Kevin O’Leary turns away from NFTs and brings millions in rare, physical collecting objects, in particular high-end sports cards.
The “Shark Tank” star and the O’Leary Ventures chairman recently bought a $ 13 million double logo card with Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan together, he said during an interview with Jennifer Sanasie van Coindesk TV. The map is unique and O’Leary, called “Mr. Wonderful”-looks like a cornerstone of his growing “index” of unique collecting objects.
“The majority of returns for 20 years have been built up to the collectors who have bought the piece unique,” said O’Leary, comparing the strategy with his long-standing investments in Andy Warhol art and luxury watches. Instead of bridging others, O’Leary worked together with two investors to acquire the map. “I’d rather own 33 and a third of them than zero,” he said.
Millions of pouring in rare sports cards is not a passion project – it is a calculated bet. “It was once traded for $ 75,000 years and years ago, but it shows you the price rating,” said O’Leary.
“Grown men start crying when they see this,” he added.
Tokenization about NFTs
Despite the overlap with tokenization, O’Leary made it clear that he is not interested in NFTs.
“NFTS turned out to be a whim,” he said. “I only buy assets that are physical assets … that [NFT] Fad came and went. I am very happy that I was not involved because I never understood. “
O’Leary’s sharp resignation of NFTs comes just a few years after the market exploded in popularity. In 2021, the trade volume at NFT marketplaces increased to $ 25 billion, an increase of only $ 95 million the year before, according to data from Dapradar and chain analysis. Celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Steph Curry hurried to launch collections, while large brands such as Nike, Adidas and Coca-Cola entered the space.
But the hype was short -lived. The sales volumes of NFT fell in mid-2022 by more than 80% in the midst of the broader crypto-to-date, and the prices for high-profile collections such as Borded APE Yacht Club and Cryptopunks fell from their peaks, according to the data.
O’Leary’s problem with NFTS is the lack of physical existence of the assets. “Where is it active? Where can I put on my white glove and start touching? That’s what you can’t do with an NFT.”
He said, however, that his collective objects will be “once token” because “it would be much easier to deal with and manage them in an index in this way.”
Wall Street on chain
O’Leary frame this shift as part of a larger mission: “Wall Street on Chain.”
He believes that blockchain infrastructure can modernize how assets are managed – forbidding transparency, liquidity and trust in markets that are still highly dependent on intermediaries.
He remains bullish about fundamental cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and Infrastructure plays such as mining operators and fairs.