Though the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin was created as a joke and its creators never intended for it to be taken seriously, billionaire Mark Cuban sees value in it — especially after it saw a surge of interest earlier this year.
“The point about doge that people miss is that doge’s imperfections and simplicity are it’s greatest strengths,” Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and an investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” tweeted Sunday. “You can only use it to do two things: spend it or HODL it. Both are easy to understand. And it’s cheap to buy. Which makes it a community anyone can join and enjoy.”
After Cuban told CNBC Make It last week that “the community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange,” he was met with disagreement from the bitcoin community on Twitter.
Over the weekend, Cuban clarified that he doesn’t prefer dogecoin over bitcoin, since “they are completely different.”
“But to say doge doesn’t have a place is wrong,” Cuban also tweeted Sunday.
Cuban acknowledged that dogecoin, like other cryptocurrencies, can be difficult to buy, spend and exchange. But, he still seems bullish on dogecoin and believes it has a unique use case over other cryptocurrencies.
“It’s a medium that can be used for the acquisition of goods and services,” he previously told CNBC Make It, especially due to the strong community surrounding it.
Cuban mentioned the success that his NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, has had in accepting dogecoin as payment for merchandise, for example. The Mavericks accept many digital coins, but “95% of the sales are in doge,” Cuban tweeted Saturday. He added that the organization doesn’t convert any of those payments to fiat.
Still, dogecoin is a small part of Cuban’s crypto holdings. He said that he personally owns just $494 worth of doge. And between his personal account and the Mavericks, there’s less than $15,000 of the coin. In addition to dogecoin, Cuban owns bitcoin and other altcoins, such as ether.
However, keep in mind that financial experts are highly skeptical of cryptocurrencies as a whole due to their speculative nature and warn that people should only invest what they can afford to lose.
Some experts say to be especially cautious when investing in dogecoin in particular, since it lacks the scarcity and technological development that bitcoin has, for example.
Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter
Don’t miss:
