Copper and energy investments become Kevin O'Leary's main focus surpassing Bitcoin

Renowned investor Kevin O’Leary has made significant shifts in his investment strategy, redirecting his focus from small tokens to physical assets and infrastructure. His new approach is built on the conviction that energy now holds a value exceeding bitcoin, prompting O’Leary to acquire land containing natural gas in Alberta and the United States.

Transition Strategy: From Altcoins to Energy Infrastructure and Copper

O’Leary’s perspective is based on the massive growth in energy demand from two main sectors: bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI). Entities capable of controlling electricity supply are strategically positioned to serve these emerging markets. The logical consequence of this thesis is a reorientation of capital toward assets that support energy production.

Beyond energy, O’Leary also recommends paying special attention to copper and gold. His empirical observations show that copper prices have increased nearly fourfold over the past 18 months for his own projects, reflecting strong global demand for this industrial metal. Copper, as a critical component in electrical infrastructure and green technology, offers exposure to long-term growth that does not depend on cryptocurrency market volatility.

Crypto Platforms as Bridges: Robinhood, Coinbase, and the Digital Ecosystem

Although moving away from altcoins, O’Leary still sees value in the established crypto ecosystem. He evaluates Robinhood and Coinbase as strategic infrastructure investments that do not require special considerations. Robinhood is viewed as a primary bridge for investors to manage traditional equities and crypto assets within a unified portfolio, while Coinbase is considered the de facto standard for companies managing stablecoin transactions and vendor payments.

This stance reflects O’Leary’s recognition that these platforms provide fundamental infrastructural utility, regardless of crypto price fluctuations. This is different from direct investments in altcoins, which he believes face fundamental challenges.

Strong Warning for Altcoins: Why Bitcoin and Ethereum Dominate

O’Leary’s view on altcoins is highly critical. He liquidated 27 positions in October, arguing that sovereign wealth funds and market indices focus solely on Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to O’Leary, these two cryptocurrencies capture over 97% of market alpha, making alternative tokens irrelevant investment tools for large allocators.

This critique includes Solana, which despite gaining market attention, O’Leary considers merely as “software” facing ongoing challenges in competing with Ethereum’s market footprint. Solana faces what O’Leary calls a “Sisyphus task”—a relentless effort to chase marketing momentum and adoption levels held by more established protocols.

Contrasting with the happy sentiment of Pudgy Penguins emerging as the most solid NFT brand in this cycle, with a strategy of acquiring users through mainstream channels—toys, retail partnerships, and viral media—before bringing them into Web3 via games and PENGU tokens, altcoins generally face different fundamental difficulties.

Regulatory Factors Hindering Large-Scale Government Fund Allocations

Regulatory hurdles play a crucial role in the current crypto investment landscape. O’Leary predicts that significant capital appreciation in crypto assets will not occur until the “Clarity Act” is enacted, with approval estimated around mid-May. The delay in legislation is partly driven by Coinbase’s objections to yield policies on stablecoins.

O’Leary’s stance on this issue is quite firm: he considers it unfair that traditional banking institutions can generate yields from customer deposits while stablecoin holders cannot do the same. In O’Leary’s view, this imbalance contradicts fundamental principles of American economics.

However, he is confident that the bill will be passed before mid-term elections, as legislative staff have allocated substantial time resources to finalize this process. Funds managing $500 billion in assets are trying to allocate up to 5% of their portfolios to the crypto asset class, but are currently blocked by their compliance departments, which still require regulatory clarity.

Market Momentum: From Pudgy Penguins to XRP ETF Flows

Market signals indicate interesting dynamics despite cautious sentiment. XRP has declined about 4% this month, but on-chain data reveals underlying investor interest strengthening. The US-listed spot XRP ETF has attracted a net inflow of $91.72 million this month, contrasting with the ongoing outflows from Bitcoin ETFs.

Meanwhile, the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem continues to grow as one of the most solid native NFT IP platforms in this cycle. From a phygital product that has generated over $13 million in retail sales and sold over 1 million units, to a game downloaded more than 500,000 times in two weeks, this ecosystem demonstrates how Web3 can integrate with traditional consumer channels. The widely distributed PENGU tokens to over 6 million wallets reflect an inclusive initiation strategy, although the market currently values Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP companies.

Ongoing success will depend on execution in three critical areas: retail expansion, gaming adoption, and deepening token utility—metrics that investors will monitor in the coming quarters.

Recent data shows Bitcoin at $88,000 with a 1.33% decrease in 24 hours, Ethereum at $2,950 with a 1.66% decrease, and XRP at $1.88 with a 2.08% decrease. These price dynamics align with O’Leary’s view that the market is still waiting for regulatory clarity before making large-scale capital allocations.

O’Leary’s investment philosophy, focusing on energy, copper, and digital infrastructure, reflects an evolution in thinking among institutional investors—from speculative optimism about all crypto assets to a more selective approach based on tangible fundamental assets.