Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is bullish on the way forward for cryptocurrency and often compares blockchain technology to the early days of the internet.
That is why, over time, Cuban held onto the few digital cash he bought in the “early days,” Cuban mentioned on a current episode of “The Delphi Podcast.” Presently, his portfolio allocation is damaged down as: “60% bitcoin, 30% Ethereum and 10% the remaining.”
Bitcoin, created in 2009, is the biggest cryptocurrency by market worth, however is interesting to Cuban as a retailer of worth fairly than a forex.
In 2012, “folks mentioned bitcoin is a forex, and I am like, ‘It is simply not going to work.’ However, your complete time, I mentioned it was a retailer of worth the place, for those who may get folks to imagine that it was a greater various than gold, due to its algorithmic shortage, the value goes to go up,” he mentioned.
In keeping with Cuban, bitcoin is “a greater various to gold, and it’ll proceed [to be],” he mentioned. “That is why I personal bitcoin and why I by no means bought it.”
Cuban can be very focused on Ethereum — the blockchain the place ether, the second largest cryptocurrency beneath bitcoin, is constructed — primarily because of the sensible contracts that run on it. In cryptocurrency, sensible contracts are collections of code that perform a set of directions and run on the blockchain.
“What actually modified every part was sensible contracts,” Cuban mentioned. “Good contracts got here alongside, and that created DeFi [or decentralized finance] and NFTs [or nonfungible tokens]. That is what modified the sport. That is what bought me excited. That is why it is so much just like the web.”
He sees Ethereum as “adaptable over time” as a result of builders can iterate and enhance its capabilities, he mentioned.
“That’s extra life-like, and so, I’ve lots of Ethereum as effectively,” Cuban mentioned. “I want I had purchased it sooner, however I began shopping for it 4 years in the past, just because I feel it is the closest we now have to a real forex.”
Cuban hasn’t particularly named the remainder of the cryptocurrencies he owns that symbolize the remaining 10%, however “there’s none that I am simply all in on, apart from bitcoin and Ethereum, that I have a look at as being an equal funding,” he mentioned.
In February, Cuban bought a small amount of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that began as a joke, for his 11-year-old son, Jake. Cuban mentioned on the time that the acquisition was meant to be “enjoyable and academic” for his son, whereas additionally serving to Cuban be taught extra concerning the area.
“There’s some I [buy] for enjoyable, some I do for expertise, as a result of I simply need to be taught,” Cuban added.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the unique off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
Try: Meet the middle-aged millennial: Homeowner, debt-burdened and turning 40
Do not miss: