Mike Novogratz

Coinbase market share grows outside US trading hours amid Binance saga: Report

According to Kaiko Research, Bybit experienced a rise in market share around the clock, whereas Coinbase witnessed significant growth outside of the United States trading hours.

Following cryptocurrency exchange Binance reaching a substantial multi-billion-dollar settlement with United States regulators last week, an on-chain data analytics firm reported a surge in Coinbase’s market share.

On November 21, Binance and the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) reached a settlement of $4.3 billion, settling allegations related to anti-money laundering.

However, the legal challenges have led to other crypto exchanges seeing an increase in market share, according to research firm Kaiko Research.

The firm recently published a report that indicates that Coinbase has seen an uptick in its trading volume, during the European trading day, outside the regular United States trading hours:

“Coinbase’s share grew the most outside of U.S. trading hours (14-22 UTC), instead surging in the middle of the trading day in Europe and the beginning of the trading day in eastern Asia.”

Meanwhile, Bybit is reportedly seeing significant changes across the entire day.

“Bybit is the immediate standout winner, gaining market share in every single hour and growing by more than 20% in 16 out of 24 hours,” the report stated.

Percentage change in BTC market share.

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Binance settlement ‘net positive’ for cryptocurrency industry — Mike Novogratz

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes Binance has satisfied regulators and users after its $4.3 billion settlement with United States authorities.

Binance’s $4.3 billion settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is being hailed as a positive move for the company and the wider cryptocurrency industry, according to Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Nov.

“I think they’re de-risked in lots of ways. There’s a lot less to worry about now.”

Novogratz also weighed in on the considerations for major investment firms dealing with exchanges, as well as traditional finance (TradFi) players, with regulatory oversight continuing to take center stage in the United States.

Binance didn’t steal money

The Galaxy Digital CEO said that a reasonable approach underpinned by investments and relationships with companies that “take their jobs seriously” remains key while stressing that mainstream finance has also found itself on the wrong side of regulators in recent years.

“If you went through the list of TradFi banks who have been sanctioned or fined by different regulators in the last 24 months, it’s a shocking list.

Related: FTX collapse, Binance’s US settlement provide strong case for MiCA regulations

He added that concerns over Binance potentially being shut down or that the exchange had “stolen people’s money” in a situation similar to FTX simply was not the case:

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Galaxy Digital swings to profit after $1B net loss in 2022

The Mike Novogratz-led digital asset firm recorded a pre-tax income of $150 million during most of Q1 2023.

On March 28, Canadian investment firm Galaxy Digital, operated by blockchain personality Mike Novogratz, disclosed that it had achieved a preliminary pre-tax income of $150 million from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 24, 2023. 

The results followed a $1-billion net loss in 2022, which was largely attributed to a $659-million unrealized loss on digital assets and a $496-million unrealized loss on investments. As told by Novogratz:

“2022 was a formative year for Galaxy, and while we and our industry faced unprecedented macroeconomic events, we succeeded in staying the course and were able to opportunistically take advantage of strategic opportunities to build our operating businesses for the future.”

On May 19, 2022, Novogratz claimed that he was “permanently humbled” by the collapse of the $40-billion Terra ecosystem and reiterated the crypto industry “looks stronger than ever and wouldn’t be going away any time soon.” A year earlier, on Feb. 3, 2021, Cointelegraph reported Galaxy Digital invested $25 million into the Terra protocol. Galaxy Digital reported a net income of $1.7 billion in 2021 during the height of the crypto bull market. 

In August 2022, Galaxy Digital reportedly dropped its plans to go public in the United States after terminating a $100-million deal to acquire digital asset custodian BitGo. Later in November, the firm disclosed a $77-million exposure to bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with $48 million likely locked in withdrawals. 

By the end of 2022, partner capital in the firm declined from $2.6 billion to $1.4 billion year-over-year. Despite setbacks, Novogratz said the firm has a strong liquidity position of $957 million. Among other items, the company projects its subsidiary, Galaxy Mining, will have grown its Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate to 4 exahashes per second by the end of this year, partly aided by its $65-million acquisition of Argo Blockchain’s flagship Helio facility. 

