Kevin O'Leary: 'My Crypto Exposure Is Greater Than Gold for the First Time Ever'

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has revealed that he has more crypto exposure than gold for the first time. He hopes to increase his crypto allocation to 7% in the next few months, emphasizing: “I don’t see a situation where crypto’s ever going away.”

Kevin O’Leary Now Has More Crypto Than Gold

Kevin O’Leary has revealed that his portfolio now has greater exposure to cryptocurrency than gold for the first time. He tweeted Saturday:

For the first time ever, my crypto exposure is greater than gold.

His comment followed his interview with Stansberry Research’s Daniela Cambone, published Friday. Emphasizing, he is “a believer” and an investor in crypto, Mr. Wonderful shared: “At the end of the year, I’m hoping to be at 7% of our operating company’s portfolio in cryptocurrencies.” Moreover, he said, “I’m investing in a wide range of different crypto products as a strategy.”

The Shark Tank star noted:

I am happy to listen to anybody but, I’m sorry, I don’t agree if the answer is you have zero exposure to crypto.

The Idea of Governments Making Bitcoin Illegal Is ‘Far-Fetched’

O’Leary also shared his view on whether governments could ban cryptocurrencies. Citing the comments by Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio stating that governments can kill bitcoin if it becomes too successful, he was asked, “can bitcoin be stopped … will governments win?”

Mr. Wonderful replied: “It’s a great debate. However, the productivity enhancements that are available through cryptocurrencies and the entire infrastructure of the decentralized finance (defi) are too far interesting for even governments. I don’t think the U.S. government wants to fall behind in the development of new payment systems and services online that are being brought forward by the development in all kinds of centralized and decentralized finance systems.” He elaborated:

So I don’t see a situation where crypto’s ever going away … The idea that governments all around the world are going to synchronize and make bitcoin illegal, I think, is far-fetched.

“Crypto is not just betting on the price of bitcoin anymore. There’re so many other ways to invest, particularly in blockchain opportunities, Solana, Ethereum … so many different level ones and then, of course, level two is the derivatives that are put on top of Ethereum and Solana and all the others … NFTs [non-fungible tokens] are [also] going to be growing very quickly,” he added.

Bitcoin vs. Gold

Regarding his gold investment, he said: “I have 5% in gold … I’m going to keep my gold. I see no reason to sell it.”

O’Leary was asked whether he agreed with Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya, who recently said bitcoin “has officially replaced gold.”

He replied: “No. Nothing’s going to replace gold. Gold has been tried and proven for 2,000 years. The Romans were hoarding it. I think what happens is gold will remain an asset class in portfolios, like mine and others, as a property.”

Regarding the overall crypto industry, O’Leary concluded:

I just see a lot of investment opportunities, and I’m going to be an investor in that space.