Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary, both prominent panelists on the reality TV show "Shark Tank," have been close friends for a long time, yet their opinions on the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) have yet to align.
Cuban’s ‘Real Money’
Cuban, a billionaire investor and minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been an avid supporter of Dogecoin and frequently uses his public image and social media reach to endorse the dog-themed meme coin.
In February 2021, while the coin was gaining steam for a bull cycle, Cuban famously said, "”If I had to choose between buying a lottery ticket and Dogecoin ….I would buy Dogecoin. But please don't ask me to choose between it and anything else."
Earlier that year, the Dallas Mavericks, which was then majority owned by Cuban, started accepting Dogecoin as payment for tickets and merchandise. Cuban said in a 2022 podcast that at the time, Dogecoin was "real money" for them.
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O’Leary Compared DOGE To Gambling
Canadian business tycoon O'leary, who shared space with Cuban for many years on Shark Tank, however, is not nearly as convinced.
In a July 2021 interview with CNBC, "Mr Wonderful" likened investing in Dogecoin to gambling in Las Vegas.
"When you speculate on something like Dogecoin, that's no different than going to Las Vegas and putting your money on red or black," he said, adding that he has no plans of adding Dogecoin to his cryptocurrency portfolio.
The remark came despite the meme coin blasting to an all-time high only a couple of months earlier.
Who Has Proven To Be Right?
Most of these remarks, whether positive or negative, were made during Dogecoin’s bull market in 2021. It is then necessary to examine how the meme giant has performed since then.
When Cuban adopted Dogecoin as a payment method for the Mavericks on March 4, 2021, 1 DOGE was worth $0.05005. Today, it’s up by more than 327%.
By the time O’Leary compared it to gambling on July 29, 2021, it had risen to $0.2046. Since then, it has barely grown by 4%.
It’s worth noting that DOGE peaked in May 2021 and quickly retraced. Currently, it is down more than 70% from its peak.
| Sharks | DOGE Price (Recorded On March 2021) | DOGE Price (Recorded at 2:00 a.m. ET) | Gains +/- |
| Mark Cuban | $0.05005 | $0.2142 | 327% |
| Sharks | DOGE Price (Recorded On July 2021) | DOGE Price (Recorded at 2:00 a.m. ET) | Gains +/- |
| Kevin O’Leary | $0.2046 | $0.2142 | 4.69208% |
Photo Courtesy: Kathy Hutchins on Shutterstock.com
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