'Wolf of Wall Street' inspiration Jordan Belfort reportedly charged $40,000 for a 2-day crypto workshop at his Miami estate — three years after he called Bitcoin a 'mass delusion'
- Jordan Belfort, the real-life "Wolf of Wall Street," is now marketing himself as a crypto mastermind.
- Last week, he hosted a $40,000 cryptocurrency workshop at his Miami estate, NYT reported Friday.
Jordan Belfort, the real-life inspiration behind "The Wolf of Wall Street," hosted his first cryptocurrency workshop last week. Its nine attendees paid one Bitcoin — or approximately $40,000 — to attend the "mastermind" class held at Belfort's Miami estate, The New York Times reported Friday.
In a video promoting the event, the former stock broker and convicted felon said he's been "heavily investing" in crypto and NFT's, which he called the "future of finance."
Belfort pleaded guilty in 1999 to defrauding more than 1,500 individual investors out of $200 million. After serving 22 months in prison, Belfort published his now-famous memoir and became a motivational speaker. His TikTok @wolfofwallstreet has 3.7 million followers.
The recent focus on bitcoin, however, is a stark turn from Belfort's previous views on cryptocurrency, which he expressed in a 2018 YouTube video titled "The Bitcoin Market has Finally Run Out of Greater Fools."
During the video, Belfort says the increasing value of Bitcoin is thanks to the "greater fool" theory, which states that overvalued assets can still be sold for profit if you can find a "greater fool." That is, until the market runs out of fools to trick.
"I know this better than anyone in the world," he said. "I'm not proud of that but I do. I lived this, I was the guy on the other side of it. I know what's going on."
He then goes on to call crypto a "mass delusion," "frickin' insanity," and a "sinking ship." A representative for Belfort did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Belfort's crypto workshop was marketed as an "intimate financial experience" where attendees learn about the metaverse, crypto, and decentralized finance. According to The New York Times report, nine guests were selected from 600 applications, including a crypto miner from Kazakhstan and a blockchain podcaster with a roofing company in Idaho.
Despite Belfort's historic distaste for financial regulation, he previously called for "massive regulation"
of digital currency in a 2021 interview with CoinDesk.
"The sooner that massive regulation comes into the market, the better it is for bitcoin, stablecoins, and everything else," he said.