Kevin O’Leary.
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- The NFT market can potentially grow bigger and “more fluid” than bitcoin’s, “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary told CNBC.
- He says the ability of NFTs to serve as proof of ownership for physical items can fuel the market’s growth.
- Chainalysis said the NFT market in 2021 soared to $41 billion in value.
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The market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, holds the potential to outstrip that of bitcoin because they can serve as proof of ownership for property, “Shark Tank” star investor Kevin O’Leary told CNBC.
“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,” he said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Capital Connection” program.
NFTs are digital representations of collectibles such as art, and O’Leary sees them capable of certifying ownership of real-world items such as watches and cars.
“We’ll see what happens, but I’m making that bet and I’m investing on both sides of that equation,” he said.
The NFT market’s value swelled to $41 billion in 2021, blockchain data company Chainalysis said Thursday in updating a previous report. Trading surrounding NFTs exploded during 2021, with milestones including the $69 million sale of NFT artwork by auction house Christie’s.
Meanwhile, bitcoin’s valuation soared beyond $2 trillion during 2021, but has since pulled back and was around $821 billion on Thursday, undergoing a big selloff in recent sessions.
O’Leary in May 2019 called bitcoin “garbage” but he has since added the cryptocurrency to his portfolio. He’s also said he has holdings in companies that are developing crypto products such as decentralized wallets.