Magazine: 5 years of the ‘Top 10 Cryptos’ experiment and the lessons learned

Bitcoin price hits $25K in new 2023 high

Despite macroeconomic headwinds and regulatory crackdowns on crypto, Bitcoin is made a new high for 2023.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has reached a new 2023 high of $25,000. The milestone comes after a surge in Bitcoin’s price over much of January.

The last time Bitcoin’s price was around $25,000 was near mid-June 2022 on its way down to between $19,000 and $21,000, where it had hovered for several months, according to data from CoinGecko.

The price of BTC has increased double digits over the last 24 hours to reach the $25,000 milestone.

The price of BTC however took a big dip in November following the FTX crisis, which saw it drop to a 2022 low of $15,742 on Nov. 10. 2022.

The price began to surge in early January, when the price of BTC increased over 14 consecutive days between Jan. 4-17.

That daily green candle streak was its second longest in the cryptocurrency’s 14-year history — having fallen one day short of its 15-day record in November 2013.

Related: Bitcoin price correction was overdue — analysts outline why the end of 2023 will be bullish

While BTC has had an impressive start to 2023, it is still down 63% from its all time-high (ATH) of $69,044, which was reached on Nov. 10, 2021.

Some economists such as Lyn Alden however believe that BTC’s current price surge may be relatively short-lived. The Bitcoin bull believes actions from the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely impose “considerable danger ahead” for BTC in the second half of 2023.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz is more bullish over the short term.

Speaking at a Bank of America conference on Feb. 15, Novogratz reportedly said there’s a chance BTC could hit $30,000 by the end of March.

Skybridge eyes stake buyback from FTX, as Galaxy CEO says he would like to ‘punch’ SBF

Anthony Scarammuci also noted that there was “clearly fraud” in the SBF and FTX debacle, while Mike Novogratz said there’s a side of him that would like to “punch” SBF in the face.

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. Meanwhile, 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 figure out exactly what we’re going to be buying back, and when,” the CEO said, adding that, “I think it will resolve itself favorably.”

Speaking on former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci outlined his thoughts that there has likely been some foul play there. 

“I think it’s very clear now that there was fraud. We’ll of course have to let the legal system determine all of those things. But for Sam, he’s got three of four of the principles that have worked alongside him have already pled guilty, and explained to prosecutors what they did,” Scaramucci said.

The CEO’s comments provide a stark contrast to his previous statements to CNBC from November, in which Scaramucci refused to use the “fraud” word due to its legal ramifications and urged “Sam and his family to tell the truth to their investors, get to the bottom” of the whole debacle.

According to SkyBridge’s website, it had $2.2 billion worth of assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2022, with roughly $800 million of the figure comprised of digital-asset-related investments.

Galaxy CEO looking for a smackdown

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz says there is a side of him that would like to punch both SBF and Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert for their reported antics during crypto winter.

In an interview with Bloomberg posted on Jan. 13, Novogratz noted that the FTX ordeal ended up directly costing Galaxy around $77 million. As such, he’s not a huge fan of SBF and other alleged misbehavior in the space over the past year.

“The toxic masculine side of me would like to punch them both in the jaw,” he said of SBF and Silbert, before adding specifically on SBF: “You’ve got to be f—ing kidding me. Like, really, you a——?”

Related: Crypto community unimpressed by SBF’s lengthy Substack letter

Novogratz ultimately admitted that he is still a crypto proponent despite 2022 being such a wild year for the industry.

He did note, however, that he wished he had taken more capital off the table earlier in 2022 before FTX and even the Terra/LUNA ecosystem went bust. Still, he says he managed to get more than $1 billion out before that year began.

Argo Blockchain mines 25% less Bitcoin due to winter storm at Helios

Argo Blockchain mined less Bitcoin than expected in December due to the firm curtailing mining operations at Helios amid extreme weather conditions.

Publicly-listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Argo Blockchain saw a significant drop in mining activity in December 2022 due to a winter storm in Texas.

On Jan. 11, Argo released its first operational update since selling its flagship mining facility Helios to Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital. The company said it mined 147 Bitcoin or BTC equivalents in December, compared to 198 BTC in November 2022.

The firm said that as of Dec. 31, Argo held 141 BTC, with its December mining revenue amounting to $2.49 million. Argo’s total debt was approximately $79 million and its bank balance was about $20 million.

