In an interview for Reuters, Mike Novogratz, the current CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners and the former macro hedge fund manager at Fortress Investment Group, talked about his opinion on bitcoin and why the digital currency is the new “gold”.
According to the Wall Street manager, bitcoin is undoubtedly a store of value. It has the very same features that most things we value have: limit of supply and is a store of value. He mentioned that as a piece of art can be worth a fortune, so as a digital coin can surpass unimaginable price levels, just because it is in fact valuable to investors.
One of the greatest appeals to people, in the words of Novogratz, is the idea of decentralization. When asked by the interviewer why we actually need bitcoin, as we already have paper currencies like dollars, euros, yens and even gold, Novogratz said that the major appeal lies in the decentralization idea. Trust, instead of being put in banks and financial regulatory bodies, can be placed into a more decentralized and non-government regulated object, such as the coin.
When it comes to the one thing that really seems to worry investors around the world is the volatility. Mike Novogratz said that it is because we are “so early” into bitcoin, and it is the timing that creates the volatility, not the product itself.
When asked about the possibility of bitcoin being a bubble, Novogratz basically said that bubbles and the explosion of these create our universe and our lives as we know them today. He also mentioned that 10-15 years from now, he believes that blockchain technologies and decentralization will be everywhere, in all parts of our daily lives.
In addition, the hedge fund manager explained that once more established institutions start offering bitcoin, then the product will go even more viral. He predicts that the price of the “people’s currency” can easily hit the $20,000 price level in a year’s time from now.