Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban has sent shockwaves through the market after revealing he recently dumped 80% of his Bitcoin holdings. His reasoning? The flagship cryptocurrency failed to act as a safe-haven hedge during recent geopolitical turmoil.
However, prominent crypto veterans are calling out the billionaire’s logic, pointing out that the market data suggests Cuban may have simply panic-sold at the exact wrong time.
A macro asset in a micro window
Cuban’s abrupt exit from Bitcoin was prompted by the cryptocurrency’s extremely underwhelming price action during the recent geopolitical flare-up.
Traditional safe-haven assets like gold surged to $5,000, Bitcoin experienced a temporary dip.
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For Cuban, this short-term divergence was enough to jump ship. He called the asset a disappointment, arguing that Bitcoin had “lost the plot.”
However, market analysts were quick to point out a fatal flaw in Cuban’s thesis given that he judged a four-year cycle asset by a four-week window.
Bringing the receipts
Blockstream CEO and Cypherpunk legend Adam Back took to X to shut down Cuban’s bearish narrative.
According to Back, the numbers simply do not support Cuban’s frustration.
Bitcoin has surged 25-30% from its recent local bottom of roughly $60,000.
Compared to traditional markets over that same recovery period, Bitcoin has vastly outperformed equities; the S&P 500 is up 11% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is up 5%.
Furthermore, the gold narrative Cuban leaned on has since collapsed, with the precious metal dropping 14% from its recent highs.
“I don’t know what @mcuban is trying to say,” Back wrote. “[It] doesn’t line up with data unless he sold the bottom.”
Cuban is not unbiased, so his criticism has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
For years, the former Dallas Mavericks majority owner was one of Bitcoin’s most vocal traditional finance critics.
In 2019, Cuban famously stated that he would “rather have bananas” than the flagship cryptocurrency since the latter has less utility.
Shortly after this, Cuban became fascinated by the technology of decentralized finance (DeFi).
He even leaned into the highly speculative side of the industry, becoming a Dogecoin ($DOGE) supporter.
Now, the pendulum has swung in the other direction.
After the crash, Cuban has also bluntly dismissed the broader speculative market and labeled memecoins as “garbage” (despite previously supporting $DOGE).
