Shark Tank investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban remains long-term bullish on crypto despite the steep devaluation witnessed by the asset class this year.
In a new TMZ interview, Cuban says that he still believes in the future of the nascent industry.
“Separate the signal from the noise. There’s been a lot of people making a lot of mistakes, but it doesn’t change the underlying value of the applications… You still use it for DeFi [decentralized finance]. There are all kinds of applications. That’s all that matters.”
Cuban also tells TMZ that the co-founder and former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, could end up in prison over his role in the collapse of the trading platform and the resulting loss of customer funds.
“I don’t know all the details, but if I were him, I’d be afraid of going to jail for a long time… It sure sounds bad. I’ve actually talked to the guy and thought he was smart.
I had no idea he was going to take other people’s money and put it to own his personal use. That sure seems like what happened.”
FTX filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after halting withdrawals.
Earlier this month, the Dallas Mavericks owner explained his motivation for putting his money into crypto projects:
“Why have I invested in crypto? Because I believe smart contracts will have a significant impact in creating valuable applications. I have said from day one, the value of a token is derived from the applications that run on its platform and the utility they create.”
Cuban also defended the crypto industry amid the collapse of big names in the space since May.
“These blowups have not been crypto blowups, they have been banking blow-ups. Lending to the wrong entity, mis-valuations of collateral, arrogant arbitrageurs, followed by depositor runs.”
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