Weekend Wrap: Pauly0x on Puerto Rican wanted list, Barstool’s Portnoy pumps memecoin to $240M and more

Puerto Rico puts crypto influencer on wanted list: Report

Crypto influencer Jeremy Cahen has reportedly been listed on Puerto Rico’s most wanted list for allegedly assaulting and knocking a man out.

Local police included Cahen — widely known as “Pauly0x” on X before his account was suspended — in the 10 most wanted in the San Juan area of the US territory, local news outlets Metro Puerto Rico and El Nuevo Día reported on Feb. 5.

Cahen is known for creating a fork of Pepecoin PEPEUSD memecoin called PepeFork (PORK), which reached a $250 million market cap at its peak. 

Puerto Rico’s arrests division director Raul Negron told local news show Notiséis WIPR’s Miguel Ramon on Jan. 24 that police are alleging Cahen struck a man to the face and body countless times.

“[He] grabbed a man by the neck, began hitting in different parts of face and body, threw him to the ground and continued kicking him by hitting him countless times until the person became unconscious and required medical attention,” Negron said.

Puerto Rico reportedly set Cahen’s bail at $75,000 as Negron pleaded for the community to contact the US territory’s police unit if they obtain information on his whereabouts.

It isn’t clear when the alleged incident occurred.

Several reports suggest Cahen’s X account was suspended on or around July 17, 2024.

Prior to the suspension, Cahen promoted several memecoins and often engaged in feuds with other members of the crypto community.

Barstool founder shills memecoin to $240M, Kraken listing

Dave Portnoy, founder of the sports and pop culture platform Barstool Sports, has promoted a memecoin calling for him to be imprisoned, which later achieved a market cap of over $240 million and a listing on the crypto exchange Kraken.

Portnoy had received criticism for sharing two memecoins on X, where he shared screenshots of him reaping over $314,000 worth of profits, which led someone to create the memecoin, Stool Prisondente (JAILSTOOL), depicting Portnoy behind prison bars.

“I think whoever made this coin is funny and I want to collect it as a memory of you bitches crying like little babies,” Portnoy wrote in a Feb. 8 X post regarding the token, adding he “ may dump it eventually.”

Portnoy’s Feb. 9 X post raked up 3.1 million views as JAILSTOOL soared close to a $240 million market cap on the same day, CoinMarketCap data shows. It’s since fallen to a value of around $98 million.

However, it captured enough market attention for Kraken to list the memecoin for trading.

Portnoy said he wouldn’t dump the JAILSTOOL tokens in the short term and later claimed that he could have made $6 million in profits if he had sold.

Portnoy owns 57.16 million JAILSTOOL, currently worth $6.28 million.

The Barstool founder has long shown interest in the crypto industry and recently interviewed Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor.

American rapper DaBaby launches memecoin

American rapper DaBaby, real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, has seemingly launched a memecoin that nearly immediately soared to $5.6 million in value before it quickly crashed.

“It’s the first coin I ever did with a legit team,” Kirk said in a Feb. 9 video posted to X. He also shared a contract address for the token, DaBaby (BABY), which DEXScreener data shows was launched 40 minutes earlier via the Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun at 11:27 pm UTC on Feb. 9.

The BABY memecoin tanked to a $1 million market cap about an hour and a half after the X post but has since bounced back to $2.8 million.

DaBaby adds to a growing list of celebrities and musicians that promoted their own memecoins, including Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea, Haliey Welch, Lil Pump and Waka Flocka Flame.

Brazilian stock exchange B3 to launch BTC options, ETH, SOL futures: Report

Brazilian stock exchange B3 will soon expand its crypto offerings with Bitcoin (BTC) options as well as Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) futures, local media outlet Valor Investe reported on Feb. 7.

B3’s chief financial officer, André Milanez, said the stock exchange would launch the crypto derivatives products before the end of 2025.

B3 was one of the first stock exchanges in the world to launch crypto index funds. It launched Bitcoin futures on April 17 for investors to access Bitcoin’s price fluctuations in a “leveraged, safe and regulated way.”

B3 has also offered spot Ether and Solana exchange-traded funds since last August. At the time, B3 had 16 crypto-related ETFs listed on its exchange.

B3, Brazil’s largest stock exchange, even conducted research into the memecoin sector in a Feb. 6 report, highlighting their market relevance while concluding they “do not usually have a value proposition.”

Other news

The University of Austin will launch a first-of-its-kind Bitcoin investment fund worth over $5 million from the institution’s $200 million endowment fund. Chun Lai, the foundation’s chief investment officer, said they “don’t want to be left behind” as the industry “dramatically” materializes in the coming years.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong voiced support for the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, which claims to have already saved taxpayers around $36.7 billion. “Imagine if every government expenditure was done transparently onchain. Would make it much easier to audit,” he said.