American Businessman Dave Portnoy Regrets Selling XRP: ‘I Would’ve Made Millions’

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is expressing regret after selling most of his XRP holdings just weeks before the cryptocurrency hit new year-to-date highs on Thursday.

In a video posted to X, Portnoy said, “I would’ve made millions, and I want to cry. I don’t own it anymore, even though I was the leader of the XRP army.”

XRP recently broke through its yearly high of $3.29 and surged to $3.60, marking a 19.61% gain in the past 24 hours, according to data from Nansen.

Portnoy Sold XRP at $2.40 After Warning About Circle Competition

Portnoy revealed he sold XRP when the price reached $2.40, influenced by someone who warned him about competition from stablecoin issuer Circle.

Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP, applied for a national bank charter in the US on July 2, just two days after Circle filed for the same.

At the Consensus 2025 conference, Portnoy admitted he lacked a strong conviction in XRP, purchasing it out of fear of missing out (FOMO), hoping it might become the next Bitcoin.

I sold my $xrp 2 weeks ago. No further comments at this time. pic.twitter.com/Vae18UPsZo

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) July 18, 2025

The XRP rally saw roughly $68.16 million in short positions liquidated in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGlass.

The surge is part of a broader crypto market upswing that started on July 9, following Bitcoin’s climb past $112,000, its highest since May.

Amid strong gains in major cryptocurrencies, the total crypto market cap is rapidly approaching the $4 trillion mark.

The rally coincided with the recent legislative momentum in the US, which has boosted investor confidence, sparking fresh enthusiasm for digital assets across the board.

On Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed three cryptocurrency-related bills, sending one directly to President Donald Trump and the other two to the Senate.

These moves are part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to establish the US as the “crypto capital of the world” during what the president calls “crypto week.”

XRP Perpetual Futures Open Interest Hits Record $8.8B

XRP saw a spike in notional open interest for its perpetual futures contracts on Wednesday.

Notional open interest, the total value of leveraged positions held by traders, climbed to an all-time high of $8.8 billion on Wednesday, according to CoinGlass.

The figure corresponds to nearly 2.9 billion XRP in open contracts.

The previous record for XRP notional open interest stood at $8.3 billion, which was hit in late January before the start of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term.

Across most venues, XRP’s funding rate was positive and climbing, signaling a market where longs are willing to pay shorts to maintain positions, a classic indicator of bullish sentiment.

As reported, the number of wallets holding at least 1 million XRP tokens has also surged to an all-time high.

Data shows that wallets holding 1 million or more XRP collectively control over 47.32 billion tokens.