Cuban’s crypto calling card

The billionaire’s short-term outlook is bleak – but as boom and bust kicks in, it’s survival of the fittest.   

Time is a flat circle 

Mark Cuban didn’t make his billions by throwing in the towel when things got rough. And despite the huge knockout blow that has been planted square on the nose of crypto bros everywhere this week, Cuban has been around long enough to have seen it all before.  

Among several other entrepreneurs, Cuban has compared the current crypto crash to the trimming of the first generation of internet businesses back in the noughties. He tweeted that “Crypto is going through the lull that the internet went through”, suggesting that the industry needs to see a switch in focus towards improved business models, so it can justify some of the mega valuations that have caused such volatility.  

Overcrowded crypto 

Cuban believes that the digital asset ecosystem has become too congested. “The chains that copy what everyone else has, will fail”, he says. “We don’t need NFTs or DeFi on every chain […] We need smart contract apps replacing [software as a service] apps”.  

And the billionaire isn’t just shouting from the sidelines, either. He’s no cryptoskeptic, and in his own words, owns a “ton” of Ethereum. But the clear focus of his frustration has been the drift towards exclusive digital assets that aren’t hugely functional. He’s keen to see crypto go beyond its current confines and get into the meat and bones of revolutionizing businesses and organizational structures.  

So when the real move for crypto is to innovate, rather than imitate, we’ll see some exciting new applications – and opportunities – for crypto. Lord knows, we could do with it happening soon.