Mark Cuban has become somewhat of a household name. This shark investor/entrepreneur owns a number of businesses that include Magnolia Pictures and sports team Dallas Mavericks. He’s also a star on the television series Shark Tank. Certainly, no stranger to making money — but what does he think of this new form of digital money we talk about here day in and day out?
I sought out to get his point of view, and his response may or may not surprise you. In short, Cuban isn’t entirely convinced that bitcoin is the next big thing. Late last year, the billionaire posted the following tweet:
“I don’t see it as a global currency,” Cuban told me on Monday evening in an email response to some questions. But if you thought that it’s the technology Cuban isn’t keen on, think again.
“I don’t see the tech as a weak link,” he told me. “I see the people using it as a weak link.”
Cuban makes a good point, as some others have before him. At the present time, most individuals either have no idea what bitcoin is, and if they do, they likely aren’t familiar with how it works or how to use it.
“There is a lot of responsibility to owning bitcoin. The responsibility of maintaining a private key is a lot more than I think many people are capable of,” he added.
You can’t blame Cuban for taking this point of view for now. We’re still very much in the infancy of bitcoin, and there’s still much more developments and innovation to come. Who knows? In five years, it could be something most of modern society is using.
But like any good businessman, Cuban does say that he’s “looking forward to seeing what happens with bitcoin”, noting that he’s open to changing his position “if and when things change”.