Billionaire tech businessman and one of the Shark Tank show’s “shark investors,” Mark Cuban has recently sat down with Kitco News, an outlet specialized on covering news about precious metals, to talk about his opinions on investing in various assets, including Bitcoin and gold.
When asked about what is the safest investment right now, Cuban didn’t say stocks, gold or Bitcoin (BTC). Instead, he argued that paying off your credit cards, student loans, or “whatever debt you have” is “probably the best investment” you can make.
“The reason for that is whatever interest you have - it might be a student loan with a 7% interest rate - if you pay off that loan, you're making 7 percent. And so that's your immediate return, which is a lot safer than trying to pick a stock, or trying to pick real estate or whatever it may be.”
Talking about gold and Bitcoin, Cuban said that he hates both, adding that he looks at cryptocurrencies and precious metals as largely the same thing, calling them “collectibles.” The billionaire investor explained that the value of both gold and Bitcoin is based on supply and demand. However, he also stressed that Bitcoin is in a more favorable position due to its scarcity.
“The good news about bitcoin is that there’s a finite supply that’ll ever be created, and the bad news about gold is that they’ll keep mining more.”
This is the second time when Cuban seemingly reversed his opinion on Bitcoin. Back in June 2017 he criticized the world’s leading virtual currency by calling it “a bubble,” but by October he started claiming that cryptocurrencies and Blockchain are the future.
Last October, Cuban also included a tip to invest up to 10% of your life savings in Bitcoin or Ethereum in his video “Guide to Getting Rich,” calling them “high-risk” assets. In his latest interview with Kitco, Cuban recommends to put the money in the bank to those who want to play it safe, “just to sleep well at night.”
Apart from investing in a digital currency hedge fund and an ICO, and launching the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency Mercury Protocol in 2017, Cuban also announced in January this year that the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, which he owns, will start accepting Bitcoin as payment next season.