Mark Cuban, a billionaire investor and television personality, says that he has sold most of his Bitcoin (BTC) because the cryptocurrency failed as a hedge against inflation. In contrast, he remains bullish on Ethereum (ETH).
Speaking on the Front Office Sports show, Cuban, who had previously viewed Bitcoin as a better version of gold, argued that the leading digital asset hasn’t benefited at all from the weakening dollar and rising geopolitical tensions.
Touching on the ongoing Iran conflict, the entrepreneur said that gold rallied sharply while Bitcoin declined, undermining its long-standing investment thesis as an alternative to fiat.
“I think Bitcoin has lost the plot. When I started buying Bitcoin – and I’ve sold all of it (except not all of it, but most of it) – it was because when all the shit hit the fan with the Iran war and all, Bitcoin was always the best alternative to fiat currency losing its value,” Cuban said.
‘Ethereum is less disappointing than Bitcoin’
In Cuban’s view, Bitcoin should have rallied every time the dollar went down, which it didn’t. While the expectations may appear highly unrealistic, the remarks are noteworthy as they represent a notable shift for the billionaire.
Indeed, Cuban had publicly defended ‘digital gold’ as a superior alternative to gold for years because of its fixed supply and decentralized structure. In a 2021 appearance on The Delphi Podcast, for example, he said his crypto portfolio was made up of roughly 60% Bitcoin.
“I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold. Well, gold just blew up and went to $5,000. Bitcoin dropped. Every time the dollar, Bitcoin should’ve gone up because it was priced in dollars… Not the hedge I expected it to be… I’d say I’m more disappointed in Bitcoin, not so disappointed in Ethereum,” he added.
Compared to Bitcoin, Cuban views Ethereum as ‘less disappointing,’ and as for the other cryptocurrencies, the businessman simply dismissed most of them as ‘garbage.’
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