Billionaire investor Mark Cuban said he has sold most of his bitcoin, arguing that the world’s largest cryptocurrency has “lost the plot” after failing to perform as the hedge against financial and geopolitical turmoil that he once expected.
Cuban, the entrepreneur and former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, made the comments during an interview with Front Office Sports, where he was asked whether the crypto and NFT boom that once drew heavy interest from sports investors had faded.
Cuban said crypto had been disappointing because it had failed to produce a simple, mainstream use case powerful enough to bring everyday users into the market, while bitcoin had fallen short of the role he once believed it could play as a stronger alternative to gold.
Cuban says crypto still lacks a mainstream use case
Cuban said he was not ready to declare crypto entirely dead, but described the sector as disappointing because it had not produced a simple consumer app that made the technology useful to ordinary people.
“I don’t know if it’s dead, but I’d say it’s disappointing,” Cuban said. “I think crypto is disappointing because it hasn’t come up with an application for grandma and that’s really what I expected.”
He compared the industry’s challenge to the early days of the iPhone, before the App Store helped turn mobile software into a daily habit for ordinary users through platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
Bitcoin fell short of Cuban’s hedge expectations
Cuban said his larger frustration was with bitcoin, saying he had sold most of his holdings after the cryptocurrency failed to rise during moments when he believed it should have benefited from pressure on the dollar and global instability.
“I think Bitcoin has lost the plot,” Cuban said.
Cuban said he originally viewed bitcoin as a superior version of gold, especially for investors looking for protection from the declining value of fiat currencies.
“Bitcoin was always the best alternative to fiat currency losing its value, and I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold,” he said.
Cuban added that bitcoin’s recent performance had weakened that argument. While gold surged, he said, bitcoin declined at moments when he expected it to strengthen.
“Bitcoin dropped, and every time the dollar dropped, Bitcoin should have gone up,” Cuban said.
Cuban remains softer on Ethereum, rejects meme coins
The investor said bitcoin had not acted as the hedge he anticipated, calling that outcome especially disappointing.
“No, not the hedge that I expected it to be,” Cuban said. “And that was really disappointing.”
Still, Cuban separated bitcoin from the rest of the crypto market, saying Ethereum had disappointed him less than bitcoin, while speculative tokens and meme coins drew his sharpest criticism.
“I’d say I’m more disappointed in Bitcoin, not as disappointed in Ethereum,” Cuban said. “And the rest, you know, the token stuff, the meme coins. Garbage.”
His comments mark a sharper turn from one of crypto’s most recognizable billionaire backers, who has previously supported digital assets, NFTs and blockchain applications while arguing that the industry’s long-term value depends on real-world utility rather than speculation.
