Investors soon will prefer trading digital gold to the real deal, Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, told Bloomberg TV in a Thursday afternoon interview.
Although Bitcoin’s current market cap isn’t yet one-tenth of gold’s —$1.21 trillion compared with $13.79 trillion—the top cryptocurrency by market cap, he noted, soon could supersede a store of wealth known the world over.
“It will be, and it won’t wait. It will be larger than gold,” Novogratz said.
Of the estimated $85 trillion in baby boomer wealth, the majority is managed by registered investors, approximately half of which have access to the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, he says. If platforms like BlackRock and Fidelity, largely powered by baby boomer wealth, encourage their clients to allocate a minimal 1% to 3% of their assets to the cryptocurrency, that amounts to trillions in new liquidity.
“This is probably the first time in the history of Bitcoin that we have a true price discovery,” he said, as never before have both institutional and retail investors had access to it.
Novogratz also predicts that once the bubble of boomer wealth passes down a generation, allocations to digital assets should only accelerate.
“For every Charlie Munger—God rest his soul—who passes away, that money is finding its way to Gen Z and millennials, and they feel much more comfortable with digital gold than old, clunky gold,” he said.
However, Novogratz did caution that a Bitcoin price correction could unfold in the coming days or weeks: “I would say we’ve gotten to very frothy, frothy levels.” But he doesn’t see Bitcoin dipping below the mid-$50,000s before climbing again.
Bitcoin spiked to $63,968 on Wednesday, edging closer to its all-time high of about $69,000, a move that’s exhausted crypto providers like Coinbase, which suffered outages as app and site traffic surged.
Demand has been bolstered by colossal net inflows into the ETFs, which set a new record for daily trading volumes on Wednesday, with more than $7.6 billion in activity, according to Bloomberg data. The day before, BlackRock saw $520 million flood into its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF, the largest daily inflow yet.
Moreover, on April 19, Bitcoin is poised to undergo a so-called halving, which cuts the daily supply of newly minted coins by 50%, another tailwind at play. This event has historically caused prices to soar, increasing on average by 14% in the run-up.
But the way the cycle is performing is already “really different” from the previous three halvings, because we’re nearing the all-time high almost two months before the event, said Matteo Greco, an analyst at Fineqia International. “It’s not something that historically has happened before,” he said, adding that Bitcoin typically peaks six to 12 months after a halving.
The ETF inflows averaged $500 million on Monday and Tuesday, according to Bloomberg data, which equates to about 10,000 Bitcoin being bought per day. However, miners are only minting 900 Bitcoins, which will soon be 450, Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, told Fortune.
“The demand has been satisfied by the inventory placed on exchanges, but this inventory is also dwindling rather quickly,” he said.
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FAQs
“It will be, and it won't wait. It will be larger than gold,” Novogratz said. Of the estimated $85 trillion in baby boomer wealth, the majority is managed by registered investors, approximately half of which have access to the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, he says.
When did Mike Novogratz buy Bitcoin? ›
He first bought bitcoin in 2013, and has since invested in a range of startups and tokens within the cryptocurrency industry. His most notorious failure was betting big on Luna, a token tied to stablecoin TerraUSD, which blew up in 2022. Novogratz had tattooed its logo on his arm.
Who is the CEO of Galaxy Bitcoin? ›
Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC.
How many new millionaires from Bitcoin? ›
As crypto rallies, the number of bitcoin millionaires has more than doubled in the last year. According to a new report from New World Wealth and Henley & Partners, the number of bitcoin millionaires has risen to 85,400, a 111% increase in 12 months.
How much Bitcoin does the person with the most Bitcoin have? ›
Who owns the most Bitcoin in the world? The top Bitcoin holder is still believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, who reportedly holds around 1.1 million BTC across many wallets. Despite this large holding, the top 15 holders collectively only possess about 7.5% of the total Bitcoin supply.
Why did Mike Novogratz leave Goldman? ›
Novogratz claims his departure from Goldman, a year after the firm went public, was due to the consequences of "partying like a rockstar". In March 2002, Novogratz joined Fortress Investments in time to join Wesley Edens, Robert Kauffman, Randal Nardone and Peter Briger, Jr.
Who owns 90 of Bitcoin? ›
BitInfoCharts data shows that around 1.86% of wallet addresses — over one million — hold more than 90% of all total BTC currently in circulation. Known as whales, some of these individuals or entities hold large amounts of crypto.
Has anyone gotten rich from Bitcoin? ›
Bitcoin has made many millionaires already, and you could be one, too. Over the course of its 15-year history, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has made plenty of millionaires. In fact, data from the blockchain analytics platform Glassnode shows roughly 115,000 wallet addresses with a balance of more than $1 million today.
Which crypto will make you a millionaire? ›
Bitcoin. Bitcoin accounts for nearly one-half of the total, with 85,400 millionaires. That's a stunning increase of 111% on a year-over-year basis. And it gets even better than that, because there are also 156 Bitcoin centi-millionaires (those with wealth of $100 million or greater), as well as 11 Bitcoin billionaires.
How do crypto millionaires cash out? ›
How to cash out your crypto or Bitcoin
- Use an exchange to sell crypto. ...
- Use your broker to sell crypto. ...
- Go with a peer-to-peer trade. ...
- Cash out at a Bitcoin ATM. ...
- Trade one crypto for another and then cash out. ...
- Bottom line.
Who Owns the Most Bitcoins? Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoins, with estimates suggesting over 1 million BTC mined in the early days of the network.
How many people own 100000 Bitcoin? ›
Bitcoin Wealth Distribution
Today, four bitcoin addresses contain 100,000 to 1,000,000 BTC for a total of 577,502 BTC. The next 97 largest owners, who range from 10,000 - 100,000 BTC, own a total of 2,339,913 BTC. These wealthiest 97 addresses account for about 11% of the total supply.
When did Michael Saylor first buy Bitcoin? ›
Michael Saylor, the chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, started buying Bitcoin in 2020 as an inflation hedge and alternative to holding cash.
When was Bitcoin first purchasable? ›
The transaction that first gave Bitcoin monetary value was in October 2009, when Finnish computer science student Martti Malmi, known online as Sirius, sold 5,050 coins for $5.02, giving each Bitcoin a value of $0.0009 each. The exchange took place on PayPal.
When did Bitcoin reach $100? ›
In early April 2013, the price per bitcoin dropped from $266 to around $50 and then rose to around $100. Over two weeks starting late June 2013 the price dropped steadily to $70. The price began to recover, peaking once again on 1 October at $140.
When did Bitcoin reach $2,000? ›
It closed in 2016 at around $1,000. The following year, more investors poured into the asset as increasing media coverage drew in the average retail customer. Price barriers were easily torn apart. BTC broke through $1,000 in early January 2017 and $2,000 in May 2017.
