Kevin O’Leary is moving away from the NFT and putting millions in rare physical collectibles, specifically high -end sports cards.
The “Shark Tank” star and the president of O’Leary Ventures recently compatted a double logoman card of $ 13 million with Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, said during an interview with Jennifer Sanasie de Coindesk TV. The card is unique, and O’Leary, often called “Mr. Wonderful”, sees it as a cornerstone of its growing “index” of unique collectibles.
“Most of the returns in more than 20 years have accumulated for the collectors who bought the piece,” O’Leary said, comparing the strategy with their old investments in the art of Andy Warhol and luxury watches. Instead of overcoming others, O’Leary associated with two investors to acquire the card. “I prefer to have 33 and a third than zero,” he said.
Pouring millions on rare sports cards is not a passion project, it is a calculated bet. “Once he quoted for $ 75,000 years and years ago, but shows him the appreciation of the price,” O’Leary said.
“Adult men are going to cry when they see this,” he added.
Tokenization on NFTS
Despite the overlap with tokenization, O’Leary made it clear that he has no interest in NFT.
“NFTS turned out to be a fashion,” he said. “I am only buying assets that are physical active … that [NFT] Fashion was and left. I am very lucky of not having participated in that because I never understood. “
The acute dismissal of O’Leary NFTS occurs only a few years after the market exploded in popularity. In 2021, the volume of negotiation in the NFT markets increased to $ 25 billion, compared to only $ 95 million the previous year, according to Dappradar and Chainysis data. Celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Steph Curry rushed to launch collections, while the main brands, including Nike, Adidas and Coca-Cola, entered the space.
But the exaggeration was short. NFT sales volumes fell more than 80% in mid -2022 amid the broader cryptographic recession, and high -profile collections prices such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Cryptopunks left their peaks, according to data.
O’Leary’s problem with NFTS is the lack of physical existence of assets. “Where is the active? Where can I put on my white glove and go to touch it? That is what you can’t do with an NFT.”
However, he said that his collectibles “will one day be tokenized” because “it would be much easier to treat them and manage them in that way.”
Wall Street in the chain
O’Leary frames this change as part of a larger mission: “Wall Street on Chain”.
He believes that blockchain infrastructure can modernize how assets are administered, which improves transparency, liquidity and confidence in markets that still depend largely on intermediaries.
It is still optimistic in fundamental cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and infrastructure plays such as mining operators and exchanges.
