Dave Portnoy, the Barstool Sports president and Internet celebrity, has visited the Consensus 2025 blockchain and crypto event this week. He shared his take on XRP, Bitcoin, and meme coins, saying he is betting on XRP in particular.
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Portnoy gets outbid by Bitcoin “crypto bro”
Portnoy shared a case from his past when he wanted to acquire an apartment in Miami and he got outbid by a Bitcoin holder, who, as Portnoy thought, had bought BTC first when it cost about $7-$8. Portnoy did not specify whether that “crypto bro” paid for that apartment with BTC or he had sold his Bitcoin to buy that apartment.
“I’ve slaved for twenty years, and he just outbid me” with Bitcoin, Portnoy said in a jesting indignation, underscoring Bitcoin’s transformation into a big source of wealth over time and the FOMO which dominates certain coins in the cryptocurrency market from its early days periodically.
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XRP could be the next Bitcoin, Portnoy believes
“There’s a 100% FOMO on everything,” he said. FOMO stands for “fear of missing out” and it happens particularly frequently on financial markets as new assets emerge. In particular, he named meme coins as a source of FOMO. He doubts that this fear of missing out touches Bitcoin now, since it is very well-established already.
However, he stressed that there is FOMO now about XRP, revealing that he is an XRP holder: “That’s why I’m in XRP, that it’s FOMO.”
Portnoy admitted that this is not the case when he has any great belief in XRP’s future, but since it now costs about $2.3, like Bitcoin when it first started, the Barstool Sports president says that perhaps XRP could be the next Bitcoin.
Portnoy first bought Bitcoin on Winklevoss’s recommendation back in 2020, as well as some altcoins, including LINK. However, he then sold all of them quickly after the prices plunged. By 2024, his attitude reversed and he announced a plan to buy a $10 million worth of Bitcoin with the profit from his Barstool shares should BTC plunge to the $40,000 zone.
Earlier this year, Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of slightly over $109,000 and then faced a correction which took in down below the $90,000 level. Roughly ten days ago, BTC skyrocketed above $100,000 for the first time since January.
