Bitcoin (BTC) to Rise by 30% till the Year End, Novogratz Predicts

Bitcoin (BTC) may increase its price by 30% till the end of this year, US billionaire and cryptocurrency investor Michael Novogratz told CNN on Wednesday.

The reason for this trend is the institutional interest in BTC like the Goldman Sachs’ plan for a crypto custody service or the NYSE owner’s upcoming virtual coin exchange, called Bakkt. Novogratz is a partner in Bakkt, which should start in November.

“There's an institutional FOMO going on […] As you start getting custody and service providers in and around the system, it allows pension funds and endowments to get involved,” the chief executive officer (CEO) of Galaxy Digital explained.

Bitcoin is different from all other cryptocurrencies as it is the first digital store of value and it is like digital gold, Novogratz said. The Galaxy Digital boss also expects big companies to start accepting Bitcoin payments because young people are very familiar with the digital transactions.

“It’s [BTC] become a digital store of value — it is the first digital asset that people are now vesting with store of value. And that alone is a significant thing, [as] within 10 years, somebody created this idea that now has $120 billion of value tied up in it,” the US cryptocurrency investor noted.

The fraudulent activities that had happened in the previous months were not related directly with BTC as its system is secure, Novogratz outlined. The thefts and hacks were in the ecosystem around Bitcoin such as exchanges and wallets, not in the coin system itself. Moreover, these services have become safer as various measures are taken, the billionaire said.

Novogratz, described as a “Bitcoin bull” by CNN, has various cryptocurrency investments through his Galaxy Digital Ventures. In May, the US investor launched Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI), which tracks the prices of the most liquid cryptocurrencies, including BTC, Ethereum (ETH), and XRP (XRP).