Mark Cuban on Bitcoin, NFTs and What Comes Next: ‘The Upside Is Truly Unlimited’
“You can sell anything digital using NFT,” says the Dallas Mavericks owner. “Virtual Mavs gear, sneakers, art, pictures, videos, experiences, anything our imagination can come up with.”
Mark Cuban is best known as the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a staple on Shark Tank, and – in some circles – an occasional commentator on bitcoin.
“Watching the cryptos trade, it’s EXACTLY like the internet stock bubble. EXACTLY,” Cuban tweeted in January, on the heels of BTC’s jump above $40k. Many saw the thread as bearish on bitcoin, or even bitcoin-hostile.
Cuban continued:
“As during the dot-com bubble ‘the experts’ try to justify whatever the pricing of the day is. Crypto, much like gold, is a supply and demand driven. All the narratives about debasement, fiat, etc are just sales pitches. The biggest sales pitch is scarcity vs demand.”
Renowned bitcoin skeptic (and goldbug) Peter Schiff poured gasoline on the fire, replying, “The difference is that some of those early internet stocks actually had real value. So they survived and ultimately thrived. None of the cryptos have any real value so there will be no winners. They will all lose.”
Mark Cuban’s actual take on bitcoin? It can be tough to pinpoint and for many, Cuban’s take matters. It has weight. When people like Cuban give BTC an endorsement or a swipe, this adds or subtracts legitimacy in the eyes of the. non-crypto-twitter crowd.
And that’s why Cuban’s Wednesday tweet, in the midst of GameStop mania, raised eyebrows.
Whatever the billionaire’s misgivings about the bitcoin market, he’s all-in on NFTs and other blockchain-based ideas for his Dallas Mavericks. “You can sell anything digital using NFT,” he tells CoinDesk, hinting at plans to sell an array of digital goods soon.
We know that Cuban has bought bitcoin and still owns bitcoin, but we also know that he once said, “I’d rather have bananas than bitcoin,” as he “could eat bananas – bitcoin, not so much.”
Then again, his take is more nuanced. Even in his ranty “EXACTLY like the internet stock bubble” thread, he took the time to reply to Schiff, offering a quasi-defense of crypto: “What value does any collectible have other than in the eye of the buyer? Why would a digital collectible be any different?”
Cuban has always had a nose and gift for provocation. This is, after all, the same Mark Cuban who once got into a fake fight with a fake referee as an April Fool’s Joke, was slapped with a $500,000 fine for an on-court tirade, and did his own stunts on the set of Sharknado 3, where he played the President of the United States, because of course.
These taunts seem to continue with bitcoin. Could we have a … President Mark Cuban? In early January, he tweeted that he’ll run for president if the price of bitcoin cracks $1 million. Specifically, “I’ll run if BTC gets to $1m AND we can get commitments to donate 350 BTC to the Treasury each of the 4 yrs so that we can give 1 satoshi to every citizen each yr, that they must hold for 10 years. How’s that sound :)”
So what’s actually going on here?
Is Cuban a bitcoin skeptic or bull?
Is he serious about running for president?
To clarify his thoughts on bitcoin and the overall blockchain space, I exchanged a few emails with the billionaire entrepreneur. He shares some advice on what to when HODLing, reveals that the Mavericks have plans for NFTs, says he sees potential in DeFi, and for those of you hoping for a Cabinet position in the Cuban Administration – sorry – he admits he was mostly “screwing around.”
Oh, and as for the overall blockchain space? Cuban thinks “the upside is truly unlimited.”
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