Despite betting that NFTs will surpass Bitcoin, Kevin O’Leary said he would hedge his bets and invest on “both sides of the equation.”
Millionaire investor and crypto proponent Kevin O’Leary thinks that the nonfungible token (NFT) sector could be worth more than Bitcoin (BTC) in the future.
Speaking with CNBC’s Capital Connection on Wednesday, O’Leary — also known as Mr. Wonderful — argued that NFTs provide a greater potential to attract capital than Bitcoin due to their ability to tokenize and authenticate physical assets such as cars, watches and real estate:
“You’re going to see a lot of movement in terms of doing authentication and insurance policies and real estate transfer taxes all online over the next few years, making NFTs a much bigger, more fluid market potentially than just Bitcoin alone.”
Mr. Wonderful admitted, however, that he is not tied to that bet and will still be investing on “both sides of that equation.”
The former crypto skeptic told Cointelegraph in a recent interview that his change in tune toward blockchain and digital assets was due to the growing trend of regulators warming up across the globe over the past couple of years.
Not everyone agrees with comparisons between Bitcoin and NFTs, however, with CoinGecko co-founder and chief operating officer Bobby Ong telling Cointelegraph that it’s “probably not fair to compare Bitcoin, which is a single asset, to NFTs which are an entire sector.”
Ong did note that the NFT adoption curve in 2022 is only going to increase upward, as the sector is still in its early days:
“I think collectively if you look across all NFTs, and the fact that 2021 was year one of market adoption, there’s definitely still a lot of room to grow.”
“We’ve already got a set of ‘blue chip’ NFTs, but I think the industry is still barely scratching the surface of what NFTs could be and what they could do, particularly if the metaverse comes to fruition,” he added.
Related: Global search interest for ‘NFT’ surpasses ‘crypto’ for the first time ever
CoinGecko recently published a new book called How To NFT, which provides a rundown for newbies entering the NFT space on how to buy, sell, store and mint NFTs. Questioned on whether he thinks the “NFT art narrative” will continue to dominate in 2022, or if the trend will shift toward utility-based NFTs, Ong said:
“Arts and collectibles are always going to be high on the list, as they’re the most beginner-friendly and easiest to understand. In terms of utility NFTs, I think what’s probably interesting to watch for is how some NFTs are going to both be art and have utility.”
“We’ve seen BAYC, which the NFT doubles as membership into their ‘club,’ and it really helps build a sense of identity and community,” he added.
