Mark Cuban, a billionaire investor and television celebrity, has championed cryptocurrency for years, but the defining moment for him came with Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) launching smart contracts.

The Initial Journey

In a June 2024 interview with Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, Cuban said he “paid ättention” to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) early on and even created a Coinbase account to get some “free crypto.”

Mark Cuban revealed that Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong initially reached out to him.

“But I didn’t invest because I didn’t quite grasp it back then,” the “Shark Tank” star said.

This ‘Changed The Game’ For Cuban

But the “trigger moment,” as he described, came when Ethereum rolled out the smart contracts functionality.

“That really is what changed the game in my mind from a technology perspective, because the ability to have external sources that created triggers that then enabled various transactions to occur all independently without any human intervention to me, that’s a big deal,” Cuban said.

He said that smart contracts have the potential to unlock “unique” application opportunities in the future.

Cuban’s Crypto Convictions

Cuban has invested in cryptocurrency heavyweights such as Bitcoin and Ethereum before, but picked ETH as having the highest upside potential among cryptocurrencies. That said, he has endorsed Bitcoin as a superior alternative to gold during economic crises.

Cuban, a minority owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, has also been an avid supporter of Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and frequently uses his public image and social media reach to endorse the cryptocurrency.

Forbes estimates his net worth at $6 billion, with a significant portion stemming from the $5.7 billion sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo! in 1999.