Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary mentioned infrastructure is the way forward for crypto and synthetic intelligence, and he’s betting massive.
O’Leary mentioned in an interview with CoinDesk that he now controls 26,000 acres of land throughout a number of areas, aimed toward powering the infrastructure behind AI, cloud computing and crypto. That determine contains 13,000 acres in Alberta, Canada — already disclosed — and one other 13,000 acres in undisclosed places presently present process allowing.
O’Leary, who has been an investor in crypto, mentioned he has over 19% of his portfolio in crypto-related investments, together with digital property, infrastructure and land.
The enterprise mogul already invested in bitcoin miner BitZero in Norway, and has likened bitcoin mining to an actual property play. His concept is that each the mining and knowledge middle companies require huge quantities of land and energy to even begin constructing something. Simply as actual property builders continuously search for good land to construct skyscrapers, miners and AI companies are doing the identical.
Nonetheless, he would not wish to construct the facilities himself; relatively, he desires to amass the land and energy, then lease them again to the corporate to construct.
“My job shouldn’t be essentially to construct an information middle,” O’Leary mentioned. “It’s to organize shovel-ready permits of the entire above talked about.”
In actual fact, he thinks if these companies do not have the land first, many of the introduced knowledge facilities will not be constructed. He claims about half of the info facilities introduced within the final three years “won’t ever get constructed,” describing the frenzy into the area as a “land seize with none understanding of what it takes.”
The lands that he acquired are being ready to assist energy-intensive infrastructure, together with bitcoin mining within the brief time period and hyperscalers and authorities knowledge facilities in the long run. The websites are being developed with full utilities in thoughts — together with energy, water, fiber and air rights — and might be leased out as soon as shovel-ready.
O’Leary mentioned the facility contracts in a few of these places, which he wouldn’t disclose, are extra beneficial than bitcoin itself — particularly these providing sub-six-cent per kilowatt hour pricing. That, he says, is what makes infrastructure extra necessary than tokens in the long term.
All about bitcoin and Ether
O’Leary’s pivot to infrastructure comes as he grows extra skeptical of many of the crypto market.
He mentioned he believes institutional capital — the sort that strikes markets — solely cares about two property: bitcoin and ether. Whereas not too long ago launched exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have helped herald some retail capital, he mentioned they imply little to establishments.
“Within the context of the monetary providers market and asset allocation, [crypto ETFs] aren’t even a teenage pimple… they’re simply nothing,” he mentioned, including a jab at smaller cash. “The numbers inform you, you solely must personal two positions to seize 97.2% of all the volatility [of] all the crypto market since inception, and it’s simply bitcoin and ethereum.”
“All of the poopoo cash are nonetheless caught down wherever from 60 to 90% and so they’re by no means coming again,” he mentioned.
A current report from Charles Schwab confirmed that almost 80% of crypto’s estimated $3.2 trillion market worth is tied up in foundational blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, underscoring how a lot of the business’s worth stays concentrated in its two largest networks, whilst hundreds of newer initiatives compete for consideration and funding.
Regulation is all the pieces
So what’s going to entice the big monetary establishments to transcend investing in simply bitcoin and ether? Rules, in response to O’Leary
He says the actual inflection level will include regulation. Certainly one of them is the crypto market construction invoice presently being labored on within the U.S. Senate, which he’s watching carefully.
Nonetheless, he criticized a clause within the present draft that bans yield on stablecoin accounts — a restriction he mentioned unfairly benefits conventional banks and that in the end triggered crypto alternate Coinbase to tug again assist for the invoice earlier this month.
“That’s an unlevel taking part in discipline,” he mentioned. “Till we permit people who use stablecoins to supply yield to account holders, this act will most likely be stymied.”
Crypto firms — particularly stablecoin issuers and exchanges which work carefully with them, for instance USDC issuer Circle and its companion Coinbase — need to have the ability to supply rewards in some type because of the potential income they generate from these merchandise. Coinbase reported incomes $355 million in income from its stablecoin yield choices within the third quarter of 2025 alone. However different crypto firms pointed to provisions addressing decentralized finance rules, securities rules and regulatory oversight guidelines as different areas of concern.
Nonetheless, O’Leary stays optimistic that the invoice might be mounted — and when it does, he believes it can pave the way in which for enormous institutional allocation into bitcoin.
