Kevin O’Leary is popping away from NFTs and placing tens of millions into uncommon, bodily collectibles, particularly high-end sports activities playing cards.
The “Shark Tank” star and O’Leary Ventures chairman lately co-purchased a $13 million twin Logoman card that includes Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, he stated throughout an interview with CoinDesk TV’s Jennifer Sanasie. The cardboard is one-of-a-kind, and O’Leary—usually referred to as “Mr. Fantastic”—sees it as a cornerstone of his rising “index” of distinctive collectibles.
“Nearly all of the returns over 20 years have accrued to the collectors who purchased the piece uniques,” O’Leary stated, evaluating the technique to his long-standing investments in Andy Warhol artwork and luxurious watches. Quite than outbidding others, O’Leary partnered with two traders to accumulate the cardboard. “I would moderately personal 33 and a 3rd of it than zero,” he stated.
Pouring tens of millions into uncommon sports activities playing cards isn’t a ardour venture—it’s a calculated wager. “It as soon as traded for $75,000 years and years in the past, but it surely reveals you the worth appreciation,” O’Leary stated.
“Grown males are going to weep once they see this,” he added.
Tokenization over NFTs
Regardless of the overlap with tokenization, O’Leary made it clear that he has no real interest in NFTs.
“NFTs turned out to be a fad,” he stated. “I am solely shopping for belongings which can be bodily belongings… That [NFT] fad got here and went. I am very lucky I did not get entangled in that as a result of I by no means understood it.”
O’Leary’s sharp dismissal of NFTs comes only a few years after the market exploded in recognition. In 2021, buying and selling quantity on NFT marketplaces surged to $25 billion, up from simply $95 million the yr earlier than, in line with information from DappRadar and Chainalysis. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Steph Curry rushed to launch collections, whereas main manufacturers together with Nike, Adidas and Coca-Cola entered the house.
However the hype was short-lived. NFT gross sales volumes fell greater than 80% by mid-2022 amid the broader crypto downturn, and costs for high-profile collections like Bored Ape Yacht Membership and CryptoPunks plunged from their peaks, in line with the information.
O’Leary’s challenge with NFTS is the dearth of bodily existence of the belongings. “The place is the asset? The place can I put my white glove on and go contact it? That is what you possibly can’t do with an NFT.”
Nevertheless, he stated his collectibles “will sooner or later be tokenized,” as a result of “it could be a lot simpler to cope with and handle them in an index that approach.”
Wall Avenue on chain
O’Leary frames this shift as half of a bigger mission: “Wall Avenue on chain.”
He believes blockchain infrastructure can modernize how belongings are managed—enhancing transparency, liquidity and belief in markets that also rely closely on intermediaries.
He stays bullish on foundational cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, and infrastructure performs like mining operators and exchanges.
