Dave Portnoy on Meme Coins: “It’s Gambling, Not Built to Last”
Dave Portnoy didn’t hold back at Consensus 2025 when talking about meme coins. Despite being one of the loudest personalities hyping them up online, the Barstool Sports founder now admits the whole space feels more like gambling than investing.
“I don’t think it’s here to stay,” Portnoy said bluntly during a panel with Bullish CEO Tom Farley. With his usual unfiltered style, he walked through his chaotic ride through the meme coin world — from wild wins to legal headaches and public backlash.
It all started with SafeMoon. Portnoy saw viral posts about insane profits, jumped in, mocked the coin’s utility, and got slapped with a lawsuit. “They said I was paid to promote it. Total lie. Cost me $20K to get out of it.”
Still, he didn’t stop. He toyed with launching his own token and got pitched a coin called Libra — supposedly backed by the president of Argentina. Portnoy dropped $4.5 million into it. Days later, the president denied involvement. “I lost all my money.” Luckily, the dev gave it back. No idea why.
Then came Greed, Greed 2, and even a troll coin called JailStool. Portnoy leaned into the satire — and somehow turned a $1,000 meme coin bet into $7 million in under an hour. “It took me 13 years to make that at Barstool.”
But he knows the game is rigged. Meme coins are dominated by early insiders and bots. “Same winners, same losers,” he said. And the hate is getting real. A guy even confronted him in Vegas, claiming he lost $200K thanks to Portnoy’s hype.
“I get the appeal,” Portnoy said. “It’s gambling. It’s a Ponzi scheme — not necessarily in a bad way — but it’s not sustainable.”
He might tease Greed 3, but it sounds like the thrill is wearing off. Even the king of chaos knows when to fold.