Cuban: Bitcoin ‘not a currency’
It’s fun, billionaire businessman says, but it’s more like playing stocks.
Billionaire Mark Cuban
AUSTIN sat down to talk to an audience of entrepreneurs at South by Southwest this weekend. USA TODAY’s Edward C.
Baig caught up with Cuban afterward and got him to weigh in on Bitcoin and to discuss his new private-messaging app, Cyber Dust, which Cuban describes as Snapchat for texting (messages disappear seconds after they’re sent). Edited for space and clarity.
Q: What do you think of Bitcoin?
A: I think as an encryption technology, it’s great. I think as a transport mechanism, it’s unique and has a great opportunity in the future. It’s got no shot as a longterm digital currency.
Q: Would you buy any?
A: I’d look at it, but more as fun. It’s about supply and demand, almost like buying stocks. But there’s definitely risk involved if you’re looking at it to be a long-term currency.
I analogize it to gold. You’ve got to physically hold gold. You have to physically hold your private key, which is the same thing as holding gold. There’s … industrial applications for gold, but that doesn’t drive the value. It’s more perceived value. It’s the same with Bitcoin. The perceived value
of where it is going to go is what drives day-to-day valuations and valuation swings.
The other telling tale, besides the fact that no central bank is going to ever let (go of ) control of how they deal with their own economy, is no one that I’ve seen so far that’s in traditional sales that is taking Bitcoin keeps it as Bitcoin. They all translate it to dollars. And if you translate it into dollars, it’s not a currency.
Q: What is your hope for Cyber Dust?
A: It won’t replace texting, but I want it to be a good complement to texting. We all have risks. When we text something, you lose control of it. It’s not so much what we do, but it’s the people who are on the receiving side. You don’t know what they’re going to do. In business, you could be talking about an employee, and someone keeps that text, and then they go to another company, and then all of a sudden, “Look what he said.”
Over time, the things that we say digitally, including our texts, lose context. It may be something that made perfect sense that I texted it to you today, but if you keep that text or forward that text, three years from now if it surfaces (or becomes) discoverable in a lawsuit, then it loses all that context, and people can say it means anything. I think you really have to gain control of your digital footprint.
Kids are understanding that. That’s why Snapchat’s been so popular. They don’t want to have that footprint out there. They recognize that who you follow on Twitter, what you say on Pinterest, who you follow on Pinterest, who you follow on Tumblr, what you put on Tumblr, what you put on Facebook, who you follow on Facebook, that all defines who you are. That’s all mine-able data to create a profile. Kids are recognizing that. And I think adults need to start recognizing that.