Mark Cuban, the billionaire who once said that bananas are a better medium of exchange than Bitcoin, has doubled down on his view that the asset is more like a collectible than a reliable financial instrument.
2020 has been a big year in terms of institutional Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. Companies like MicroStrategy and Grayscale significantly increased their crypto holdings, while those associated with traditional finance (like CNBC’s Jim Cramer) found themselves changing their tune when it comes to crypto ownership. Even so, the asset has its detractors.
In a Forbes interview conducted on Dec. 8, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that crypto users should not look to Bitcoin as “a hedge against doomsday scenarios.” He also believes that the crypto asset is unlikely to replace fiat currency anytime soon.
“[Bitcoin is] a store of value like gold that is more religion than solution to any problem,” said Cuban. “Countries will take steps to protect their currencies and their ability to tax, so the more people believe this is anything more than a store of value, the more risk of government intervention they face.”
Cuban’s comments came when the price of Bitcoin was under $19,000. The asset has since reached new all-time highs, rising above $20,000 for the first time in history and trading above $23K at time of publication.
The billionaire claimed commodities like bananas offered more benefits than Bitcoin, but still recognized it as an “investable asset”:
“A banana has more utility, potassium is a valuable nutrient to every person on the planet, but as long as people accept BTC as a digital version of gold, it’s investable.”
Mark Cuban has an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion. He claimed to own roughly $130 in Bitcoin as of August 2019 from the franchise’s merchandise and ticket purchases. Given the BTC price stayed under $12,000 that month, Cuban’s crypto assets could easily have doubled if he HODLed.
