Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that originally started as a joke in 2013, is now surging as billionaires like Elon Musk and celebrities like Snoop Dogg tweet their interest.
Among those billionaires is Mark Cuban.
Don’t get him wrong, Cuban realizes dogecoin has no intrinsic value — but it sure is fun.
“Dogecoin is less than a dime. You can buy $1 worth or $10 worth, and have fun watching it all day,” Cuban, an investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, told Forbes on Monday. “[W]ith all seriousness, it’s the best entertainment bang for your buck available.”
Beyond the entertainment value, what’s happening with dogecoin is also a teachable moment, according to Cuban. In fact, he “bought a few dollars worth” of dogecoin for his 11-year-old son, Jake, he told Forbes. Together, they “watch it and discuss all its price movements and why they occur. It’s fun and educational for him.”
In January, Cuban tweeted that his son bought $10 worth of the “doggie coin.”
Since dogecoin started as a parody, based on the “doge” meme (which involved a Shiba Inu dog) Forbes asked Cuban whether its recent popularity is a “bad look” for the cryptocurrency market.
“No, it’s not a bad look,” Cuban said. But “that’s not to say [dogecoin] has any intrinsic value. It doesn’t.”
“But so what,” the billionaire investor said. “It gives you a better chance of winning than a lottery ticket, all while teaching the economics of supply and demand and introducing people to crypto assets.”
Even with the surge, dogecoin is only priced at $0.078945 as of 1:14 p.m. ET on Monday.
“I truly love it as the lowest cost economics teaching tool available that entertains at the same time,” Cuban told Forbes.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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