DeutschThe crypto market is exploding – and a prominent investor is left empty-handed. Dave Portnoy, founder of the US sports portal Barstool Sports and known for his media-effective crypto excursions, has publicly admitted to missing one of the biggest opportunities of his career: the XRP boom.
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In an emotional post on the platform X, the entrepreneur complained that he had sold his XRP holdings before the altcoin began its rally. “I could have made millions. I want to cry. And that’s despite the fact that I was considered a leader of the XRP community – now I don’t have a single token left”, says Portnoy.
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What looks like a sentimental outburst has a solid financial background. XRP rose by more than 19 percent within a few days, reaching a new annual high of $3.60. Portnoy, on the other hand, had already liquidated his position at $2.40 – out of concern about regulatory developments and under the impression of warnings about competition from the stablecoin issuer Circle. An expensive mistake that the otherwise self-confident investor can no longer undo.
Portnoy is not the only one who was caught on the wrong foot. The entire crypto world is currently on the upswing. After breaking through the $112,000 mark for Bitcoin, a general bull market set in on July 9. The market capitalization of the industry is now scratching the 4 trillion dollar mark. One reason for the upswing: New political signals from the USA.
The US Congress recently passed three laws that are intended to strengthen the regulatory foundation for cryptocurrencies. Two of them go to the Senate, one directly to President Donald Trump – whose administration wants to make the USA the global center for digital assets. The resulting legal clarity is providing a massive boost of confidence among institutional and private investors alike.
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XRP benefits from this in particular. According to data from CoinGlass, the volume of open positions in XRP futures has risen to a historic high of 8.8 billion US dollars – around 2.9 billion XRP are tied up in it. The previous record of 8.3 billion dollars was set in January, shortly before Trump took office.
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The number of so-called “XRP whales” is also increasing. Wallets with more than one million XRP tokens now total around 47.32 billion tokens. This indicates long-term confidence and strategic accumulation – despite or precisely because of the volatile price developments.
While some are now quietly cashing in, Portnoy is left with nothing but a digital shrug. At the Consensus 2025 conference, he admitted that he had never really understood XRP and had only invested out of fear of missing out. It is precisely this behavior that repeatedly misleads even experienced investors – especially in the unpredictable crypto cosmos.
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For XRP, on the other hand, the future looks bright. The prospect of regulatory certainty, rising user numbers and a flourishing derivatives market make the currency one of the most exciting assets of the current crypto rally. Anyone who gets out too early not only misses out on returns – but possibly also on history. (mck)
