The Wolf of Wall Street Is Changing His Tune on Crypto

One of America’s most beloved fraudsters is bounding into the cryptocurrency world. Jordan Belfort, higher identified by his moniker “The Wolf of Wall Street,” sees cryptocurrencies as “digital gold” and desires in. That’s nice, as a result of if there are two issues the decentralized digital finance business actually wants, they’re thicker strains of cocaine and extra sexism.

Though he could boast Wall Street bona fides (or persona non grata standing, relying on whom you’re asking), Belfort is new to cryptocurrency and newly bullish on it. He’s evangelizing non-fungible tokens now, however he decried them not way back. He revealed a few of his considering round tokens in a New York Times feature revealed Friday, the place a journalist joined the Wolf (who spent 22 months in federal prison for 10 counts of securities fraud and cash laundering) in his Miami Beach home. He was joined alongside an assortment of ill-dressed blockchain evangelists who engaged in a weekend-long workshop fueled by what seems to be Red Bull, Pineapple Juice, Perrier, and milky espresso. Booze was plentiful, although Belfort was cautious to tell the Times he hadn’t gotten excessive in 25 years. On his website, Belfort described the workshop as “an intimate financial experience jam-packed with tailored advice, strategy, networking, industry experts and more.” Belfort claims he’s had “literally thousands of requests” to host a cryptocurrency/NFT masterclass.

“I believe, personally, this [cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance] is the future of finance and you need to know this stuff,” Belfort mentioned. “I’m gonna, of course, be accepting payment in crypto. I’ll take either Bitcoin or Ethereum.”

Guests, who had been reportedly chosen from a pool of 600 candidates, paid round $40,000 for a seat on the weekend workshop, which was marketed as together with jet ski driving, yachting, and dinner at Belfort’s home. Presumably, some business-adjacent issues had been mentioned too. Attendees included a crypto-miner from Kazakhstan and an Idaho roofing firm proprietor, amongst others. Around half of the attendees mentioned they’d been on the receiving finish of a hacking try, in keeping with The Times, as has Belfort himself.

Belfort, the born once more Bitcoiner

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Belfort claims he’s been closely investing in crypto and NFTs. At least on the NFT aspect, he’s placing a few of his cash the place his mouth is. Late final yr, the millionaire reportedly spent $423,000 on a Cryptopunk NFT and has since assigned it as his Twitter profile picture. The convicted fraudster additionally advised the Times he’s an investor in a brand new NFT platform, fittingly known as nft.com. That’s a far cry from the place Belfort was three years in the past when he uploaded a YouTube video from the passenger seat of a automotive warning of mass delusion round Bitcoin.

“There’s so many better ways to make money than to sit there in front of your computer and try to trade Bitcoin. You’re on a sinking ship,” Belfort mentioned. “Don’t get sucked into this frickin insanity, because that’s what it is.” Taking an entire 180-degree flip, Belfort final month praised Bitcoin in an interview with Fortune, claiming he believed the cryptocurrency would hit the $100,000 mark. Belfort has additionally supported requires increased regulation of bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies.

Befort’s nonetheless not offered on all facets of crypto, at the least for now. In December, the Wolf railed in opposition to Dogecoin and different so-called meme cash as “jokes with no real value” in keeping with an interview in The Sun. Belfort, who reportedly could have defrauded traders out of someplace round $200 million {dollars} in his heyday, criticized some cryptocurrencies as “shit coins which serve no purpose and are only there to separate people from their money.” Days after that interview Belford revealed he can be a key speaker at a blockchain convention in Abu Dhabi.

Belfort is way from alone amongst crypto shills who’re already wealthy and well-known. Kim Kardashian, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mike Tyson have all publicly expressed help for cryptocurrencies in latest yr with various ranges of alleged graft and cringe.