New York: Hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, who is starting a $500 million fund to invest in cryptocurrencies, says the bitcoin rally still has some serious legs.
After surging more than sevenfold since December, the largest and most widely known digital currency will end the year at $10,000 from about $8,400, he said. Smaller rival ether will trade at $500 from almost $370 Tuesday.
Bitcoin is like digital gold in that “gold has value solely because people say it has value solely because people say it has value; bitcoin is built on an amazing technology, there’s a limited supply of it,” Novogratz said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “This whole revolution came out of a breakdown in trust in the 2008 crisis.”
Bitcoin climbed to a record $8,374 on Monday after Novogratz’s comments. It had earlier tumbled as much as 5.4 per cent after $31 million was stolen from a separate cryptocurrency known as tether. Those gyrations aren’t new as it’s been a tumultuous way up for the virtual asset, with three separate slumps of more than 25 per cent all giving way to subsequent rallies.
But this doesn’t give Novogratz pause. “We’re in the second or third inning,” he said. “Because prices have moved so far people are nervous. You made a whole lot of money, there’s news, so you want to book your profit and get out.”