Kevin O’Leary’s $13M Bet on Rare Sports Card

Kevin O’Leary is popping away from NFTs and placing tens of millions into uncommon, bodily collectibles, particularly high-end sports activities playing cards.

The “Shark Tank” star and O’Leary Ventures chairman just lately co-purchased a $13 million twin Logoman card that includes Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, he stated throughout an interview with CoinDesk TV’s Jennifer Sanasie. The card is one-of-a-kind, and O’Leary—typically referred to as “Mr. Wonderful”—sees it as a cornerstone of his rising “index” of distinctive collectibles.

“The majority of the returns over 20 years have accrued to the collectors who bought the piece uniques,” O’Leary stated, evaluating the technique to his long-standing investments in Andy Warhol artwork and luxurious watches. Rather than outbidding others, O’Leary partnered with two buyers to accumulate the cardboard. “I’d rather own 33 and a third of it than zero,” he stated.

Pouring tens of millions into uncommon sports activities playing cards isn’t a ardour challenge—it’s a calculated wager. “It once traded for $75,000 years and years ago, but it shows you the price appreciation,” O’Leary stated.

“Grown men are going to weep when they see this,” he added.

Tokenization over NFTs

Despite the overlap with tokenization, O’Leary made it clear that he has no real interest in NFTs.

“NFTs turned out to be a fad,” he stated. “I’m only buying assets that are physical assets… That [NFT] fad came and went. I’m very fortunate I didn’t get involved in that because I never understood it.”

O’Leary’s sharp dismissal of NFTs comes just some years after the market exploded in reputation. In 2021, buying and selling quantity on NFT marketplaces surged to $25 billion, up from simply $95 million the 12 months earlier than, in accordance with knowledge from DappRadar and Chainalysis. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Steph Curry rushed to launch collections, whereas main manufacturers together with Nike, Adidas and Coca-Cola entered the house.

But the hype was short-lived. NFT gross sales volumes fell greater than 80% by mid-2022 amid the broader crypto downturn, and costs for high-profile collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks plunged from their peaks, in accordance with the information.

O’Leary’s challenge with NFTS is the shortage of bodily existence of the belongings. “Where is the asset? Where can I put my white glove on and go touch it? That’s what you can’t do with an NFT.”

However, he stated his collectibles “will one day be tokenized,” as a result of “it would be much easier to deal with and manage them in an index that way.”

Wall Street on chain

O’Leary frames this shift as half of a bigger mission: “Wall Street on chain.”

He believes blockchain infrastructure can modernize how belongings are managed—enhancing transparency, liquidity and belief in markets that also rely closely on intermediaries.

He stays bullish on foundational cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, and infrastructure performs like mining operators and exchanges.