One of my favourite self-made billionaires is Mark Cuban.
Working as a bartender in 1982, Mark got the brilliant idea to become a software salesman. He was exposed to exciting new developments for a technology that was revolutionary at the time; computers.
But he was promptly fired for going against his bosses wishes and following up a sales call. With his new knowledge, Cuban decided to start his own company, MicroSolutions. His business simply integrated software systems.
Doesn’t sound too exciting. Yet he would later sell his boring business for US$6 million.
Retired with nothing to do, Cuban again went to work starting a new company, Broadcast.com. Cuban, along with Chris Jaeb and Todd Wagner, created a website that could live stream of their favourite sport, college basketball.
Not long after, a company called Yahoo! came along and bought the company for US$5.7 billion.
Cuban has no need to work. But he’s still actively investing, and owns various companies. His next venture? To grow his wealth in the world of cryptos.
Funding is almost too easy
Take a look at the graph below. It shows the amount of money that’s been raised from initial coin offerings (ICO), an initial public offering for cryptos.
Source: Bloomberg
Can you tell when the popularity of cryptocurrencies picked up? Now, billionaire Cuban wants a piece of the action. As reported by Bloomberg:
‘Mark Cuban wants in on the cryptocurrency boom even if it turns out he’s right that bitcoin is in a bubble.
‘Cuban is investing in 1confirmation, a fund that plans to raise $20 million to invest in blockchain-based companies, the tech billionaire said in an interview. Venture capital firm Runa Capital is among other investors, and its technical advisors include Andreessen Horowitz board partner Balaji S. Srinivasan and programming language JavaScript founder Brendan Eich.’
But rather than invest in digital tokens, 1confirmation plans to invest US$100,000–500,000 in early stage companies, before their ICO. They will help companies develop their products, and hope to receive coins at a discounted price before they’re offered to the public.
It’s a great way to be exposed to cryptos, with far less risk. 1confirmation can sell their coins to the public at a profit before the coin has time to swing up or down.
It’s a more cautious approach, and can be extremely profitable if the ICO is a big hit. It shows just how attractive this market is. Its drawing so much money that even Cuban cannot resist.
Of course, there’s a far bit of risk when buying cryptocurrencies. But you could also potentially make a fortune getting in and out at the right time.
Regards,
Härje Ronngard,
Junior Analyst, Money Morning
If you’ve wanted to learn more about the fast paced world of cryptocurrencies, here would be a good place to start.