“Bitcoin Doesn’t Even Need A Use Case To Be Valuable”
On Wednesday afternoon, Mike Novogratz, a well-recognized cryptocurrency proponent and former institutional investor, made a surprise appearance on CNNMoney’s “Markets Now” segment to discuss “The Future Of Money.”
Are cryptocurrencies about to make a comeback? Bitcoin bull @Novogratz explains why he expects crypto prices to rally in the fourth quarter despite recent turmoil https://t.co/agzrCJr0hK pic.twitter.com/KIc5CTtCri
— CNNMoney (@CNNMoney) September 26, 2018
Novogratz, who is also the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, a crypto and blockchain-focused merchant bank, opened up his segment by restating his expectation for this nascent market to run as we head into Q4. The prominent investor, who is likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars, first took a focus on Bitcoin, revealing that while the price of crypto assets have fallen as a whole (BTC included), the foremost digital asset has held up much better than expected.
He explained that this relative strength, which has been seen by the unprecedented rise in BTC dominance, can be widely attributed to Bitcoin’s use as a store of value. Novogratz, who formerly worked at Wall Street giant Fortress, explained:
It’s become a digital store of value — it is the first digital asset that people are now vesting with store of value. And that alone is a significant thing, [as] within 10 years, somebody (Satoshi Nakamoto) created this idea that now has $120 billion of value tied up in it.
Taking this into account, the investor also added that Bitcoin doesn’t even need a use case to be valuable, which is quite the forward-thinking statement in a time where utility, protocol, and security tokens are the flavors of the month, so to speak. The only ‘use case’ that Bitcoin really has is its inherent nature as digital gold, Novogratz noted.
So in the future, as the digital world expands to new heights, the Galaxy Digital executive explained that the future common consumer, which are made up of millennials and ‘Gen Z’, will only find it logical to hold BTC instead of traditional gold. Moreover, even though the CNN host brought up the topic of cryptocurrency misuse, Novogratz explained that solutions are being built to mitigate this risk in the form of institutional-backed solutions, such as Goldman’s proposed custody service.
Bakkt Will Drive Adoption, Institutional FOMO Is Happening
As reported by Ethereum World News on multiple occasions, Bakkt, a “scalable on-ramp for [the cryptocurrency market, directed at] merchants, institutions, and consumers,” has been widely touted as one of the biggest pieces of news this year.
And alluded to by Novogratz, who brought up this exact topic, he holds a similar sentiment, claiming that the involvement of ICE, Starbucks, and Microsoft in this recently-established crypto-focused infrastructure provider will propel this market and likely spark some form of “institutional FOMO.”
He explained that notable endowments, which he didn’t give any details on, are continuing to invest in this industry via venture opportunities, only adding to the aforementioned feeling of FOMO rising between crypto-friendly institutions across the globe.
Taking the aforementioned factors into account, Mike Novogratz explained that Bitcoin (BTC) could surpass upwards of $9,000 by the end of the year, likely pulling the rest of the market up with it. But as always, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as the investor pointed out that an exponential surge won’t occur until institutions are ready to unload fiat into the cryptosphere.
Photo by Jack T on Unsplash
