Kevin O’Leary Drops $13M on Collectible Card While Declaring ‘NFTs Were Just a Fad’

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary just made headlines—again—but this time, he’s betting big on physical collectibles while throwing digital assets under the bus.

O’Leary, never one to mince words, called NFTs a passing trend—right before splashing $13 million on a rare collectible trading card. Talk about mixed signals.

So, what gives? The financier-turned-TV-personality has long been a vocal crypto advocate, but his latest move suggests a pivot toward tangible—or at least traditional—high-value assets.

Maybe it’s about durability. Maybe it’s about perceived value. Or maybe it’s just another rich guy hedging his bets while the rest of us try to keep up.

Either way, it’s a bold statement—one that’s got the crypto world buzzing and traditional collectors nodding smugly. Classic O’Leary: stirring the pot with one hand while writing a check with the other.

Tokenization over NFTs

Despite the overlap with tokenization, O’Leary made it clear that he has no interest in NFTs.

"NFTs turned out to be a fad," he said. "I'm only buying assets that are physical assets... That [NFT] fad came and went. I'm very fortunate I didn't get involved in that because I never understood it."

O’Leary’s sharp dismissal of NFTs comes just a few years after the market exploded in popularity. In 2021, trading volume on NFT marketplaces surged to $25 billion, up from just $95 million the year before, according to data from DappRadar and Chainalysis. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Steph Curry rushed to launch collections, while major brands including Nike, Adidas and Coca-Cola entered the space.

But the hype was short-lived. NFT sales volumes fell more than 80% by mid-2022 amid the broader crypto downturn, and prices for high-profile collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks plunged from their peaks, according to the data.

O’Leary's issue with NFTS is the lack of physical existence of the assets. "Where is the asset? Where can I put my WHITE glove on and go touch it? That's what you can't do with an NFT."

However, he said his collectibles "will one day be tokenized," because "it WOULD be much easier to deal with and manage them in an index that way."

Wall Street on chain

O’Leary frames this shift as part of a larger mission: "Wall Street on chain."

He believes blockchain infrastructure can modernize how assets are managed—improving transparency, liquidity and trust in markets that still rely heavily on intermediaries.

He remains bullish on foundational cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and infrastructure plays like mining operators and exchanges.