The crypto asset Kevin O’Leary trusts most is one that hardly budges. According to the “Shark Tank” investor, stablecoins carry the least risk in the market at the moment, and he places them above Bitcoin (BTC) and all other tokens.
He points to two things: clearer regulation and guarantees from the U.S. Treasury. In his view, those factors put stablecoins in a far lower risk tier than Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
Three tiers of crypto risk
In a recent post on X, the Canadian billionaire nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” sorted crypto assets by volatility, regulation and prospects for adoption. The result was three separate groups.
“Everybody knows crypto is volatile, but crypto is different things,” O’Leary said.
At the top of his list were stablecoins. “You would call stablecoins the safest right now,” he said, citing the GENIUS Act, the law that created federal rules for payment stablecoins in the United States.
“It’s really digital money,” O’Leary said.
The law behind his pick
Enacted in July 2025, the GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers that fall under it to back their tokens with reserves of eligible liquid assets.
Stablecoins still carry risk. They’re designed to keep a fairly steady price, but any single coin’s safety comes down to the quality of its reserves, the identity of its issuer and the terms for redeeming it. Naming “stablecoins” as a whole category glosses over those factors, and they’re what determine whether a particular coin holds its value.
Bitcoin gets its own bucket
Bitcoin sits in a category of its own in O’Leary’s breakdown, and he described it as far more volatile than the rest.
“A little more risky and a lot more volatile is, of course, Bitcoin,” he said.
O’Leary continues to view Bitcoin as a speculative asset. He added that regulatory worries are, for the time being, slowing institutional adoption of the biggest cryptocurrency.
He cited the CLARITY Act, which has not been signed into law. The bill suffered a major setback in September when it failed to pass the Senate. While it stays stalled, the institutional capital he expects to flow into Bitcoin remains on the sidelines.
Ethereum is judged like software
Ethereum (ETH) and other blockchain tokens make up the final group. O’Leary likened blockchain technology to enterprise software and said these tokens still need to prove adoption.
In short, his ranking tracks the legal paperwork. A federal law backs stablecoins. Bitcoin is waiting on a bill that the Senate failed to pass in September. Ethereum and other tokens have to earn users the same way enterprise software does.