Portnoy Pledges To "Go Down With The Ship" As Bitcoin Dips 50% From $126K High 🚢

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy told Fox Business host Stuart Varney this week that he is down millions of dollars on Bitcoin ($BTC), with the asset falling more than 50% from its October all-time high of $126,080 to a recent price of $62,162. "Yeah, I've got regrets," Portnoy said on the program. "I bought the thing at $100,000, so I mean, right now, I don't know what's going on." He also posted on X on June 4, 2026: "Bitcoin and crypto are making me sad."

Portnoy, who rebranded himself as "Davey Day Trader" during the COVID-19 pandemic, has a long public history with crypto trading. In August 2020, he bought $1 million worth of Bitcoin at $11,500 and sold two weeks later at a $25,000 loss, later telling followers in a Twitter video that he "fucked up Bitcoin" because he "paperhanded." He revisited the pattern in his conversation with Varney: "There's nothing I've been wrong about more than Bitcoin. Every time I sell it, it goes nuclear. Every time I buy it, it tanks."

Despite the recent downturn, Portnoy said he is holding this time rather than selling. "I'm just holding. I'll just hold this thing down to $0," he said, adding: "I know if I sell it, it's going to go nuclear again. I'd rather go down with the ship this time."

His crypto activity has extended beyond Bitcoin. Portnoy previously championed the controversial meme coin SafeMoon ($SFM) and has identified as a member of the "Link Marines" community supporting Chainlink's native token, $LINK. More recently, he traded Solana-based meme coins and drew criticism for allegedly "pumping and dumping" tokens after doxxing his wallet. He later embraced JAILSTOOL, a meme coin depicting his face behind bars, telling followers: "Hey crypto bros, I think whoever made this coin is funny and I want to collect it as a memory of you bitches crying like little babies." The token reached a market cap above $210 million and earned a listing on centralized exchange Kraken, though as of Friday it is down more than 99.5%, trading just above a $1 million market cap.

Separately, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs returned to net inflows on Thursday, snapping a 10-day losing streak after a weak jobs report and softer signals from the Federal Reserve eased pressure on risk assets.