Mark Cuban on his cryptocurrency portfolio: ‘I own a lot of Ethereum because I think it’s the closest to a true currency’

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Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is bullish on the future of cryptocurrency and frequently compares blockchain technology to the early days of the internet.

That’s why, over the years, Cuban held onto the few digital coins he bought in the “early days,” Cuban said on a recent episode of “The Delphi Podcast.” Currently, his portfolio allocation is broken down as: “60% bitcoin, 30% Ethereum and 10% the rest.”

Bitcoin, created in 2009, is the largest cryptocurrency by market value, but is appealing to Cuban as a store of value rather than a currency.

In 2012, “people said bitcoin is a currency, and I’m like, ‘It’s just not going to work.’ But, the entire time, I said it was a store of value where, if you could get people to believe that it was a better alternative than gold, because of its algorithmic scarcity, the price is going to go up,” he said.

According to Cuban, bitcoin is “a better alternative to gold, and it’s going to continue [to be],” he said. “That’s why I own bitcoin and why I never sold it.”

Cuban is also very interested in Ethereum — the blockchain where ether, the second largest cryptocurrency below bitcoin, is built — mainly due to the smart contracts that run on it. In cryptocurrency, smart contracts are collections of code that carry out a set of instructions and run on the blockchain.

“What really changed everything was smart contracts,” Cuban said. “Smart contracts came along, and that created DeFi [or decentralized finance] and NFTs [or nonfungible tokens]. That’s what changed the game. That’s what got me excited. That’s why it’s a lot like the internet.”

Ethereum on a roll as it keeps racking up all-time highs - CityAM

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Ethereum provided the first crypto gift of the Easter break with an unexpected move to claim an all-time high as it breached the much-desired $2,000 mark to hit $2,147 tonight.

Despite spending much of its five-year lifespan in the shadow of principle actor Bitcoin (BTC), Vitalik Buterin’s brainchild took centre stage after a year of huge gains cemented its place as second billing in the cryptocurrency cast list.

This time last year, Ether (ETH) was worth less than $150 before it embarked on a near-constant ascending trajectory that brought it to today’s value.

ETH’s rise is in tandem with a remarkable crypto market effervescence which has seen impressive rises across the board.

Bridesmaid to Bitcoin

The bridesmaid to Bitcoin’s ever-present big day has, it should be noted, lately been a cause of repeated concern for analysts and traders who have been critical of rising charges and the, frankly, ‘clunky’ mechanic of the leading alternative to BTC.

But, time and time again, the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain has proved its stoicism in the face of reproach and continued to move its price upwards.

For many observers, though, it would appear that Ethereum’s stock is twinned with the movement of institutional investment in cryptocurrency.

“Ethereum’s price started to rally just as Visa started using its network to settle cryptocurrency transactions,” Greg Waisman, the co-founder and COO of the payment network Mercuryo, explained to The Independent’s Anthony Cuthbertson.

“Ethereum has seen other beneficial developments, such as prominent investor Mark Cuban revealing that he owns a lot of Ethereum, as he thinks that ETH is the closest to a true currency.

“As for the future, Ethereum breaking the $2,000 mark is a major achievement, which will possibly allow it to start using this level as a support and continue going higher up.”

To put ETH’s surge into context, it’s worth noting yesterday’s comments from Kraken CEO Jesse Powell who, when assessing what coins would be the stand-out performers of 2021, suggested Ether might just make it above $2,000.

“Hard to predict but I think we’ll see north of $2,000 a coin for Ethereum by the end of this year,” he said.

Right now, ETH is racking up all-time highs almost minute-by-minute. At the time the first sentence of this article was written, Ether was at $2,071. Five paragraphs ago, it was at $2,084. At the time the full stop at the end of this sentence, it had just notched $2,096.

Ethereum price hits new all-time high amid crypto market frenzy

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The price of ethereum reached above $2,000 on Friday to hit a new all-time high.

The cryptocurrency has seen massive gains over the last 12 months, having traded below $150 at the beginning of April last year.

It peaked at $2,071.67 just before 4pm BST, according to the CoinMarketCap price index, though the price rally shows no signs of slowing down.

Ethereum’s latest record comes amid a crypto market frenzy, which has seen bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies experience huge price rises in recent months.

The market has been boosted by major institutional investment, as well as increased adoption by retailers and payment platforms.

“Ethereum’s price started to rally just as Visa started using its network to settle cryptocurrency transactions,” Greg Waisman, the co-founder and COO of the payment network Mercuryo, told The Independent.

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“Ethereum has seen other beneficial developments, such as prominent investor Mark Cuban revealing that he owns a lot of ethereum, as he thinks that ETH is the closest to a true currency.

“As for the future, ethereum breaking the $2,000 mark is a major achievement, which will possibly allow it to start using this level as a support and continue going higher up.”

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Crypto market analysts have also attributed the remarkable price gains to the economic chaos brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

David Derhy, an analyst at the online trading platform eToro, said that “expectations of further government stimulus” had also contributed to ethereum’s rise.