Kevin O’Leary, the investor best known as “Mr. Wonderful” from Shark Tank, believes crypto is on its way to becoming the 12th sector of the U.S. economy.
Speaking in a recent interview ahead of his May 15 keynote at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, O’Leary said, “I consider crypto to be the 12th sector of the economy within five years.”
With bitcoin trading above $100,000 again, O’Leary is doubling down on digital assets. He holds a 19% stake in crypto and related stocks, including shares in Coinbase, Robinhood, and WonderFi.
“Volatility is good for an exchange,” he explained. “No matter what crypto is doing, up or down, the exchange is making money because it’s the infrastructure.”
For earning passive income, he favors the stablecoin USDC over a savings account. “The yield on that this morning is 3.822%. That’s better than a savings account,” he said. O’Leary also disclosed that he is a shareholder in Circle, the company behind USDC.
Despite being bullish on Bitcoin, he still isn’t a fan of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “I never understood why anybody would buy Bitcoin in an ETF and pay fees. That’s insane,” he said. “If I want vol on crypto, just buy Bitcoin.”
He also talked about MicroStrategy stock (MSTR), saying, “Michael Saylor is a great strategist, no question. But why don’t I just own Bitcoin outright?”
O’Leary believes regulation is the key to opening crypto up to big money. He says large funds won’t invest until the same compliance systems used for stocks and bonds apply to digital assets.
“There are trillions of dollars waiting on the sidelines,” he said. “But they can’t move until it’s regulated and the compliance infrastructure is there.”
He’s hopeful that U.S. lawmakers will soon pass rules for stablecoins. If that happens, he said, “you want to own the exchanges.”
O’Leary made it clear that crypto’s wild days are over. “The era of the crypto cowboy is over,” he said. “They’re all in jail or felons. What we need now is compliance.”
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