Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary explains why he's buying the dip in bitcoin and ether — and says the collapse of risky tokens will help the crypto market in the long run

• In an exclusive interview with Insider, Kevin O'Leary broke down how he's approaching the crypto bear market.
• The "Shark Tank" investor said the market correction hasn't yet seen a defining moment.

"Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary — otherwise known as Mr. Wonderful — isn't sweating the cryptocurrency bear market. If anything, he thinks it will end up propping up the whole crypto sector in the long run.

The venture capitalist explained that he's been doubling down on tokens, including bitcoin and ether, as well as various Web3 projects even though he acknowledges that not every investment will be a winning bet.

"I'm not selling anything," O'Leary told Insider. "Long term you just have to stomach it. You have to understand you'll get volatility, and that some projects aren't going to work."

His portfolio reflects his bullishness for blockchain technologies more broadly. He currently holds 32 positions in the digital asset space, including solana and blockchain firm Polygon. Meanwhile, the O'Leary-backed WonderFi just became the first crypto-trading platform to be featured on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

But as the crypto bear market has slammed valuations, digital assets now make up 16% of his holdings, down from 20% six months ago, he said.

Still, his long-term view is that blockchain has economic value. During an interview with Insider in April, he said investing in cryptocurrencies is like investing in software.

The future of the crypto sector

O'Leary noted that recent crypto collapses, such as that of stablecoin Terra and sister token Luna, are events that teach investors caution, and can actually help further the technology underpinning digital assets.

"Luna raised 30-plus billion [dollars]," he said. "No one's going to use their idea again. [The collapse] educated everybody that this isn't the way to build a stablecoin. It's important for the education and the maturation of the market."

In the context of global financial markets, he added, the collapse of a token won't change the status quo, even when tens of billions of dollars disappear from the market and some investors lose money. But the lessons are sound.

"It's nothing, a rounding error in the context of a sovereign wealth. It's bad for investors, but they've educated the market on what not to do. It's a good thing," he said.

The smaller projects that fail will help strengthen the market, and the projects that flounder may eventually be regulated out of existence, O'Leary said. Such collapses can also help indicate when the crypto sell-off hits bottom, as a "defining capitulation" will signal the start of a rebound, he said.

Ultimately, the veteran investor isn't just betting on crypto or the blockchain, but the human resources that he sees piling into the sector.

"Look at an MIT graduating class of engineers," O'Leary said. "The smartest people want to work on the [block]chain. So you've got the majority of the best intellectual capital in the world solving poor outcomes on the chain — why wouldn't you expect that to work?"