Bitcoin
Crypto Exchange Kraken Paid for Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy Bitcoin (BTC) Sponsorship Deal
Dave Portnoy is not buying bitcoin (BTC) at these prices. Accept as payment? That’s another story.
The Barstool Sports boss took “a large portion” of his sponsorship deal with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in BTC, Portnoy told CoinDesk. Kraken paid him directly in the cryptocurrency along with dollars, the two said. Neither party would discuss how much money changed hands.
Wearing his day-trader hat, Portnoy has tried to time trades in the bitcoin market since mid-2020, often getting burned by buying high and selling low. Its current price above $60,000 is too high for him. “I would just hate myself. If I bought it now — a ton of it — and it went down, I would have a problem with my brain.”
Still, Portnoy said he’s “always” willing to accept bitcoin as payment: “I’m a big believer in it.” He did so in February when Kraken began sponsoring his “Davey Day Trader Global” (DDTG) livestream.
Despite its original billing as peer-to-peer electronic cash, bitcoin is rarely treated as a form of money. The occasional celebrity athlete signs a “paid in bitcoin” endorsement. These usually involve turning checks into crypto cash, rather than being paid in bitcoin, as Kraken did for Portnoy.
Instead, bitcoin attracts ordinary investors who, like Portnoy, think it’s “a good investment.”
The pizza critic is betting he will “knock it out of the park” if pro-bitcoin Republican Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, as Portnoy believes he will. But Portnoy warns: “I’m always wrong.”
CORRECTION (July 18, 2024, 16:23 UTC): Corrects misspelling of Dave Portnoy’s last name in second paragraph.