Novogratz Doesn’t Expect Bitcoin To Head North For A Few More Months

Mike Novogratz, a Wall Street legend with decades of experience as an institutional hotshot, made a full transition into Bitcoin (BTC) just years ago, as he saw a potential that was reminiscent of that seen during the early Internet. While the former Goldman Sachs partner tweeted incessantly about the subject matter in 2017 & early-2018, he started to fall silent in the waning months of yesteryear, as BTC and other cryptocurrencies lost steam en-masse.

However, after a seeming hiatus from participating in the zany echo chamber that is Crypto Twitter, Novogratz has returned. And with a fiery passion for this industry that has remained unrelenting. In a tweet posted Friday that garnered mounds of engagement on social media, Novogratz, acknowledging that he hasn’t commented on cryptocurrency “in a while,” explained that there’s a chance that the crypto market, Bitcoin included, won’t “head north” for at least a few more months.

Realizing having tweeted about crypto in a while. It’s a grind. Don’t think we head north for at least a few more months. Always take longer for institutions to move. Very confident they will. Tons of activity under the hood. Stay the course. — Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) February 1, 2019

Backing his newfangled claim, which may come as a surprise following Novogratz’s array of optimistic price predictions, the head of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital noted that “[it] always takes longer for institutions to move.”

Novogratz isn’t spouting B.S., as it were, as leading institutional-centric products, such as Bakkt, the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, and Fidelity’s Digital Asset Services subsidiary, have yet to launch. Moreover, nearly all institutional products and platforms have been delayed to some degree, especially as regulatory qualms continue to plague this budding industry.

Yet, he explained that eventually, Wall Street hotshots, household name banks, and high net-worth individuals (and their family offices) will begin to flock to this space, adding that there’s “tons of activity under the hood,” even quipping for his followers to “stay the course.”

So, in spite of his comment that Bitcoin and its altcoin brethren aren’t ready to run, he seems adamant that the future looks bright for crypto assets.

Crypto Investors Await Cosmos Launch

Interestingly, in a sub-tweet, Novogratz went on to laud Cosmos, a smart contract- and DApp-centric blockchain project that gained popularity in 2017 that has yet to launch.

In response to one of his follower’s comments on the project, which stated that the project could single-handedly catalyze a bull run, the once-billionaire (now-who knows what) remarked that he participated in Cosmos’ token sale when Ethereum (ETH) was a relatively mere $35. The incumbent Galaxy Digital chief executive then added that he hopes that his follower’s quip comes true.

Novogratz’s extolling of Cosmos comes after Fred Wilson, a legendary venture capitalist with an affection for all things Silicon Valley and fintech, took to his personal blog on January 1st to touch on a similar subject matter. In a sweeping comment regarding his crypto investment theses for the 2019 market, Wilson, the co-founder of Union Square Ventures, explained that he expects for the coming months to see up-and-coming, yet-to-be-launched crypto projects, such as Filecoin, Algorand, and Cosmos, push product.

Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital also echoed Novogratz’s remarks about the infantile project. Per previous reports from Ethereum World News, Samani remarked that a handful of well-funded, high-potential blockchain platforms, like the a16z crypto-backed Dfinity and Cosmos, could launch and challenge Ethereum in 2019. Samani noted that the aforementioned two ventures, presumably nearing launch, could make a move on the “world computer’s” nearly unquestioned hegemony as the go-to platform for smart contract development and deployment.

Title Image Courtesy of John Towner Via Unsplash