Kevin O'Leary, the Canadian investor and television personality known as Mr. Wonderful on the hit show Shark Tank, has revealed that he is prepared to invest 5% of his personal portfolio in a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). O'Leary shared his stance during a podcast hosted by Anthony Pompliano, partner at Morgan Creek Digital.
From Skeptic to Conditional Believer
O'Leary has long been a vocal critic of bitcoin. In May of last year, he told CNBC that bitcoin was “worthless” and “a useless currency,” adding that “it’s garbage because you can’t get in and out of it in large amounts.” Despite these lingering concerns, the Shark Tank star now says he is not opposed to bitcoin. “I do own a small amount of bitcoin,” he admitted, explaining that he purchased the cryptocurrency after being challenged by students in a class he taught at Harvard University to engage with digital assets.
However, O’Leary remains wary of bitcoin’s extreme volatility and the regulatory community’s cautious stance. “Every time I talk off the record to the regulators—because I talk to them all the time for various reasons—they’re a little squeamish on bitcoin, they are not quite there yet,” he warned. He elaborated: “When I can get this thing regulated so that I can put millions of dollars into it and know that I’m not off the side in any way, I’m not breaching anything… and it would be stable.” O’Leary affirmed that if the SEC were to declare bitcoin a legitimate payment system and store of wealth, and allow a bitcoin ETF, “not only would it go up but you’d have a lot of people like me investing in it.”
ETF Preference and Diversification Strategy
The investor stated clearly that under such a scenario he would allocate 5% of his portfolio to a bitcoin ETF. “I’d say okay I’m going to give it a 5% weighting so you know I don’t really want a significant portion of my portfolio having that amount of volatility,” he said. He noted that he prefers ETFs for most of his investments. O’Leary, a strong proponent of diversification, reiterated that it bothers him “a little bit” that in the crypto space one must be “very concentrated to get these returns in one cryptocurrency, bitcoin.” He emphasized that his willingness to invest hinges entirely on SEC approval and the availability of a regulated ETF product.
O’Leary’s comments come at a time when bitcoin prices were hitting new all-time highs in late 2020, and market expectations for a bitcoin ETF were building. While the SEC had repeatedly rejected bitcoin ETF applications in the past, industry observers believed that regulatory clarity was gradually improving. O’Leary’s conditional endorsement reflects the mindset of many traditional investors: they recognize bitcoin’s potential but demand a compliant and stable vehicle before committing significant capital.