Mark Cuban says blockchain today reminds him of the internet in 1995 — chaotic, misunderstood, and quietly rebuilding the economic rails of an entire industry.
Back then, Cuban launched Broadcast.com and sold it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion right before the dot-com crash. He sees a similar early-stage opportunity in blockchain today.
| Era | What Was Digitized |
|---|---|
| Early Internet (1995) | Information and industries |
| Blockchain (2026) | Ownership, contracts, and value exchange |
In a podcast conversation with Justin Kan, Cuban said that if it were 1995 again, he’d be going all-in building digital applications. The early internet wasn’t really about websites — it was about digitizing whole industries. Blockchain is doing something similar, but for ownership and value exchange rather than just information.
NFTs exploded in 2021 as digital collectibles, and most people saw pixel art selling for millions and assumed it was pure speculation. But underneath the hype, NFTs introduced real infrastructure.
Cuban himself invested in NFTs, including NBA Top Shot moments, and auctioned digital experiences tied to the Dallas Mavericks — understanding early that verified digital scarcity changes how assets get valued.
Building another NFT art marketplace misses the point. The bigger opportunity lies in solving inefficiencies where trust is expensive, middlemen take large cuts, ownership verification is messy, and contracts require manual enforcement — exactly where smart contracts shine.
Rather than launching another token, the stronger play is building tools that let musicians sell royalty-backed NFTs, filmmakers crowdfund with revenue-share tokens, and influencers tokenize exclusive access.
The ShiftThe future isn’t about selling JPEGs — it’s about programmable revenue streams that remove disputes and automate payouts.
Cuban grew up trading baseball cards and understands the friction of physical collectibles firsthand — counterfeits, grading disputes, shipping risk, and escrow complications. Blockchain eliminates most of this friction through hybrid verification systems that track physical assets digitally, from luxury goods and watches to rare sneakers and real estate titles.
Most companies don’t need to launch a token — they need automated vendor payments, escrow-based services, transparent supply chain tracking, and decentralized identity systems. A SaaS company that simplifies blockchain integration for SMEs is a far stronger long-term bet than another meme coin launch.
Cuban points out that Gen Z values digital goods more than previous generations — game skins, digital collectibles, online identities, and virtual real estate already carry cultural value. Blockchain simply formalizes and secures what already matters to them, and cultural shifts like this tend to create billion-dollar markets.
The common mistake among crypto founders is building tokens first. The smarter approach is building utility first — the companies that survived past crypto cycles weren’t hype-driven, they solved infrastructure problems like exchanges, custody, developer tools, and Layer-2 scaling.
Real ChallengesRegulatory uncertainty, token classification issues, crypto market volatility, security vulnerabilities, and market saturation in NFT platforms are all still very real. This isn’t 2021 — users are smarter, capital is tighter, and hype cycles are shorter. But infrastructure tends to win long term.
Both solve real problems, both reduce friction, and both align with where digital ownership is heading.
A blockchain business builds products or services using decentralized ledger technology, often focused on smart contracts, digital ownership, tokenization, or dApps.
NFT speculation has cooled since 2021, but infrastructure-based NFT businesses — like creator monetization tools and verification platforms — still show long-term potential.
Start by identifying industries with trust inefficiencies, then build smart contract-based solutions that automate payments, ownership tracking, or verification.
Not always. Blockchain is most useful specifically where transparency, decentralization, and trustless transactions are critical requirements.
Music royalties, digital collectibles, supply chain tracking, real estate tokenization, and digital identity management are among the most likely candidates.
