Why Kevin O'Leary thinks NFTs could become bigger than Bitcoin

Published at: Jan. 6, 2022

Millionaire investor and crypto proponent Kevin O'Leary thinks that the NFT sector could be worth more than Bitcoin in the future.

Speaking with CNBC’s Capital Connection on Jan. 5, O'Leary — also known as Mr. Wonderful — argued that NFTs provide a greater potential to attract capital than Bitcoin due to their ability to tokenize and authenticate physical assets such as cars, watches and real estate:

“You’re going to see a lot of movement in terms of doing authentication and insurance policies and real estate transfer taxes all online over the next few years, making NFTs a much bigger, more fluid market potentially than just Bitcoin alone.”

Mr. Wonderful admitted however, that he is not tied to that bet and will still be investing on “both sides of that equation.”

The former crypto skeptic told Cointelegraph in a recent interview that his change in tune towards blockchain and digital assets was due to the growing trend of regulators warming up across the globe over the past couple of years.

Not everyone agrees with comparisons between Bitcoin and NFTs however, with Coingecko digital marketing associate Khai Ren Kuan telling Cointelegraph that it’s “probably not fair to compare Bitcoin, which is a single asset, to NFTs which are an entire sector.”

Kuan did note however, that the NFT adoption curve in 2022 is only going to increase upwards as the sector is still in its early days:

“I think collectively if you look across all NFTs, and the fact that 2021 was year one of market adoption, there’s definitely still a lot of room to grow.”

“We’ve already got a set of 'blue chip' NFTs, but I think the industry is still barely scratching the surface of what NFTs could be and what they could do, particularly if the Metaverse comes to fruition,” he added.

Coingecko recently published a new book called “How to NFT” which provides a rundown for newbies entering the nonfugible space on how to buy, sell, store and mint NFTs. Questioned on whether he thinks the “NFT art narrative” will continue to dominate in 2022, or if the trend will shift towards utility-based NFTs, Kuan said:

“Arts and collectibles are always going to be high on the list as they’re the most beginner-friendly and easiest to understand. In terms of utility NFTs I think what’s probably interesting to watch for is how some NFTs are going to both be art, and have utility.”

“We’ve seen BAYC which the NFT doubles as membership into their ‘club’, and it really helps build a sense of identity and community,” he added.