Mark Cuban on his cryptocurrency portfolio: ‘I own a lot of Ethereum because I think it’s the closest to a true currency’
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.”
He sees Ethereum as “adaptable over time” because developers can iterate and improve its capabilities, he said.
“That is more life-like, and so, I have a lot of Ethereum as well,” Cuban said. “I wish I had bought it sooner, but I started buying it four years ago, simply because I think it’s the closest we have to a true currency.”
Cuban hasn’t specifically named the rest of the cryptocurrencies he owns that represent the remaining 10%, but “there’s none that I’m just all in on, other than bitcoin and Ethereum, that I look at as being an equivalent investment,” he said.
In February, Cuban bought a small amount of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that started as a joke, for his 11-year-old son, Jake. Cuban said at the time that the purchase was meant to be “fun and educational” for his son, while also helping Cuban learn more about the space.
“There’s some I [buy] for fun, some I do for experience, because I just want to learn,” Cuban added.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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Ethereum Back Above $2,000 as Market Rally Continues
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Ethereum has hit $2,000 for the second time in its history.
Ethereum’s Price Rally
After a week of green candles for Ethereum, the second-ranked cryptocurrency is trading back above $2,000.
ETH first crossed $2,000 on Feb. 20 after weeks of upward movement. The high didn’t last long, though: it was trading just above $1,300 by the end of the month.
Demand for the asset has increased in recent weeks as the crypto bull run picks up steam. It’s up 26% in the last week, while Bitcoin has also seen a sharp rise.
Bitcoin and Ethereum often follow each other in price performance. But this week, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin. The ratio between the two assets is currently 0.033.
Other than the market’s excitable state, one likely reason for the rise is the imminent implementation of EIP-1559.
The proposal will bring in a fundamental change to Ethereum’s monetary policy, introducing a gas fee burn on every transaction. It means that ETH will become deflationary if the network sees enough activity, which has led some Ethereum fans to refer to the currency as “ultra sound money.” EIP-1559 is going live in the blockchain’s London hardfork, scheduled for this July.
Visa announcing on Monday that it would settle USDC transactions on Ethereum has also helped propel ETH across $2,000. The payments firm wrote:
“One small step forward for Visa’s settlement platform, one giant step forward for the integration of digital and traditional fiat currencies.”
Ethereum’s market cap is now roughly $230.8 billion, according to CoinGecko. That’s about 11.75% of the whole cryptocurrency market.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH May Rally to $2,500 in Q2
The Ethereum price had a successful first quarter as its price surged by more than 160%. It outperformed Bitcoin, whose price rose by more than 100% and its total market cap rose to more than $200 billion. The ETH price is trading at $1,917, which is slightly lower than the all-time high (ATH) of more than $2,000.
What happened: The first quarter was a relatively successful period for Ethereum and other digital currencies. While Ethereum costs increased, demand for its network continued rising. For example, the expansive DeFi industry saw its total value locked (TVL) surging to more than $45 billion. Other platforms built on its network like Tether and Wrapped Bitcoin also surged.
However, in the quarter, Ethereum also faced rising competition from proof-of-stake platforms that are faster and less expensive. Among the notable ones are Cardano, Polkadot, and Solana. Indeed, these altcoins also had a relatively successful quarter.
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Looking ahead, in the second quarter, Ethereum price will react to the performance of the US bond market and the US dollar. A stronger US dollar will likely lead to a weaker Ethereum because the two have an inverted relationship.
Ethereum price forecast
The daily chart shows that the ETH price has been in a relatively strong upward trend. It is a few points below the all-time high of $2,000. It has also moved above the ascending channel that is shown in black. Also, it has moved above the short and longer moving averages. It also seems to be forming an ascending triangle pattern.
Therefore, in my view, as I had predicted a few months ago, the Ethereum price will keep rising as bulls target the important resistance level at $2,500. This will likely happen in the second quarter of the year. This price is just 30% from the current level.
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