Mark Cuban, the host of the reality television show “Shark Tank,” does not believe in the long-term viability of Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. It has been a rough year for Bitcoin; despite having recovered from a lengthy period of downturn, the token’s rally of 2019 only managed to push the BTC/USD value above $10,000 for less than a week, and the new comments by Mark Cuban will likely prolong the bearish streak well past the holidays.
As the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise, Cuban decided to accept Bitcoin payments for this season’s game tickets; furthermore, he announced his intention to hold onto the revenue derived from these transactions. Heading into 2020, Cuban holds less than $600 worth of Bitcoin, thus bolstering his case against viability. It should be noted, however, that the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League have enjoyed far more success than the Mavericks since the team started accepting digital currency payments last year.
During a Twitter discussion with followers, Cuban was asked if he owned any significant gold investments; he explained that he only owns some jewelry that contains gold and that he knows the precious metal is still used in electronics manufacturing to a certain extent. After establishing that he is not a gold investor, Cuban turned his attention back to Bitcoin, and his main concern seems to be related to the cryptocurrency mining cartels.
Should prominent members of the Bitcoin mining community turn their attention to another activity, the digital currency will certainly suffer; after all, miners are responsible for processing the crytographic work of the underlying blockchain Bitcoin runs on. Cuban is clearly worried about the value of BTC/USD taking a dive if mining slows down considerably, something that is bound to happen over the next couple of years.
Cuban prefers gold because it is an investment commodity that has fully matured, something that Bitcoin has yet to achieve. Even if the jewelry and electronics manufacturing sectors would suddenly abandon gold, there is still the matter of sovereign gold reserves to consider. Gold investment certificates are purely speculative, but they have managed to hold their value because of sovereign reserves that are unlikely to go away suddenly. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has become too dependent on the work of miners who are managing their activities like cartels, and who can suddenly abandon the blockchain if they choose to do so.
