Dave Portnoy's "hold to zero" declaration is a marker of his transition from a high-profile trader to a passive holder. The Barstool founder is known for frequently participating in and even leading Meme coin projects (such as GREED, JAILSTOOL), accompanied by controversial sell-offs, and his market moves are often seen as short-term traffic arbitrage. Recently, he has been deeply involved in celebrity token projects like LIBRA, with both losses and gains, highlighting the high-risk leverage of celebrity influence in the crypto market.

The anomaly in his current stance is that he admits to buying Bitcoin at $100k, already facing paper losses of millions, yet chooses to abandon his previous short-term style and adopt an extreme passive strategy of "going down with the ship." This is not a statement of faith in Bitcoin, but more like a public surrender to his poor market timing. From an active "harvester" of Meme coins to a passive "bag holder" of Bitcoin, Portnoy's case reflects the typical path of celebrities in crypto from traffic hunters to trend prisoners.

On July 5, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recently stated on Fox Business's "Varney & Co." that he will not sell his Bitcoin holdings even if it drops to zero. He told host Stuart Varney, "I'm going to hold it, even if it goes to zero, I won't sell," and said this time he would rather "go down with the ship" than repeat the past pattern of selling only to see it soar.

Portnoy admitted to buying Bitcoin near $100k, now facing paper losses of millions. He confessed that regarding Bitcoin, "I've never been more wrong about anything," noting that every time he sells, the price skyrockets, and every time he buys, the price drops.

Notably, Portnoy has a bad track record in the MEME coin space—in February 2025, he launched the GREED token on Pump.fun, bought 35.79% of the supply, then sold it all at once, causing the token to crash 99% while he profited approximately $258k. After being criticized, he subsequently launched GREED2 and JAILSTOOL, admitting during a livestream, "I did think about a rug pull, and I might still be thinking about it." He was also involved in the collapse of the LIBRA token backed by Argentine President Milei (buying $4.5 million, later recovering $5 million in compensation) and an earlier SafeMoon lawsuit (settled for $20k).$BTC
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