- Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary said in an interview posted by The Rollup on Sept. 17, 2026, that bitcoin could reach $1 million if the industry addresses concerns that quantum computers could compromise its cryptography.
- O’Leary also said he had reconsidered his previous investment thesis on Ethereum and was focusing instead on energy infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence.
- His energy investments include BitZero, private projects in Canada and the United States, and his first position in uranium.
O’Leary, the Canadian TV host known as Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank, discussed bitcoin’s prospects during an interview at the Avalanche Summit in New York. He linked the cryptocurrency’s potential rise to $1 million to resolving uncertainty about whether future quantum computers could break the algorithms and encryption protecting the network.
O’Leary reconsiders Ethereum bet
O’Leary said that 18 months earlier his strategy had been to buy bitcoin and Ethereum because he expected the crypto industry to standardize around Ethereum. He said that scenario had not materialized.
“People aren’t happy. Who’s next? What other chain is going to get adopted?” O’Leary said.
He now expects different industries may select separate blockchains based on their needs. O’Leary said he no longer regarded Ethereum as the obvious base infrastructure for tokenizing traditional assets.
“I don’t think it’s going to be Ethereum anymore. I don’t think it’s fast enough. I don’t think it’s secure enough. That’s an opinion, my own opinion,” he said.
O’Leary described digital assets as a separate infrastructure domain that could serve all 11 sectors of the S&P 500. He said the blockchain first selected by a major stock exchange for tokenization could attract significant demand for its token as the network processes subsequent transactions.
AI energy investments and quantum risk
O’Leary said he did not want to predict which artificial-intelligence model would lead the market. Instead, he is investing in the infrastructure required to operate AI systems.
“You can’t do AI without power,” he said.
His investments include BitZero, a former bitcoin miner that pivoted into an energy company, and private energy projects in Canada and the United States. O’Leary also said he had opened a uranium position for the first time in his investment career.
He said the development of small modular nuclear reactors could increase uranium demand as data centers require more power. “You might as well buy the picks and shovels of that strategy,” he said.
On bitcoin, O’Leary said its price could reach $1 million if concerns surrounding quantum computing were resolved.
“It [the price] will if it can resolve the doubt creeping in around quantum computing, you know, breaking the algorithms and the chain and the encryption,” he said.
The risk centers on the so-called Q-Day, when a quantum computer becomes powerful enough to break public-key cryptography. No such systems exist today, and estimates for when the required technology might emerge range from the early 2030s to scenarios in which such an attack never becomes practical.
O’Leary said some investors were already considering companies developing quantum technologies as a potential hedge against that risk.
On U.S. crypto regulation, O’Leary said he did not expect the CLARITY Act to pass before the U.S. midterm elections. He said lawmakers could revisit the bill on a bipartisan basis after the elections.
Source: Incrypted
