Mike Novogratz
Skybridge eyes stake buyback from FTX, as Galaxy CEO says he would like to ‘punch’ SBF
SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci said that his firm can buy back the stake of the company it sold to FTX back in September last year. While Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has indicated that he would be tempted to “punch” SBF right in the jaw. SkyBridge and FTX FTX Ventures acquired a 30% stake in the alternative asset manager SkyBridge for an undisclosed fee on Sept. 9, just a couple of months before FTX filed for bankruptcy in November. Speaking to CNBC on Jan. 13, Scaramuci noted that in light of FTX’s troubles, SkyBridge is making progress in buying back that stake, but suggested the move wouldn’t be able to get sorted “until probably the end of the first half of this year.” “We’re waiting for the clearance from the bankruptcy people, the lawyers and the investment bankers to...
Mike Novogratz: Bankman-Fried is ‘delusional’ and headed to jail
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been lambasted this week following a series of controversial public appearances, with Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz one of the latest to dish out a lashing to the former kingpin of crypto. On Dec. 1, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz unleashed a tirade of criticism towards SBF concerning his interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times annual DealBook Summit on Nov. 30. Speaking to Bloomberg, Novogratz characterized SBF as “delusional” following his declaration in the live interview that he never tried to commit fraud. “It’s kind of surprising that his lawyers are letting him speak,” Novogratz said before adding “having watched two interviews, the word delusional kept coming to mind.” The lambasting didn’t stop there with Novogratz ec...
Billionaire Bill Miller calls Bitcoin ‘insurance’ against financial catastrophe
Bill Miller the billionaire founder and Chief Investment Officer of investment firm Miller Value Partners, has said he considers Bitcoin (BTC) an “insurance policy against financial catastrophe.” Appearing on an episode of the “Richer, Wiser, Happier” podcast on May 24 Miller backed the cryptocurrency as a means for those caught in conflict to still access financial products. He used the collapse of financial infrastructure in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August 2021 as an example. “When the US pulled out of Afghanistan, Western Union stopped sending remittances there or taking them from Afghanistan, but if you had Bitcoin, you were fine. Your Bitcoin is there. You can send it to anybody in the world if you have a phone.” Miller said examples of how the crypto can function as ins...
Novogratz says LUNA tattoo is a constant reminder investing ‘requires humility’
Mike Novogratz, the billionaire founder of crypto asset management firm Galaxy Digital, has told his followers that his LUNA-inspired tattoo will serve as a reminder to remain humble in the world of venture capital investing. Following the fallout of the recent LUNA / UST meltdown, Novogratz penned an open letter on Wednesday, telling his followers that: “My tattoo will be a constant reminder that venture investing requires humility.” It was on Jan. 5 tha Novogratz first showed off his wolf-themed tattoo to his 461,000 Twitter followers in an enthusiastic demonstration of his support for the now-collapsed Terra ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/GBZ6qq4kdr — Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) January 5, 2022 Terra’s UST stablecoin, which relied on an algorithm to maintain a peg to the U.S. dollar...
Galaxy Digital delays BitGo acquisition to later on in 2022
Cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital has not managed to finalize the acquisition of the digital asset custodian BitGo in the first quarter of 2022 as the firm originally planned. Galaxy Digital has made some changes to the terms of its acquisition of BitGo, CEO Mike Novogratz announced in an earnings call on Thursday. “We’ve adjusted the deal some, for progress that BitGo has made,” Novogratz said, noting that BitGo has hired about 150 people since the firms originally signed the deal in May last year. He added that Galaxy remains committed to “integrating BitGo and becoming an institutional crypto platform” and the companies will continue to work on integration. According to an official statement, Galaxy Digital and BitGo have renegotiated the acquisition to happen “immediately f...
Fish food? Data shows retail investors are buying Bitcoin, whales are selling
Bitcoin (BTC) staged an impressive recovery after dropping to its three-month low of $42,333 on Dec. 4, rising to as high as $51,000 since. The BTC price retracement primarily surfaced due to increased buying activity among addresses that hold less than 1 BTC. In contrast, the Bitcoin wallets with balances between 1,000 BTC and 10,000 BTC did little in supporting the upside move, data collected by Ecoinometrics showed. “Bitcoin is still stuck in a situation where small addresses are willing to stack sats [the smallest unit account of Bitcoin], while the whale addresses aren’t really accumulating,” the crypto-focused newsletter noted after assessing the change in Bitcoin amounts across small and rich wallet groups, as shown in the graph below. Bitcoin on-chain ...
