Mark Cuban told Ellen DeGeneres she should accept dogecoin as payment for her show's merchandise - and it's better than a lottery ticket

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  • Mark Cuban told Ellen DeGeneres she should accept dogecoin as payment for her merchandise.

  • He said owning dogecoin is better than a lottery ticket, and it's a great way to learn about crypto.

  • After Cuban's appearance on the show, DeGeneres said she still wasn't sure she understood dogecoin.

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Billionaire Mark Cuban said in a virtual appearance on "The Ellen Show" that dogecoin's surging popularity is bizarre given its origins, but it's a great way to understand cryptocurrencies.

He suggested host Ellen DeGeneres should use the meme currency as payment for her show's merchandise.

"At the Mavs (Dallas Mavericks), we sell a lot of merchandise for dogecoin and you should look at it for the Ellen shop - you guys could sell a whole lot of stuff for dogecoin," he said.

DeGeneres said she was interested in and wanted to know more about dogecoin. After the show, she tweeted that she still wasn't sure she understood it.

"Overall, when someone brings up dogecoin to you and asks you if it's a good investment, I would say it's not the world's best investment, but it's a whole lot better than a lottery ticket, and it's a great way to learn and start understanding cryptocurrencies," Cuban said on the show. "And you know what? It could go up. And the second part about it is if it doesn't go up and you want to spend it, you can buy merchandise on the Mavericks store."

The legendary 'Shark Tank' investor reiterated that the meme currency is better than owning a lottery ticket. He recently said his NBA basketball team, which also accepts other cryptocurrencies, is the largest dogecoin merchant in the world - showing that it can be a viable currency.

"Bitcoin is like a digital version of gold, Ethereum is a digital version of a currency and then you got dogecoin, which is just fun," Cuban said when asked for his views on crypto.

Dogecoin, which has limited practical utility, has seen its market cap rise to $36 billion in a blockbuster rally this year, boosted by personalities like Elon Musk. The digital asset was last trading 5% higher on the day at $0.28. It has risen by almost 12,000% in the last 12 months.

Ben Weiss, CEO of bitcoin ATM operator CoinFlip, told Insider one should never invest in anything if they aren't willing to lose. "If you like dogecoin and think it could be a viable currency in the future, or are fans of the idea and the movement, go ahead and invest in it. If you don't like it or think it's a fad, don't invest in it," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider