In a Twitter thread today, billionaire investor Mark Cuban weighed in on the current state and the future of blockchain technology and investment, ultimately concluding that while there are real obstacles to adoption asset prices are increasingly reflective of real “utility” and “demand,” and that the day will eventually come when crypto is “mature to the point we wondered how we ever lived with out.”
Cuban posted the 10-tweet thread this morning, noting that as the asset class matures prices for cryptocurrencies often are now a byproduct of current use, as opposed to speculative eventual utility.
“Having more TPS and lower gas fees is not enough,” he wrote, likely referring to often grandiose claims from various layer-one chains with little activity, “There must be a CURRENT network effect and significant user growth. This is a challenge for most L1s and L2s because w few exceptions, marketing in the crypto universe is beyond awful.”
He noted that he often leaves teams “confused” when he asks about “their products, sales , gross margin dollars and profits,” but that these metrics are hugely important in what he characterized as a tremendously competitive field.
In addition to marketing woes, the Dallas Mavericks owner said that a lack of widespread understanding about key mechanics such as protocol governance is hampering growth. Not enough is being done, he argued, to “emphasize the impact governance can have on platforms, and their products/services.”
Eventually, however, he believes that governance participation — which at its best can be a “thing of beauty” — will become standard:
“I think over time, governance will be expected of all users and most will contribute by at least voting. But today, it is little understood and that's is stunting some platforms growth.”
One crypto gets over its current phase — one where users need to “be educated and products and services need to be sold and deliver on their initial promises” — then digital assets “can mature to the point we wondered how we ever lived with out.”
Cuban has been especially bullish in his comments on cryptocurrencies as of late, most notably reiterating his support for BTC and Dogecoin as payment options following disparaging remarks from fellow billionaire Elon Musk that may well have crashed markets: