Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has parted with most of his Bitcoin holdings, saying the asset failed to live up to its core promise as a hedge against fiat currency weakness and geopolitical turmoil.
Cuban made the remarks during an interview with Front Office Sports, where he said Bitcoin “has lost the plot.” The Shark Tank personality and former Dallas Mavericks owner had long positioned Bitcoin as a superior alternative to gold, citing its fixed supply and decentralized structure. That belief has been eroded.
“I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold,” Cuban said. “But gold just blew up and went to $5,000. Bitcoin fell.”
The billionaire pointed to price behavior during the US-Iran conflict as his confidence broke. Gold rose through the period of heightened tensions, setting a record above $5,500 an ounce earlier this year.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, struggled to keep momentum. Cuban said he expected Bitcoin to rise whenever the dollar fell. It didn’t.
“Every time the dollar went down, Bitcoin should have gone up,” he said. “It’s not the hedge I expected.”
Bitcoin was trading near $77,500 on Thursday, down about 30% over the past year and 38% below its all-time high of $126,080 set in October. Gold, despite its own pullback from recent peaks, remains up more than 37% over the same 12-month stretch and has a market capitalization of over $31 trillion – the largest of any asset in the world.
Bitcoin has outperformed gold since the Iran conflict
The data provide a counterpoint to Cuban’s criticism. Since the first signs of conflict between the US and Iran emerged in late February, Bitcoin has risen more than 16%, while gold has fallen over 15%. Bitcoin’s defenders argue that framing matters – the asset’s performance depends on the chosen analysis window.
Cuban recognized a distinction within the crypto space. He expressed less disappointment with Ethereum, which he sees as supported by real utility through decentralized finance and blockchain applications. He was categorical about meme coins and speculative tokens, calling them “garbage”.
His previous crypto profile was broader. In 2021, he had a portfolio split of around 60% Bitcoin, 30% Ethereum and 10% in other assets. He was a vocal NFT enthusiast, showing his wallets publicly and even accepting Dogecoin as payment for Mavericks merchandise. He once predicted that Dogecoin would reach $1 and act as a stablecoin.
Cuban said the crypto sector as a whole has disappointed him by not finding mainstream utility. “It hasn’t found an application for grandma,” he said.