Who is Mike Novogratz? | All you need to know

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• Michael (Mike) Novogratz is one of the most famous investors in crypto assets. Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital.
• Novogratz was one of the first Wall Streeters to publicly recognize digital currencies as a promising and valuable asset class.
• In 2008, Forbes recognized Novogratz as a dollar billionaire.

How did Novogratz get into the crypto industry?

Michael Novogratz was born in 1964 in Alexandria, Virginia (USA), in a large family. Received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Served in the National Guard.

Novogratz made a career as a Wall Street financier. He worked in the offices of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, later became a partner and managed the offices in Latin America. In 2002, he moved to a large investment company, Fortress Investments, where, in particular, he took part in organizing its IPO. The company suffered heavy losses due to the 2007-2008 recession.

In 2015, Novogratz joined a relatively small cryptocurrency investment firm called Galaxy Investment Partners. At the same time, back in 2017, the financier noted that he keeps about 20% of his personal capital in bitcoin and ether.

When did Novogratz start Galaxy Digital?

In 2018, Novogratz founded his own company called Galaxy Digital. The initial volume of its investment fund was $500 million, of which $150 million was provided by Novogratz. The founder himself repeatedly called the company “Goldman Sachs for cryptocurrencies.” Shortly after the start of work, Galaxy Digital held a listing on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange.

Today, Galaxy Digital on its official website calls itself an intermediary between the crypto industry and institutional investors and offers a wide range of financial services for “whales”, up to bitcoin mining.

In addition, the company itself is one of the main institutional investors operating in the cryptocurrency market. As of September 2021, her portfolio included over 150 digital asset projects.

During 2021, the company entered into strategic partnerships with Morgan Stanley and Invesco, and at the end of 2021 raised $500 million in financing through a bond offering.

In May 2022, the total amount of assets under management of Galaxy Digital was about $2 billion, half of which are crypto assets, and the rest is occupied by shares of companies related to the crypto industry.

What is Novogratz and his company investing in?

In one of the interviews, the venture investor admitted that in 2012 he first bought bitcoins at $95, and in 2013 he participated in the Ethereum token sale, buying coins at $0.99.

What does Novogratz think about Bitcoin?

The founder of Galaxy Digital praises bitcoin, calling it the only reliable crypto asset, especially for beginners and residents of countries with a weak national currency. In general, according to the investor, BTC should take at least 2-3% in the portfolio of anyone who is interested in saving their funds.

At the same time, according to the investor’s opinion, which he expressed in the fall of 2021, 75% of modern altcoins will not survive in the next ten years.

Novogratz urges not to pay attention to the volatility of bitcoin, since in the long term the value of the first cryptocurrency will increase by an order of magnitude. At the same time, the venture investor noted that market fluctuations are decreasing as more and more “whales” come to it.

At the same time, an important factor in determining the price of bitcoin, according to Novogratz, will be the refusal of the US Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy. As he stated in April 2022, after the Reserve System stops raising the key rate, the price of bitcoin will settle between $500,000 and $1 million.

However, the venture capitalist is convinced that bitcoin will end up being used to store capital rather than payments. Galaxy Digital analysts predict that both BTC and ETH will double in value by mid-2023.

Is it true that Novogratz invested in Terra?

Indeed, Galaxy Digital has invested heavily in Terra blockchain developer Terrafom Labs, participating in at least two investment rounds in 2021.

Mike Novogratz himself even got a tattoo dedicated to the project at the beginning of 2022, and classified himself as a “lunatic” (as members of the Terra community called themselves).

What does Novogratz think about CBDC?

Since August 2020, the US authorities have been working on a project to create a digital dollar. Mike Novogratz is one of the proponents of a new type of state currency.

According to him, it is necessary to issue a digital dollar as soon as possible, and the relevance of the project is proved by China, which recently expanded the digital yuan testing program. The slowness of the United States in this matter is an “existential crisis” for Novogratz.

The investor also accused the US authorities of “misunderstanding of cryptocurrency” and opposed the tightening of regulation of digital assets.

“Cryptocurrencies are the future of our financial system and citizens deserve officials who do their homework to understand this new technology. We also need regulators and politicians who recognize that new ideas need room to grow,” he wrote.

What does Novogratz think about NFT?

In 2020, along with businessman and writer Gary Vaynerchuk and the head of online retailer Fanatics, Novogratz announced a sports NFT marketplace called Candy Digital.

The first digital item to go on sale on the platform was an NFT with a farewell speech from American baseball player Lou Gehrig. In October 2021, the startup was valued at $1.5 billion.

Novogratz sees the non-fungible token market as “the road to the future.” Soon everyone will use it, the head of Digital Galaxy is sure – it’s “just a matter of time.”