Crypto optimist Kevin O’Leary said that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are more likely to succeed than bitcoin. In an interview, the Chairman of O’Shares Investment Advisers, O’Leary, mentioned that the NFT trend would favour the fluid market over real estate taxes and insurance policies in the next few years.
The Canadian TV personality reversed his previous stance, saying that no crypto-asset could compete with Bitcoin.
Over the next few years, there will be a lot of movement in terms of doing authentication, insurance policies, and real estate transfer taxes online, making NFTs a much bigger, more fluid market than bitcoin alone,” O’Leary said.
Furthermore, he said he is “investing on both sides of that equation”, regardless of which side wins. Mr O’Leary said he has faith in the growth of NFTs because they enable people to prove ownership of real-world properties. With more and more companies jumping on board the hype train, NFTs have become preferred options for many people compared to physical records.
It has not always been the case that O’Leary supports crypto. He has previously called Bitcoin “garbage.” In 2019, O’Leary described Bitcoin as “a useless currency, worthless.” In the past year, however, O’Leary has become a big advocate of cryptocurrencies and noted that they could be used to diversify investment portfolios.
He has also expressed support for decentralized finance (DeFi), noting that it is a replica of the traditional finance system based on blockchain technology. He also stated that he personally invests in cryptocurrency. O’Leary revealed that the majority of his cryptocurrency portfolio is Ether. Other coins he holds include Bitcoin, Solana, and Polygon.
The NFT was a relatively unknown phenomenon in 2020, but it became a phenomenon in 2021. NFT trading volume for the year surpassed $23 billion (roughly Rs. 1,71,297 crore) according to the decentralized application (dApp) discovery and analysis platform DappRadar’s Industry Report for 2021. The report noted that celebrities, sports teams, and big brands entered the market.
There were a number of popular dApp marketplaces, including OpenSea, Atomic Market, and Solanart. The DappRadar report points out that NFTs have grown 230 times in sales volume since 2020, from just $100 million (roughly Rs. 744.94 crores).
Experts have, however, expressed concern about the sustainability of the market. Some have compared NFTs to the excitement of 2017’s first coin offering. Some investors were duped into betting on startups through unregulated token sales. Meanwhile, there have been many frauds and stolen art instances, signalling danger for some traders.
