Selling off Most Bitcoin! Billionaire K​u​b​a​n: The “digital gold” anti-inflation narrative is completely shattered

Billionaire Mark Cuban recently said publicly that, because Bitcoin has deviated from its positioning as an inflation hedge and a safe-haven asset and has failed to show the expected market performance, he has sold off most of his holdings.

Cuban admits he has sold most of his Bitcoin

Billionaire and former owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, recently stated publicly that he has sold most of his Bitcoin ($BTC) holdings, citing that he is gradually losing confidence in Bitcoin’s ability to serve as an inflation hedge and safe-haven asset. In an interview with Front Office Sports, Cuban said plainly: “I think Bitcoin has already deviated from its original positioning.”

For many years, Cuban has been one of the crypto supporters. He has repeatedly said publicly that, because Bitcoin has a fixed supply and is decentralized, it is a better store of value than gold. However, he said that recent market performance during the U.S.-Iran conflict completely changed his view.

Cuban pointed out that after local geopolitical risks rose and the U.S. dollar weakened, gold prices surged rapidly—at one point even breaking through $5,000 per ounce—but Bitcoin did not show the safe-haven trend he originally expected.

He said: “Every time the dollar drops, Bitcoin should theoretically rise, but it didn’t. This is not the safe-haven asset I originally expected.”

Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative faces renewed doubt

In recent years, Bitcoin supporters have emphasized its “digital gold” positioning, believing it can become a haven for capital when inflation heats up, currencies are devalued, and geopolitical risks increase.

But actual market performance continues to trigger controversy. Bitcoin’s current price is around $77,000. Compared with last year’s peak of $126,000, it is still down more than 38%. By comparison, gold has still risen more than 37% over the past year; with a global market value exceeding $31 trillion, it remains the world’s largest safe-haven asset.

Cuban believes that recent market moves show Bitcoin is closer to a high-volatility risk asset.

However, some Bitcoin supporters have pushed back against Cuban’s claims. Some data shows that since tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated at the end of February this year, Bitcoin’s cumulative gain has actually exceeded 16%, while gold has fallen more than 15% from its high over the same period.

Market analysis suggests that whether Bitcoin has safe-haven capabilities depends largely on the time window being observed, as well as how investors define a “safe-haven asset.”

Cuban still bullish on Ethereum and DeFi applications

Although Cuban has become more conservative about Bitcoin, he has not completely turned bearish on the crypto industry. He said that compared with Bitcoin, Ethereum still has clearer real-world application value—especially in the DeFi, smart contract, and blockchain application industries.

Cuban previously supported Ethereum and the NFT market for a long time, and he has also publicly shown his NFT wallet. In 2021, his crypto asset allocation was about 60% Bitcoin, 30% Ethereum, and 10% other cryptocurrencies.

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In addition, he has also previously been one of the supporters of Dogecoin ($DOGE). He even accepted Dogecoin as a payment method for NBA team merchandise, and he once believed that Dogecoin had the potential to operate close to a stablecoin-like mode.

However, Cuban’s attitude toward meme coins and many highly speculative tokens has clearly turned more negative. He said bluntly: “Meme coins and most tokens are basically trash.”

Image source: Crypto City illustration. Mark Cuban directly stated: Meme coins and most tokens are basically trash

He also admitted that his biggest disappointment with the entire crypto industry is that, so far, it still lacks truly real-world use cases that the general public can widely adopt. Cuban said that the crypto industry is still stuck at the trading and speculation stage, and there is still a long way to go before it truly enters mainstream daily life.

The market starts to reassess Bitcoin’s positioning

Cuban’s remarks also reflect that differences in the market’s views on Bitcoin’s positioning are intensifying.

• One camp of investors still believes that Bitcoin has long-term advantages in resisting inflation, resisting currency devaluation, and being decentralized;
• The other camp argues that Bitcoin’s current price volatility still depends heavily on market risk appetite, and it remains highly correlated with tech stocks.

In recent years, major financial institutions—including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley—have rolled out Bitcoin ETFs, indicating that Wall Street capital continues to flow in. However, market focus has gradually shifted from simply holding Bitcoin to blockchain infrastructure with more application scenarios, including stablecoins, tokenized assets, on-chain payments, and DeFi financial services.

Cuban’s public reduction of his Bitcoin holdings once again puts the “digital gold” narrative under pressure. Especially after gold and Bitcoin showed different trends during geopolitical risks, the market has started to rethink whether Bitcoin is more like a safe-haven asset or a high-volatility tech asset.