WallStreetBets Founder May Create Controversial ETP

10/18/2021

Markets

0 min read



	Image Credit: Ivan Radic (Flickr)

Founder of WallStreetBets has a New Idea for CopyCat Investors

Copycat investors or coattail investors have sought to invest like Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Carl Icahn, and even Cathie Wood. It’s a legitimate method of picking stocks and building a portfolio. Just copy what someone successful is investing in. But what about others in the public arena? WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski may create an ETP based on one of the most successful investors in recent years.

Jaime Rogozinski founded WallStreetBets, and authored the popular book, WallStreetBets, How Boomers Made the Worlds’s Biggest Casino
for Millennials. Both were an attempt to expose “shocking trends” in the current financial system. In some ways, Rogozinski’s creations have backfired on his original intent as they have been adopted by some of the very folks he was trying to expose. He’s no longer active in the immensely popular subreddit group he started and has intentionally distanced himself from it. Still, there is no question about the huge impact his creation has on investors in this new age of app and meme investing. As a successful businessman and investor, Rogozinskie has a knack for spotting trends early and sniffing out the next big thing. At the same time, Rogozinski has expressed chagrin over being right on movements he has been critical of. With this in mind, he may launch a controversial investment product based on the investments of one of today’s most insightful speculators, Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

The New Idea

Rogozinski believes there is real potential for an investment product that tracks the bets of Paul F. Pelosi. In an interview, he suggested a Pelosi-themed exchange-traded portfolio (ETP) could be incarnated on a platform that is part of his latest push to empower retail investors. “I got this idea, somewhat of a joke, but I can’t shake it so I’m probably going to start pushing for it, which is this ‘Nancy ETP,'” Rogozinski told the online magazine Market
Insider.

The portfolio would be on the new WallStreetBets DApp. This DApp is a blockchain-based shop for stocks and other assets, the products and offerings extend beyond one particularly curious ETP. The new DApp is an expression of what Rogozinski sees as the next big thing in the financial world, he’s a strategic partner in its creation. “This is very much a way for me to say crypto and Wall Street are definitely going to merge and they’re starting to spill into each other already,” he was recently quoted as saying. “For far too long, I made the mistake of assuming blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies were one in the same thing – and they’re not,” Rogozinski said. “This whole DeFi (decentralized finance) infrastructure that’s able to create a parallel ecosystem in finances is astoundingly powerful, more than I could have imagined.”

Nancy ETP

Rogozinski’s idea for an automated Nancy Pelosi ETP would highlight a key feature on the WSB DApp. The platform allows members of the community to suggest the creation and the makeup of ETPs. The WSB DApp platform has a native token, the $WSB governance token that people can buy and then use to vote on the type of assets and weightings that should go into one of the ETPs. So if you are a member, and you believe a particular ETP should be made up of stocks that say carry an outperform rating by Noble Capital Markets equity analysts, token holders can signal transactions on an idea like this during voting cycles within the DApp

A Paul Pelosi-centered ETP would apply the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach while drawing attention to the newest business interest of Rogozinski, attention fueled by outrage and debate over current headlines. In the case of Paul Pelosi, one trade, in particular made headlines. It involved shares of Google parent Alphabet that made $5.3 million for him prior to a House Judiciary Committee vote on tech antitrust regulation. Spokespersons for Speaker Pelosi told media outlets she owns no stock herself and had no knowledge of her husband’s equity purchases. Rogozinski said, “people are able to make money,” with a product like the “Nancy ETP”, “nothing’s sure but past performance is definitely impressive,” he said speaking about Paul Pelosi’s stock picks.

Take-Away

The Pelosi theme has a strong mix of ingredients to prompt discussions on WallStreetBets and other forums that should serve to promote the WallStreetBets DApp. As we have all seen with other social media-based trafficking in ideas, a large enough herd does move markets. Whether the DApp and the ideas and information expressed on it is impactful remains to be seen.

The WallStreetBets DApp is an ongoing entity that states its intention as trying to
undermine any manipulation or, at a minimum place self-directed investors on the same side as any perceived market manipulation. It’s probably worth paying attention to. As for those mimicking Warren Buffett who is 91, or Paul Pelosi who is 82, websites like Channelchek and the WallStreetBets DApp may help these investors progression into a plan B in case these two stop investing at some point.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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