Meme Coins Are Pure Chaos, and Dave Portnoy Is Thriving in It

Wrong trades, wild flips, and token launches — he’s turning madness into millions. Here’s how.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, has been making headlines with his involvement in meme coins, specifically his high-stakes trades and launches. Portnoy's actions have sparked speculation, accusations, and rumors on social media. One persistent claim is that Portnoy may be facing legal trouble due to his meme coin antics. However, there have been no official filings or statements from regulators to confirm this. Some posts on social media suggest that Portnoy's actions may have prompted the SEC to establish a cybercrime unit to address fraud in the crypto industry. These claims are largely based on the timing of events and have not been directly linked by authorities. Portnoy himself has not addressed these allegations head-on but has instead used the SEC's announcement to take a jab at his critics.

Portnoy's meme coin ventures have also drawn attention to the role of hype and attention in driving value in crypto. While most traders focus on returns, Portnoy appears to be more interested in the mechanics of attention. He leverages his massive following to trigger market movements, all while observing the real-time ripple effect. As Punk, the pseudonymous CCO at Memecoin (MEME), puts it, "He's discovered an infinite money glitch — he tweets a ticker to his 3.5M followers, and it instantly moons, then he does it again." This highlights how Portnoy's reach alone is enough to spark immediate volatility.

But it's not just about the money. "He's amused by the hamster wheel of traders blindly following his moves, so he keeps spinning it." Portnoy creates a token, watches it surge, then either exits or moves on to the next. Traders know the risk but jump in anyway — not because they believe in the token, but because the activity itself is the draw. This phenomenon is far from isolated. Platforms like Pump.fun have made meme coin creation almost effortless. Since launching in January 2024, over 7.8 million tokens have been created on the platform as of Feb. 21, most offering little beyond speculative thrills.

As a result, the market has become a revolving door of viral trends, where the next big token isn't determined by innovation, but by how quickly it can spread. "Honestly, trust in crypto isn’t exactly at an all-time high,” said Tobin Kuo, CEO of Seraph Studios, in an interview with crypto.news. “At this point, even veterans are joking that the space is turning into the world’s largest casino." That could explain why Portnoy has gone beyond just trading — he's creating. As Punk puts it, "Every legal expert warning him only pushes him to do more. The backlash fuels his next move." Whether this model can last or eventually collapse under its own weight remains to be seen, but as long as the hype keeps driving the market, the cycle isn’t stopping.