The calls that made Teeka Tiwari’s name are the 2016 crypto calls. He recommended Bitcoin to his Palm Beach Letter and Palm Beach Confidential subscribers in April 2016, when it was trading around $400. He recommended Ethereum in the same window, when it was trading under $10. He recommended Antshares (later NEO) in 2016 at fractions of a dollar. The crypto market then did what crypto markets do: it went vertical, it crashed, it went vertical again, and it crashed again. Here is the dated record of what was predicted, what happened, and where the calls stand ten years later. No victory laps, no ridicule. The numbers, dated and sourced, then stop.
The Prediction
Teeka Tiwari’s own framing, published in an August 2017 Palm Beach Confidential monthly issue, fixes the Ethereum call precisely:
“In 2016, I told you the Ethereum network would become the de facto operating system of the blockchain. Today, more than 50% of all new blockchain projects are launched and built upon the Ethereum network. To date, we’ve made 2,897% in profits by following Vitalik and owning the ether token. When I first recommended ether, it was trading under $10. I predicted the tokens would be valued at $360 per token.”
The Legacy Research editorial archive corroborates the Bitcoin recommendation date:
“In April 2016, he recommended ETH to our Palm Beach Letter and Palm Beach Confidential readers. Since then, ETH is up 46,911%.”
Palm Beach Confidential Review, a third-party tracking site, confirms the Bitcoin entry:
“Teeka was right on bitcoin when he first recommended it to his readers at about $400 a coin in April 2016.”
The thesis Tiwari pitched was mass adoption. He told subscribers that cryptocurrencies were going from a small market to a massive market, that the day-to-day price noise did not matter, and that the big driving story was institutional and retail adoption. The product the thesis was built to sell was Palm Beach Confidential, his crypto-focused newsletter at Palm Beach Research Group (a MarketWise subsidiary under the Legacy Research Group division).
The “Genesis” label came later. In 2020, Tiwari published a presentation called “The Investment of the Decade” pitching blockchain as “Genesis Technology” — a technology he said would grow 32 times bigger than 5G. Stock Gumshoe covered the presentation, noting that the three “must-own stocks” teased inside were blockchain infrastructure plays. But the genesis of the crypto track record was the 2016 calls, and that is what this retrospective scores.
What Happened
The market data tells a story in three acts.
The 2017 blow-off top. Bitcoin, recommended at roughly $400 in April 2016, reached an all-time closing high of $19,497.40 on December 16, 2017 — a gain of roughly 4,774% from the recommendation price (StatMuse, CoinDesk). The intraday peak was $19,783.06 on December 17, 2017 (Fortune, CoinDesk). Ethereum, recommended under $10 in 2016, peaked at $896.01 during 2017, reaching a high near $1,400 in January 2018 (CoinLore, altcoinsbox). NEO (formerly Antshares), recommended at fractions of a dollar in 2016, hit an all-time high of $196.85 on January 15, 2018 — up tens of thousands of percent from the recommendation price (CoinLore, coincheckup).
The 2018 crypto winter. The crash was brutal. Bitcoin fell from its December 2017 peak to a closing low of $3,236.76 on December 15, 2018, down 73.5% for the year and roughly 84% from its all-time high (StatMuse, Wikipedia). The 2018 cryptocurrency crash was worse than the dot-com bubble’s 78% collapse (Wikipedia). Ethereum collapsed from its January 2018 high near $1,400 down to roughly $84 by December 2018, an 80%-plus drawdown (CoinLore). NEO fell from $196.85 to single digits.
The recovery and new highs. Bitcoin recovered through 2019-2020, broke $20,000 in December 2020, reached an all-time high of $68,789 in November 2021, crashed to $15,742 in November 2022, then rallied to a new all-time high of $126,198.07 on October 6, 2025 (StatMuse, Investopedia, Reuters). Ethereum reached its all-time high of $4,891.70 on November 16, 2021, crashed below $1,000 in 2022, then recovered (altcoinsbox). As of July 20, 2026, Bitcoin was trading at $64,679.77 (ycharts) and Ethereum at approximately $1,902 (CoinGecko, Yahoo Finance).
