The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 32: Mark Cuban still skeptical on BTC, trade NBA collectibles on blockchain, Vaionex Corp completes seed funding

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While recent weeks saw famous personalities talk and even endorse digital currencies, one business maverick shifts the discussion into what it is not, and shares his excitement on blockchain.

This week, Mark Cuban weighed in on the technology at his recent podcast interview with The Defiant, where he talked about his journey with digital currencies. Cuban is all in on blockchain, although he says it still has a long way to go. He also touched on explaining why he is bullish on digital currencies in general. However, unlike Elon Musk, he remains skeptical about BTC.

Cuban admits that to this day, he is not a believer of BTC. He thinks that it is only as a store of value but not a currency. He adds that he listened to talks over the years about how the Lightning Network will change that but for him, it still has not happened.

Cuban explains that he also doesn’t think that there is any correlation between what happens with the Federal Reserve and the price of BTC, which often is the argument of those who are pushing for gold and digital currencies.

The “Shark Tank” star, however, maintains a positive outlook on blockchain.

“Blockchain, in particular, is really starting to mature,” said Cuban. He added, “We’re starting to see applications that are really coming into play.”

Cuban said it reminds him of the early days of the internet where people start talking about internet applications and new ways to use it. The Dallas Mavericks owner has invested in tech startups, food, healthcare, sports and more.

Speaking of the NBA, a blockhain startup that signed a deal with the league in 2020 to let fans buy collectible video moments from NBA games is raking in millions.

Dapper Labs, a blockchain-based games provider, made US$50 million in sales in just 30 days through its platform ‘NBA Top Shot,’ the go-to site to buy these digital NBA collectibles.

This is how the company leverage the blockchain. Dapper Labs verifies the number of the NBA-selected best moments from games that it wants to publish on its blockchain. The company sells these moments through NBA Top Shot’s “digital packs,” which fans can buy on the platform. It is like buying a pack of NBA trading cards.

Sports enthusiasts can store the collectible moments in a digital wallet. They can sell and trade these collectibles for a profit. Each digital pack price ranges from $9 to $230. This is not concrete as its value depends on the star power of the players and its scarcity level of the moment. In fact, the latest viral moment of Lebron James was traded for more than $71,000.

This week, another blockchain startup is celebrating after it completed a seed funding round.

Vaionex Corporation, a startup founded by a group of the University of Cambridge students that specializes in solutions at the intersection of data science and blockchain technology, announced that they have received investment from Two Hop ventures.

It currently is operating five proprietary blockchain-based technology platforms, which were built to establish an integrated blockchain infrastructure and development ecosystem.

The Dutch venture capital firm’s investment will support and accelerate the development of Vaionex’s ecosystem. This includes Satolearn, a blockhain education platform, Metashard, an on-chain database storage and management platform, and APIandME, a digital marketplace for buying and selling APIs.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.