David Portnoy: "Are you going to jail for this?"

The founder of American media company Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, is currently causing a stir within the crypto community. He has plunged into trading memecoins. What at first looked like a serious trading strategy quickly emerged as a remarkably transparent pump-and-dump campaign aimed at his more than 3.5 million X followers.

Apparently tormented by guilt, he even asked the community, "Are you going to jail for this? Can't I do that?" Yet when making his recommendations, he emphasized, "Buy at your own risk. I just bought it. I will sell it. Don't buy what you can't afford to lose."

To the ensuing wave of criticism, he responded, "To all the Shitcoiner crying now: we all know the rules. We are all trying to make money. No one is intentionally leading anyone wrong. When you buy and sell Shitcoins, you have to be prepared to lose your investment. That's a risk."

In response to the influencer's trading activities labeled criminal by the community, a memecoin was created - as usual in the times of pump.fun - Stool Prisondente. This name is a nod to Portnoy's X-handle, @stoolpresidente, and the coin entered the market under the ticker symbol $JAILSTOOL.

According to Gecko Terminal, this memecoin rose to a market capitalization of more than $267 million after Portnoy vigorously promoted it and it was even listed on the crypto exchange Kraken. However, its value has since dropped to around $80 million.

Back in 2020, Portnoy said during a livestream in which he traded memecoins, "What I love about pump-and-dumps in cryptocurrencies is that they are encouraged. I don't do that in the stock market because of those little SEC types..., but in crypto you can pump and dump all day long."

Despite legitimate criticism, Portnoy touches a nerve. After all, countless influencers promote tokens to their followers and then sell them - while praising the coin's long-term potential on social media. Thus, a certain hypocrisy cannot be denied.