Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, describes the company's services and products, why it's launching a credit offering, and why he pivoted from his original intention to launch a crypto hedge fund and then pivoted again from working with ICOs to serving institutional players. He talks about why, if he had the chance to go public again, he wouldn't do it, why Galaxy's stock fell so precipitously one day that trading was halted, and why he thinks the SEC has made it clear the ICO markets are closed. He also talks about why, on the way to democratizing finance, the crypto markets need to "take a step back" and start with institutions, why decentralization is important, and why he thinks the launch of Bakkt is the most important news in the crypto space this year. Plus, Mike surmises as to how consumers will start using crypto, but believes it won’t replace fiat in the Western world.
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Episode links:
Galaxy Digital:
https://www.galaxydigital.ioGalaxy Digital's losses so far this year:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-28/novogratz-s-crypto-trading-desk-lost-136-million-in-nine-months
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/novogratz-s-galaxy-digital-sees-134-million-loss-on-crypto-drop
Unchained episode about security tokens:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/harbor-and-trusttoken-on-why-they-dont-mind-being-unsexy-ep77
Unchained interview with Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable
Unconfirmed episode with Tom Jessop of Fidelity Digital Assets:
http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/fidelity-digital-asset-services-tom-jessop-on-why-its-serving-institutional-clients-first-ep043
Unchained podcast with Arthur Hayes of Bitmex:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/arthur-hayes-of-bitmex-on-why-countries-will-turn-to-digital-cash-ep63
