Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said this week he will hold his bitcoin all the way to zero if the market keeps falling, telling Fox Business that selling is no longer an option after he bought near $100,000. Bitcoin traded near $62,600 on Sunday, roughly half its October 2025 peak above $126,000, and Portnoy says the position has cost him millions. Capitulation is the stage of a market downturn when investors stop fighting their losses, either selling everything or abandoning any attempt to time a recovery. Portnoy’s version is the second kind, and it lands just as on-chain data shows more bitcoin held at a loss than in profit for the first time this cycle. That makes one loud retail investor’s refusal to sell a useful snapshot of where market psychology sits.
Key takeaways
- Dave Portnoy told Fox Business’ Varney & Co. he will hold his bitcoin “down to zero” after buying near $100,000, saying “I’d rather go down with the ship this time.”
- Bitcoin traded near $62,600 on July 5, about 50% below its October 2025 peak above $126,000.
- Roughly 10.83 million BTC is now held at a loss versus 9.22 million in profit, the first time losing supply has outweighed profitable supply this cycle, per CoinDesk.
- Large holders bought about 270,000 BTC worth $16.7 billion in two weeks while US spot bitcoin ETFs logged a record eighth straight negative week.
Published: July 5, 2026, 16:35 UTC
Every time I sell it, it goes nuclear
“I’m holding. I’ll hold this thing down to zero,” Portnoy said on Varney & Co., in comments reported Sunday by CoinDesk. “I know if I sell it, it’s going to go nuclear again. I’d rather go down with the ship this time.”
The Barstool founder was blunt about his track record. “Yeah, I got regrets. I bought the thing at $100,000. There’s nothing I’ve been wrong about more than Bitcoin. Every time I sell it, it goes nuclear. Every time I buy it, it tanks,” he said. His exact holdings are not public, though he says the losses run into the millions.
Portnoy has cycled in and out of crypto since 2021, and his entries have often coincided with market tops. At Consensus 2025 he called memecoins gambling that was not built to last. The new stance is different: no more timing, just holding whatever comes.
Most bitcoin is now held at a loss
Portnoy has plenty of company underwater. About 10.83 million BTC sits below its purchase price against 9.22 million still in profit, the first time loss-making supply has overtaken profitable supply since the cycle began, according to CoinDesk reporting on July 3.
The selling pressure has come mostly from institutions. US spot bitcoin ETFs just posted a record eighth consecutive week of net outflows, per The Block, and June was their worst month ever with about $4.06 billion pulled, a stretch we covered when June outflows set the record. A $222 million inflow on Thursday snapped a 10-day daily outflow streak but did not rescue the week.
Whales are taking the other side. Large holders accumulated roughly 270,000 BTC, about $16.7 billion, in the two weeks through July 3, a divergence CoinDesk notes has shown up near past cycle bottoms.
What a loud retail holder signals at $63,000
Bitcoin reclaimed $63,000 on July 4, its highest level in about a month, during thin holiday trading that followed soft US jobs data and easing rate fears. The token had briefly slipped below $60,000 in late June before recovering the level on July 2.
The market now splits three ways: institutions exiting through ETFs, whales absorbing the supply, and retail holders like Portnoy sitting on losses and refusing to sell. Sentiment researchers treat that last group as a contrarian input. When the loudest buyers of the top stop trying to trade their way out, much of the discretionary selling that fuels further declines has already happened.
None of that guarantees a bottom. ETF redemptions could resume this week, and holiday-weekend liquidity tends to exaggerate price moves in both directions. The signal worth watching is whether Thursday’s inflow becomes a trend or stays a blip.
Frequently asked questions
How much bitcoin does Dave Portnoy own?
His exact holdings are not publicly known. Portnoy said he bought near $100,000 per coin and is sitting on millions of dollars in paper losses. At bitcoin’s current price near $62,600, that entry implies a decline of roughly 37% on his position.
Why do celebrity investors like Portnoy matter to the bitcoin market?
They function as a rough gauge of retail sentiment. Portnoy’s swings between buying, selling, and swearing off bitcoin have tracked broader retail behavior since 2021, so his shift to holding through losses suggests retail capitulation to a long-term stance rather than panic selling.
Is bitcoin near a market bottom?
No one can say with certainty. Analysts point to whale accumulation during record ETF outflows and to loss-heavy supply as conditions that appeared near past cycle lows, but the same data shows institutional demand remains weak, so a durable recovery is not confirmed.
