In what is most likely a lighthearted take, billionaire investor Mark Cuban has said he would run for the US Presidency if the bitcoin price reaches $1 million per “coin.” Given the supply cap of 21 million units, BTC reaching $1 million would put the top-ranked crypto by market capitalization far eclipse gold’s $10 trillion market size.
Cuban revealed his condition for contesting as a U.S. Presidential candidate in response to a tweet from fellow billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya, stating:
“I’ll run if BTC gets to $1m AND we can get commitments to donate 350 BTC to the Treasury each of the 4 yrs so that we can give 1 satoshi to every citizen each yr, that they must hold for 10 years. How’s that sound?”
Cuban later corrected the math on his proposal to 100 satoshis per person. The Shark Tank star’s comments were in response to Palihapitiya’s clamor for a proverbial third force in the U.S. political landscape by 2030.
Over the years, Cuban’s view on Bitcoin appears to have evolved, but the entrepreneur has stopped short of endorsing BTC completely. Back in Dec. 2019, the NBA franchise owner dismissed notions that Bitcoin would end up becoming reliable currency. Cuban upped the ante in Apr. 2019 stating that it was easier to trade bananas than cryptocurrencies.
However, Cuban recently changed tack, highlighting Bitcoin as an example of a successful asset distribution mechanism. At the time, the billionaire investor panned companies for diluting their valuations with a never-ending cycle of share issuance.
Cuban’s NBA franchise, the Dallas Mavericks, accepts BTC as a payment means. However, according to Cuban, the payment channel has so far failed to attract significant patronage.
While not a proponent of Bitcoin as money, Cuban has espoused the notion of Bitcoin being a store of value like gold.
To reach $1 million by the next presidential election cycle in 2024, the BTC price would have to increase by over 2841% based on the current market value.
According to the Bitcoin stock-to-flow(S2F) model, BTC is on track to reach $55,000 by the end of 2021 on the way to reaching the $1 million price mark after the next halving.
Despite criticisms from several quarters, the S2F model has continued to track the Bitcoin price action with a high degree of accuracy.