WallStreetBets Founder Cries Foul After Reddit Cracks Down on Miami Convention

A Miami-based conference dedicated to the most reckless traders in finance and crypto underwent a last-minute name change—the latest twist in a yearslong rift between WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski and Reddit.

The three-day event, which was initially promoted as “WallStreetBets Live,” is now being referred to as “[REDACTED] Live.” In a press release, the event’s organizers said the shift was made in light of “legal threats” from the social media platform.

A Reddit spokesperson told Decrypt that it “occasionally trademarks the names of certain communities to protect the creativity and interests of the users,” describing the practice as a way to prevent any single person from exploiting the identity of a broader group.

Tickets for the event cost as much as $10,000. Jordan Belfort, the former stock broker known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” and “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli are among scheduled speakers. Both were convicted of securities fraud.

The conference is being sponsored by several high-profile crypto firms, including crypto exchange Kraken, prominent crypto-native IP Pudgy Penguins, and NFT marketplace OpenSea, according to [REDACTED] Live’s website. Along those lines, the event bills itself as a place “where degens meet Davos.”

The Reddit forum that Rogozinski created in 2012 was foundational to the emergence of meme stocks, with GameStop’s pandemic-era short squeeze serving as its most explosive and culturally defining moment. Efforts among retail investors to bet big against Wall Street short sellers became tinged with populism and bravado associated with “diamond hands.”

In the press release, Rogozinski evoked those same themes, arguing that Reddit “risks stirring a hornet’s nest with a long memory and a track record of collective action” by reaching “into real-world gatherings to police culture it did not create.”

Rogozinski sued Reddit in 2023, claiming he owned the trademark to WallStreetBets and that his ouster as a moderator amounted to a breach of contract. The Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s ruling in November, which sided with Reddit, per Bloomberg Law.

Reddit’s justification for ousting Rogozinski as a community moderator centered on claims that the founder violated company policy by “attempting to monetize a community,” according to Rogozinski’s filed complaint.

When the lawsuit was first brought, a Reddit spokesperson described Rogozinski’s claims to Decrypt as “frivolous,” noting that his removal preceded GameStop’s cult-like following.

The organizers of [REDACTED Live] received a cease and desist letter on Saturday night via email, according to Moe Levin, who has produced other Miami-based crypto events, such as WAGMI. He told Decrypt that materials for the event had already been printed.

“There’s always last minute curveballs,” he said. “We had to change everything to comply.”