Dave Portnoy: “I Can’t Take Bitcoin”

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  • Dave Portnoy, who made headlines by buying and selling his bitcoin within a week last year, has admitted he “fucked up”
  • Portnoy said that he “paper-handed” his $250,000 trade, meaning he sold at the first sign of a loss
  • The Barstool Sports founder’s investment would be worth almost $1 million today

Dave Portnoy, the owner of Barstool Sports who briefly entered the crypto market last year, has admitted that he “can’t take Bitcoin” and that he “paper-handed” his $200,000 crypto investment. In a video posted over the weekend, Portnoy admitted that he couldn’t take the wild fluctuations in the bitcoin price, acknowledging that he made a mistake in selling too early after his investment dropped $12.5%, an investment that would be worth some $1 million today.

Portnoy’s Short-lived Crypto Experiment

Portnoy made headlines in August last year when he said he would buy bitcoin again if the Winklevoss twins would come to his house and show him how to do it. This they did, and Portnoy duly spent $250,000 on BTC, LINK, and OXT. All three decreased in price from the time of Portnoy’s purchase and less than a week later he sold the lot at a loss.

Portnoy’s short-lived experiment in the crypto space resulted in mockery from the crypto community who are used to holding through 40% drops let along 10% ones, crystalizing the short-term thinking of too many crypto investors who expect their tokens to moon the second they buy them.

“When You’re Wrong, You’re Wrong”

Portnoy has not ventured back into the crypto space since, even though he didn’t rule it out last year, and now he has acknowledged that he sold too early:

“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. I fucking paper-handed sold it…I can’t fucking take Bitcoin, the ups and downs, I wish I fucking had…I fucked up”

The crypto community was supportive of Portnoy’s admission, with respondents to the tweet saying that it was “not too late” and that “we got a seat waiting for you”. However, with Bitcoin showing no signs of curtailing its volatile ways, the crypto world isn’t likely to see a swift return soon.

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