The crypto market in 2018 is the complete opposite of its 2017 performance. Bitcoin last year was able to hit near $20K level, not to mention only starting at around $1,000. But after regulatory changes took place, Bitcoin dropped below $3,500 at one point before it rebounded above $4K.
Now, Mike Novogratz is one of those crypto experts who believe in the potential of the industry. He previously made a call that Bitcoin may have already bottomed at around $6,200 to $6,500. But after the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, we discovered that it isn’t exactly the case.
Better 2019 and 2020?
But Mike Novogratz is someone who has his skin in the game. He lost $136 million via Galaxy Digital because of the ongoing bearish market. However, Novogratz still has faith in cryptos. He even said that “I fundamentally think you’re going to see big adoption in 2019, 2020”.
Despite the optimistic view on the crypto market in general, he did a reality check, especially on tokens. He said that “It’s been a horrible bear market in tokens. There’s plenty of reason to be depressed”.
There are also a number of events that may have dropped Bitcoin price this year. For instance, you have the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a number of Bitcoin ETF applications including that of the Winklevoss twins. SEC’s Jay Clayton even mentioned recently that there should be changes in the industry before the agency is going to be comfortable approving a Bitcoin ETF.
Aside from the Bitcoin ETF rejections, you also have the recent move by the agency to hunt down ICO scams and those that were selling unregistered securities. You also have celebrities such as Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled who were made to pay by the agency for promoting unregistered securities. And also, the company that raised funds via ICO is facing separate charges of fraud.
According to Novogratz, regulatory changes caused uncertainty to the market that may have potentially caused the sell-off. He said that “Part of the sell-off is because, I think, the SEC got though on a few fraudulent ICOs. And not just were tough on them—they mentioned personal investors can go for reparations in most cases. And people got very nervous”.
Crypto Relations with SEC will Improve?
For the former Goldman Sach’s partner, he believes that SEC and the crypto industry will have better relationship moving forward. He claims that crypto is “a driving force for new growth” and will make the agency to go regulate the industry for large investors.
He also believes that crypto and gaming will be integrated and could even “save” the fate of cryptos in the future. He mentioned that “lots of the items in the digital world, the e-gaming space, are low value items so I think people will be more comfortable participating in blockchain. We’re making big investment in that area”.
There are some crypto observers such as Nouriel Roubini who thinks that the crypto market bubble already busted. But considering Novogratz’s prediction, do you think that there will be an improvement in the current crypto market?
