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Some cryptocurrency traders saw their investments collapse this week after Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy launched a coin, promoted it, and then swiftly sold his shares, in a move that has critics accusing him of orchestrating a “pump and dump.”
Crypto tracker Lookonchain found that Portnoy created a coin called $Greed on the Solana blockchain on Tuesday night and bought nearly 36% of the total supply.
He then allegedly sold all of his tokens at once, crashing the price of $Greed by 99% and withdrawing more than $250,000.
Portnoy had tweeted out what was both a promotion of the coin and a warning about it to his 3.6 million X followers.
“The entire [memecoin] ecosystem is Greed and nothing else,” he opined. “I won’t screw you but the guy next to you may. This collectible token commemorates that. Don’t risk more than you can afford. Don’t cry if you do lose.”
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 17,000 people still held some amount of $Greed, which hasn’t recovered any of its value.
Now, the crypto world is railing against Portnoy.
“This stuff used to be called scamcoins for a reason,” one popular crypto-focused account wrote on X. “The only real difference between now and previous cycles is that they’re doing it in public and laughing while they do it.”
Another crypto enthusiast wrote bluntly: “Do not copytrade him. Do not engage with him. Do not mention him. Do not give him a space in crypto.”
In typical Portnoy fashion, the media personality is doubling down on his latest controversy, in this case literally. He already created a new coin named $Greed2.
“Just launched Greed 2,” he wrote on X. “It’ll be volatile. I will not sell 1 penny till at least midnight est or maybe never. Be careful.”
He also defended his alleged dumping.
“In a nutshell – I’ve done exactly what I’d say do with full transparency every single move,” Portnoy claimed in a separate post. “No secret wallets. No making money on side. No lying.”
He also boasted that he could have made more money if he dumped it earlier. Portnoy said he redirected his funds to another coin, which he claims he will never sell, meaning he “didn’t make a dime.”
The outraged crypto community, though, found some satisfaction in the news this morning that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a new cybercrime unit focused, in part, on crypto fraud.
The announcement does not appear to be related in any way, but posters joked that it was.
“Dave Portnoy scammed so hard the SEC has to launch a new Cyber technology division,” one popular account joked on X.
“Dave Portnoy is literally going to jail,” another poster predicted.
“Hey @stoolpresidente was $greed worth it?” asked one.
For his part, Portnoy also applauded the move, though it wasn’t clear if he was doing so earnestly or to further troll his critics.
“Let’s clean this space up! Take out the trash,” he wrote. “This is when it pays to be the cleanest man in crypto.”
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