Since Mike Novogratz, a former Wall Street banker, has forayed into the crypto ecosystem, he hasn’t shied away from making predictions regarding the future of this nascent industry and the value of crypto assets, like Bitcoin (BTC). And although some of his comments and forecasts have come under fire from industry pundits, with a recent report from Financial News London, it seems that the long-running Novogratz saga has continued, with the prominent investor issuing further comments and predictions regarding this market.
Speaking with Financial News, a Dow Jones-backed media outlet focused on finance, Novogratz, who is currently the CEO of Galaxy Digital, explained that BTC’s relative non-action is likely to bite the dust as 2019 dawns.
However, before this happens, Novogratz explained that bitcoin “has to take out $6,800,” which has long been seen as a key level of resistance and support for the now 10-year-old cryptocurrency. If by any chance, BTC surpasses $6,800 convincingly, with this move being denoted by strong volume and positive sentiment, the former Goldman Sachs partner added that $8,800-$9,000 by year’s end has a high likelihood of occurring.
Interestingly, while $9,000 come January 1st, 2019 is entirely within the realm of possibility, this figure is far from his previous predictions, in which he forecasted for bitcoin to reach and surpass $10,000 by this year’s end.
His declining prediction and relatively dismal outlook could indicate that declining volatility and volumes have somewhat dissuaded his bullish sentiment, which ran free in late-2017, which was when the Galaxy Digital executive called for BTC to surpass $40,000 and Ether (ETH) to eclipse $1,500.
However, in spite of retracting the aforementioned forecast, the former capital market savant added that $10,000 is well within the cards, so to speak, with Novogratz pointing out that the psychological level at five digits could be breached as 2019’s first fiscal quarter comes to a close.
Remaining vague on the exact timing of his prediction, Novogratz closed his BTC price call by noting that “after [$10,000], we will go back to new highs — to $20,000 or more.”
Institutional FOMO To Catalyze Bitcoin Bull Run
Echoing previous comments he made on CNBC Fast Money and CNN Money, Novogratz drew attention to the impending arrival of institutional investors, which the investor thinks will be catalyzed by the launch of both Bakkt and Fidelity Digital Asset Services.
The former, as reported by Ethereum World News previously, is poised to launch its physically-backed BTC futures contract on December 12th, while the latter has yet to publicly divulge a timeline.
Regardless, citing 2017’s cryptocurrency surge, which saw bitcoin swell from $900 to $20,000 in a year’s time on the back of retail money, Novogratz stated:
There’s going to be a case of institutional FOMO [fear of missing out], just like there was in retail.
The Galaxy Digital head concluded his remarks by claiming that regulation and rapidly swelling interest from institutions will catalyze the next BTC bull run, which has been a long time coming.
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