The Math
Every number carries a date and a source. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The returns cited here are calculated on public market data from publicly stated entry points, and the exact figures depend on the entry and exit points used.
| Date | Event / Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2016 | Tiwari recommends Bitcoin to Palm Beach subscribers | ~$400-$450 | Palm Beach Confidential Review; StatMuse (Apr 30, 2016 close: $448.32) |
| 2016 | Tiwari recommends Ethereum to Palm Beach subscribers | Under $10 | Palm Beach Confidential Aug 2017 monthly issue; Legacy Research |
| 2016 | Tiwari recommends Antshares (NEO) to Palm Beach subscribers | Under $0.20 (2016 avg: $0.19) | CoinLore; CoinGecko |
| Dec 16, 2017 | Bitcoin all-time closing high (2017 cycle) | $19,497.40 | StatMuse; CoinDesk |
| Dec 17, 2017 | Bitcoin intraday peak (2017 cycle) | $19,783.06 | Fortune; CoinDesk |
| Jan 15, 2018 | NEO all-time high | $196.85 | CoinLore; coincheckup |
| Dec 15, 2018 | Bitcoin 2018 bear market closing low; -73.5% for year | $3,236.76 | StatMuse; Wikipedia |
| Nov 16, 2021 | Ethereum all-time high | $4,891.70 | altcoinsbox |
| Nov 10, 2021 | Bitcoin 2021 cycle peak (intraday) | ~$68,789 | Investopedia |
| Nov 2022 | Bitcoin 2022 bear market low | ~$15,742 | Investopedia |
| Oct 6, 2025 | Bitcoin new all-time high | $126,198.07 | StatMuse; Investopedia; Reuters |
| Aug 24, 2025 | Ethereum all-time high (2025 cycle) | ~$4,946 | CoinGecko |
| Jul 20, 2026 | Bitcoin most recent close at time of writing | $64,679.77 | ycharts |
| Jul 20, 2026 | Ethereum most recent price at time of writing | ~$1,902 | CoinGecko; Yahoo Finance |
The return from Tiwari’s April 2016 Bitcoin recommendation at ~$400 to the July 20, 2026 close of $64,679.77: roughly 15,080%. From the recommendation to the October 6, 2025 all-time high of $126,198.07: roughly 31,450%. From the recommendation to the December 2017 peak of $19,497.40: roughly 4,774%.
The return from Tiwari’s 2016 Ethereum recommendation at ~$9 to the July 20, 2026 price of ~$1,902: roughly 21,022%. From the recommendation to the November 16, 2021 all-time high of $4,891.70: roughly 54,319%.
The return from Tiwari’s 2016 Antshares/NEO recommendation at ~$0.19 to the January 15, 2018 all-time high of $196.85: roughly 103,555%. From the recommendation to the July 2026 price of approximately $2.10: roughly 1,005%.
The Palm Beach Confidential publisher’s own self-reported figures, cited in 2017 marketing material, claimed individual crypto picks had gained “1,241%, 2,050% and even 14,354% in as little as six months” and that one subscriber “turned $250 into $125,000.” These are publisher self-reported figures from marketing copy — unaudited, but internally consistent with the market data.
The Scoreboard Context
The 2016 crypto calls are the ones that built Tiwari’s credibility. The rest of the ledger has more texture.
- Bitcoin at $400, April 2016. Directional hit. The call was made when Bitcoin was a fringe asset dismissed as “for criminals” by mainstream finance. The mass adoption thesis Tiwari pitched played out over the following decade. The call survived an 84% drawdown (the 2018 crypto winter) and a 75% drawdown (the 2022 bear market) before reaching new all-time highs. An investor who held from the recommendation through both crashes is up roughly 15,080% as of July 2026.
