Crypto Industry Facing Same 'Lull' as Early Internet: Mark Cuban

Billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban compared the current state of the crypto industry with the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s.

“Crypto is going through the lull that the internet went through,” Cuban tweeted on Monday.

According to Cuban, after the initial surge of multiple exciting blockchain applications in DeFi, NFT, and [play-to-earn] fields, “we saw the imitation phase as chains subsidized the movement of those apps to their chains."

He compared the phenomenon to the times when the same over-hyped dot-com firms that offered similar services collapsed.

Cuban, whose net worth is estimated at about $4.7 billion, built his wealth in the 1990s with the sale of his computer consulting firm MicroSolutions. Another company he owned, an internet radio service called Broadcast.com, was later acquired by Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock before being discontinued.

In recent years, the 63-year-old billionaire has been actively investing in the crypto space, with projects like OpenSea, CryptoSlam, and SuperRare making part of his portfolio.

No future for copycats

It’s not all doom and gloom for Cuban as he still sees plenty of room for advancements, especially if this involves commercial smart contract platforms ultimately replacing software as a service (SAAS).

“What we have not seen is the use of smart contracts to improve business productivity and profitability. That will have to be the next driver,” said Cuban.

He also believes that only “the chains that realize this will survive.”

“The chains that copy what every one else has, will fail. We don't need NFTs or DeFi on every chain. We don't need bridges to move NFTs between chains (does this make it fungible?). We need smart contract apps replacing SAAS apps,” added Cuban.

The billionaire’s comments came as the broader crypto market is experiencing a dramatic decline, with the price of Bitcoin plummeting below $30,000 on Monday for the first time since July 2021.