The outspoken crypto entrepreneur Mike Novogratz believes that the crypto market freefall is close to being over and better times are coming for the nascent industry. Speaking to Financial Times, the former Goldman Sachs executive said he is hopeful that the markets will “flip next year.” He is hopeful that the introduction of Bakkt in January will result in the influx of institutional money and trigger the crypto resurgence.

2018 has been a tough year

These days Mr. Novogratz runs Galaxy Digital – a digital asset merchant bank that he hopes one day will become “the Goldman Sachs of crypto.” Unsurprisingly, the company had a rough year, as did the rest of the crypto industry. Galaxy Digital shares have dropped 37 percent, following their listing on Toronto Venture Exchange in August.

Nonetheless, Novogratz remains optimistic, claiming that, “2017 was just fun, it was almost stupid. But this year has been challenging. It sucks to build a business in a bear market.“ He has also mentioned an added layer of risk in crypto investing, as, “Staff anxiety levels go up when crypto goes down. In most traditional business, such as Goldman Sachs, you don’t worry. There’s not an existential threat out there.“

Galaxy Digital greatly suffered in the first quarter of the current financial year, posting losses of $134 million. The company recovered in Q2, making $35 million in net income but things have turned sour once again this month. In addition to collapsing crypto market, the company lost both its president and its co-head of trading. Galaxy, named so after the Star Wars franchise, was also forced to shift the focus of its consultancy business, shying away from smaller start-ups to concentrate on institutional clients.

Novogratz has a history of buoyant predictions

Last year, the oft-quoted crypto entrepreneur has predicted that bitcoin will reach $40,000 in 2018. He has also forecasted that crypto market cap, which currently stands at $128 billion, will reach $20 trillion. Earlier this month, Novogratz claimed that FOMO (fear of missing out) will fuel the next crypto bull run in 2019. However, the Galaxy Digital CEO has also said that bitcoin, “could end the year at $8,800 to 9,000“, which now seems highly unlikely, following a couple of massive selloffs since then.

As of right now, it all seems doom and gloom in the crypto industry. Bitcoin has dropped by almost 40 percent since the start of November, dragging down other virtual currencies, most of which have decreased even more. Yet another BTC sell-off over the weekend has seen the flagship cryptocurrency dip below the $4,000 mark for the first time since September 2017.

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