugs It Within Hour

As if Solana’s memecoin trenches hadn’t suffered enough already this week, Dave Portnoy has conducted another scandalous pump-and-dump.

Onchain traders are furious with Portnoy. Seeking to prove a point about overwhelming greed in the crypto, Portnoy pulled a stunt that ruined his reputation.

Here’s how Dave Portnoy went from cherished whistleblower to public enemy in just a few tweets.

Portnoy Rugs $GREED to Pump $JAILSTOOL

Just days after the $LIBRA scandal rocked the crypto world, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has embarked into murky legal territory. On February 18, Portnoy deployed $GREED via pump.fun, bundling over 35.7% of the token’s supply.

Alongside a manifesto denouncing greed in the crypto space, Portnoy shared the token in an 𝕏 post. $GREED marked the first time Portnoy deployed a memecoin. Previously, Portnoy had shilled supposedly arbitrary assets he’d found, like $JAILSTOOL.

Following the success of $JAILSTOOL, a community coin inspired by the public figure, Portnoy has flirted with the idea of launching his own coin for weeks. Thus, traders throughout the ecosystem have eagerly awaited an official token that Portnoy could put his weight and considerable influence behind.

$GREED surged as traders poured funds into what they believed to be the official Dave Portnoy coin, reaching an all-time high market capitalization of $38M. Throughout $GREED’s explosive ascent, Portnoy flexed how much he’d be able to cash out if he sold. 

“And if you don’t believe me on my cash out I can do this over and over and over again.  I could make millions per day I’ve chosen not to” - Dave Portnoy

In Portnoy’s eyes, he was actively demonstrating how he could’ve leveraged his influence to make outsized profits.

Bragging that he could’ve made $400k in 10 minutes, Portnoy assured traders that he wouldn’t sell his $GREED tokens “anytime soon”. As the value of his holdings crossed $800k, Portnoy declared he was “holding”.

As euphoria reached a fever pitch, Portnoy betrayed his assurances not to sell and liquidated his stack. 

Realizing over $250k in profits, Portnoy rotated all gains into $JAILSTOOL, claiming that the community token is the only token he promised never to sell.

But Portnoy wasn’t done. Rubbing further salt in the wounds of Solana’s trench warriors, Portnoy launched a second token, $GREED2, to illustrate the ongoing greed permeating onchain crypto markets.

Crypto’s Main Character Syndrome Strikes Again

Dave Portnoy has been one of crypto’s most polarizing figures since entering Solana’s memecoin trenches earlier this year. 

While Portnoy has been widely criticized for allegedly pumping and dumping random coins across Solana, the Barstool Sports founder has been celebrated for exposing the prevalence of undisclosed shills among KOLs and influencers. 

Whether inadvertently or not, Portnoy’s ‘refusal’ to promote the $LIBRA tokens he was given cast a spotlight on the rampant market manipulation that is allegedly present in KOL/Influencer circles.

However, Portnoy’s recent behavior has destroyed his reputation in the eyes of the Solana community. In an attempt to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the memecoin economy, Portnoy committed the very market manipulation he was trying to expose.

In yet another live crashout, Portnoy becomes another victim of crypto’s fabled main character syndrome. 

While his notoriety is far from the fallen heroes of previous cycles like Do Kwon or Sam Bankman-Friend, Portnoy’s fall from grace in the eyes of the public fulfills one of crypto’s oldest prophecies.

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