Cardano’s price has soared by more than 50% this week, from $1.59 on Wednesday to an all-time high of $2.49 today.
ADA’s latest record was enough to catch the attention of Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, Shark Tank star and crypto fan. And Cardano’s founder jumped on the opportunity to sell Cuban on his invention.
Cuban, a frequent tweeter of all things crypto, has rarely mentioned Cardano. When asked why by @crypto_fan_IN yesterday evening, Cuban responded almost immediately.
Mr Cuban, what stops you from reviewing the King #Cardano #ADA $ADA.
Take fundamentals, usage, energy consumption. It will beat everything in all dimensions. @IOHK_Charles
— Crypto Fan (@Crypto_fan_IN) May 15, 2021
“Are you, personally, able to use $ADA for anything? If so, what have you used it for? That’s the question I ask about all Crypto. Do you find yourself using it for anything that you find value in?” he said on Twitter.
Are you, personally, able to use $ADA for anything ? If so, what have you used it for ? That’s the question I ask about all Crypto. Do you find yourself using it for anything that you find value in ? https://t.co/qTt3ndjKhI
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 15, 2021
Cuban, who has 8.4 million Twitter followers, is no stranger to airing his opinions about crypto. At the beginning of the month, he wrote a long thread comparing the relative merits of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin.
Later on yesterday evening, another Cardano fan suggested that Cuban’s team accept Cardano as payment—along with Dogecoin, which the team accepted as a payment method in March.
“Then maybe some Cardano holders would use it to buy merch from the Mavericks .. just saying .. there’s your use case,” they tweeted.
Maybe Mark needs to announce he is accepting Cardano Ada as payment along with doge … then maybe some Cardano holders would use it to buy merch from the Mavericks .. just saying .. there’s your use case .. welcome aboard @mcuban @IOHK_Charles
— Uncle Fukster (@UFukster) May 15, 2021
Cuban replied: “If you can get bitpay to take it. I’m happy to sell for Ada.”
If you can get bitpay to take it. I’m happy to sell for Ada.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 15, 2021
Cardano’s creator steps in
Shortly after, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson entered the thread: “You’re breaking my heart mark…. But levity aside. Come by the farm in Colorado sometime and let’s chat.”
Four hours later, Hoskinson tweeted at Cuban again, this time with a twelve-minute video pitching his project to the celebrity billionaire.
Mark Cuban Cardano https://t.co/x0zYCeSIRd
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 15, 2021
Hoskinson, who left Ethereum to work on Cardano, spent the bulk of the video educating Cuban on the shortcomings of Ethereum—Cuban’s favorite coin.
“You’re a consumer experience guy…we’re a consumer experience guy. You tell me: Is it sustainable to have an application where the transaction fee costs more than the amount of value being moved?
“That’s where the market standard Ethereum is at. And it’s a non-trivial thing to move away from that, without moving towards some degree of centralisation, which means the entire model needs to be rebuilt,” he said, before saying that he has spent the past few years lifting that load.
On Cuban’s number one deciding factor before investing in crypto—usability—Hoskinson had more to say: “What can you do with your ADA today? You can issue assets, you can buy wine, you can stay in hotels (more than 50,000 locations). Billions of dollars worth of ADA are moving on a daily basis. Unlike Ethereum, you can vote with it.”
Was Cuban sold on Cardano? No doubt soon his 8.4 million Twitter followers will know the answer.
