Jordan Belfort drank Red Bull and shared a cautionary tale while lounging by the pool on a sunny April morning. He had been the victim of securities fraud and money laundered, not the usual one about his imprisonment. He told a group of businessmen at his palatial home that a hacker had stolen $300,000 of his digital token.
He told a venture capitalist friend about the time he sank his yacht during a drug-filled romp in the 90s, but he got the bad news at dinner. After breaking into Mr. Belfort's account, the hacker transferred large quantities of Ohm to a separate wallet.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a tell-all memoir about Mr. Belfort's debauched 1990s career in high finance, which was adapted into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Mr. Belfort is a consultant and sales coach who charges tens of thousands of dollars for private sessions.
He hosted nine people for a weekend-long workshop at his house in Miami Beach, where they could hang out with the Wolf.
A long line of celebrities have tried to make money from the boom in cryptocurrencies. Mr. Belfort said he wouldn't participate in the worst of the shilling. Even though he could easily make $10 million, he has declined offers to launch a line of Wolf-themed NFTs.
He is a recent convert to the faith. He shot a video about the dangers of the digital currency, which he said was about insanity and mass delusion.
Mr. Belfort is an investor in a number of start-ups, including a new NFT platform and an animal-themed project that he said is trying to take the dog-and-pet industry and put it onto the blockchain.
Financial fraud is a major problem in the digital-asset industry and Mr. Belfort is qualified to discuss it. The firm he founded, Stratton Oakmont, was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He and his business partners used a lot of cocaine and quaaludes. Mr. Belfort was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
It can feel weird to hear an older, more grizzled Mr. Belfort proclaim that he is looking forward to regulation in the industry.
The workshop at his house was free, but guests had to pay a fee to sit in it.
The workshop started at 9 a.m. The guests were chosen from a pool of more than 600 applicants, and they ate at Mr. Belfort's backyard. A man who runs a roofing company in Idaho is relaxing in the sun with a miner. A Florida businessman explained his plan to use NFTs in a start-up that he was pitching as a dating app for music. Some of the guests paid for the workshop because they are die-hard fans of the Wolf, while others simply wanted to network with fellow entrepreneurs.
The drinks flowed, but Mr. Belfort was nowhere to be found. A few minutes went by. One guest wondered if the Wolf was still sleeping.
Mr. Belfort emerged from the house wearing jeans and sunglasses. Mr. Belfort has short dark hair and is more wrinkled than he was in the 90s, but his face is still set in a boyish grin. He stopped on the staircase to look at the scene: nine men dressed in various shades of business casual.
Someone gave Mr. Belfort a drink. He said he was going to need the sugar. The group was ushered into the dining room with a notebook and a copy of a sales manual written by Mr. Belfort.
Mr. Belfort has spent the past two decades trying to rebuild his reputation, but there were signs of the old Wolf everywhere. Behind his spot at the head of the table, a fully stocked liquor shelf took up most of the wall. He hasn't gotten high in 25 years, but he sometimes drinks. There was a poster next to the shelf that was designed to look like an entry on the periodic table.
After a round of introductions, Mr. Belfort began a lecture on cryptocurrencies, from the differences between the two to the rise of self-organization. Some of the systems he shared his wisdom on are really smart and some of them are stupid.
He said that he had to educate him on that.
It was striking how much time everyone spent reliving their biggest losses. Half of the group said they had been hacked. A guest said he lost money on the Mt. exchange. Gox collapsed. Two other people said they burned a lot of token in risky trades.
There is a virtual currency called th digital currency called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is called th digital currency is There is a digital token that can be sent anywhere in the world. This form of digital currency is stored and moved on a payment network.
There is a system for storing data called the Blockchain. A database maintained communally and that reliably stores digital information can be found on a blockchain. Non-currency-based companies and governments are trying to use the same technology that was used to store all of the Bitcoins.
It is possible to pay with corp coin. The first major company to list its shares on a U.S. stock exchange is Coinbase, a platform that allows people and companies to buy and sell various digital currencies.
Web3. The idea of a new kind of internet service that is built using a new kind of token is what some technologists call it.
They are called DAOs. A DAO is an organizational structure that is built with the use of the internet's technology. Investing in start-ups, managing a stable coin or buying NFTs are examples of the common purpose of a DAO.
Chase Hero, a guest speaker recruited by Mr. Belfort for the weekend, lifted the energy in the room. Mr. Hero said that stable coins are the biggest innovation since sliced bread.
Mr. Hero said of his favorite stable coin project, that it was almost a Ponzi scheme.
Svein-Erik Nilsen, one of Mr. Belfort's guests, started talking about his own business ambitions. Did Mr. Hero have any tips? Aggressive marketing is the key to starting a new venture. Mr. Hero said that there was eight million. You have to do dumb marketing to get it out there.
Carbone is a high-end Italian restaurant in Miami Beach where Mr. Belfort eats as often as twice a week. Some of the guests shared stories of their own bad behavior, and Mr. Belfort was not the only wolf in the room. Two guests discussed the mechanics of pursuing younger women. Someone speculated about how a strip club owner could incorporate NFTs.
The club in Japan where women are said to cavort with octopuses was the topic of the conversation. Mr. Belfort wanted to know if the women in Japan were beautiful. He showed the group the video he took at the S-and-M themed bar.
The chief executive of Asic Jungle leaned across the table to describe his conversion to the way of the Wolf. He was going to medical school when he found the book at the library.
Mr. Bespaloff said that he stole the book from the library.
Mr. Belfort said that he was a good influence. He regretted his behavior in those days, but he could have gotten even richer if he hadn't broken the law.
Mr. Bespaloff replied, "You're in crypto now."
Mr. Belfort said you live and learn.
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