- Ethereum under $10, 2016. Directional hit. Ethereum went from a $30 million market cap to a $230 billion market cap. The “de facto operating system of the blockchain” thesis — the specific claim Tiwari made in 2016 — was correct: more than 50% of new blockchain projects were built on Ethereum by 2017, and Ethereum remains the dominant smart contract platform.
- Antshares/NEO, 2016. Directional hit on the way up, directional miss on the way down. NEO went from fractions of a dollar to $196.85 in January 2018 — a gain of over 100,000%. Then it collapsed. NEO trades at approximately $2.10 in July 2026, down 99% from its all-time high and barely above its 2016 starting price. The call worked if you took profits. It did not work if you held.
- The 2020 “Genesis Technology” presentation. The Investment of the Decade pitch framed blockchain as 32x bigger than 5G and teased three “must-own” blockchain stocks. The presentation directed viewers into Palm Beach Letter subscriptions. The underlying thesis — that blockchain infrastructure would be a major investment theme — was directionally correct. The specific stock picks teased inside are not publicly verifiable from the marketing copy alone.
- The 2024 firing. On February 8, 2024, MarketWise’s board voted to wind down Legacy Research Group entirely. Porter Stansberry’s internal email, filed as an exhibit to MarketWise’s SEC 8-K, stated that Tiwari had a consulting agreement with DeFi Technologies Inc. — a company connected to the Mikula fraud case — and that Tiwari received compensation from entities that owned shares in companies he was recommending to subscribers on four occasions. Whether Tiwari knew of Mikula’s fraudulent actions or not, the arrangement violated his contract and company policy. Legacy Research’s senior managers had failed to terminate Tiwari or alert subscribers after learning of the violations. The entire Legacy division was shut down, 104 employees were dismissed, and Tiwari’s name was erased from the Palm Beach website.
The pattern across the ledger: the 2016 crypto calls were real, they were early, and the numbers check out. The track record built on those calls carried Tiwari for nearly a decade. The firing in 2024 was about undisclosed conflicts of interest — receiving compensation from companies he was recommending to subscribers — which is a different category of failure than a bad prediction.
What The Record Tells A Reader
The Genesis calls happened. Tiwari recommended Bitcoin at ~$400 and Ethereum under $10 in 2016, when both were dismissed by mainstream finance. The mass adoption thesis he pitched played out. The returns are verifiable on public market data: Bitcoin is up roughly 15,080% from the recommendation to July 2026, Ethereum is up roughly 21,022%. These are close prices on public exchanges, dated and sourced.
The record also shows what the marketing does not emphasize. The 2018 crypto winter took Bitcoin down 84% from its peak. The 2022 bear market took it down 75% from its peak again. An investor who bought at the recommendation and held through both crashes is up 15,080%. An investor who bought at the December 2017 peak and held through the crash was underwater for roughly two years. The call was right. The entry date determined whether the call made you money or tested your resolve.
NEO is the call the marketing does not mention. It went up over 100,000% and then came back down 99%. It trades at roughly $2.10 in July 2026, barely above its 2016 recommendation price. A call that goes up 100,000% and then comes back to where it started is a call that worked only if you sold. The marketing shows the peak. The current price shows the round trip.
The firing is the part of the record that lives outside the market data. Tiwari’s crypto calls were not why MarketWise shut down Legacy Research. The SEC 8-K and Porter Stansberry’s internal email describe a consulting agreement with DeFi Technologies, compensation from entities that owned shares in companies Tiwari was recommending, and a four-occasion pattern of policy violations. The crypto calls were the track record. The undisclosed conflicts were the termination. They are separate findings, and both belong in the dated record.
More on what happened to Teeka Tiwari and his post-firing reinvention elsewhere in the Dispatch Files. For the self-reported vs. audited track record distinction that applies to publisher-reported crypto returns, see Investment Newsletter Track Records: Nobody Audits Them.