According to the announcement, the decrease in the amount of mined BTC was mainly due to Argo curtailing mining operations at Helios in response to a major winter storm in Texas.

Cast your vote now!

In late December, the United States Department of Energy declared a power emergency in Texas, citing a shortage of electricity due to the impact of severe winter weather. Amid a massive temperature drop accompanied by high winds, the demand on the Texas power grid reached an all-time winter peak in excess of 74,000 megawatts (MW).

Argo CEO Peter Wall pointed out that the company’s mining results were lower than expected because the firm had to reduce power usage on the grid due to extreme weather conditions.

Related: Bitcoin miners see mixed successes in tackling debt-fueled overexpansion crisis

During the winter storm, Argo joined other Texas Bitcoin miners in reducing power usage by an estimated 1,500 MW, Wall said, adding:

“After the winter storm and associated freezing temperatures had subsided, we safely brought Helios back online and resumed operations.”

Wall mentioned that Argo eventually decided to sell its Helios facility to Galaxy Digital, announcing the $65 million deal on Dec. 28. The transaction aimed to reduce Argo’s total debt by $41 million and improve liquidity and operating structure.

Despite the sale, Argo will still continue mining at the Galaxy-owned Helios facility. Argo’s total hash rate capacity continues to be 2.5 exahashes-per-second, the announcement notes.

It’ll be OK: DCG crisis likely won’t ‘include a lot of selling’ — Novogratz

Digital Currency Group’s ongoing financial distress isn’t likely to cause much further strain on crypto prices, according to Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz.

Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz has hosed down fears over the crisis facing Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Genesis, saying while it’s “not good news,” it won’t “include a lot of selling.”

In a Jan. 10 interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Novogratz said he expects the current debacle facing DCG and its related companies to “play out” over the next quarter.

“There are still some overhangs — DCG and Genesis and Gemini — that will play out in the next quarter. That’s not going to be great,” said Novogratz, adding:

“I don’t think it will include a lot of selling, it’s just not good news.”

DCG is a major crypto conglomerate known as the owner and operator of Grayscale Investments, the world’s biggest digital asset manager.

It also owns institutional lending company Genesis, advisory company Foundry, crypto exchange Luno and crypto media company CoinDesk.

Cast your vote now!

Novogratz’s opinion is in stark contrast to a Jan. 4 report from Arcane Research warning investors to pay attention to the “ongoing financial distress” at DCG as the outcome “could severely impact crypto markets.”

It argued if DCG were to enter bankruptcy the company could be forced to liquidate assets and sell sizeable positions in its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and other crypto-related trusts, which would put pressure on crypto prices.

However, Novogratz argued that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have held “pretty steady” despite “a lot of bad news” over the last few months and have even seen an uptick over the last few days.

“It’s a pretty clean market right now,” said Novogratz, referring to investors who have sold or reduced leverage in recent months.

Alarm bells first began ringing for DCG and Genesis late last year, after Genesis halted withdrawals on Nov. 16 citing “unprecedented market turmoil” caused by the collapse of FTX and Three Arrows Capital.

In an open letter directed to DCG CEO Barry Silbert on Jan. 2, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss alleged that DCG-owned Genesis was yet to pay back a $900 million loan it owes to Gemini, which was due to DCG owing Genesis $1.675 billion.

On Jan. 10, Winklevoss penned a second letter, this time toward DCG’s board of directors, claiming Silbert and DCG only “pretended” to fill a $1.2 billion hole in the Genesis balance sheet. He said Silbert was “unfit” to run the company and called for his removal, effective immediately.

Coinbase layoff was ‘the right thing’

The Galaxy CEO also commented on Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s recent decision to cut another 20% of its workforce in a bid to further reduce operating costs.

Last year “was a grand washout for growth stocks and for crypto, and so anything associated with it […] that had big costs and revenue shrinking — got hammered,” said Novogratz.

“I think CEOs [including] Brian at Coinbase, and any rational CEO, is doing the right thing.”

Novogratz said the outlook for crypto isn’t horrible, but it’s also “not great.”

“We’ve got regulatory headwinds that we didn’t have before. We’ve got time to heal and rebuild narrative and so people are going to cut costs and survive this transition period,” he said, adding:

“2023 is a year you want to survive and catch the uptick.”

Mike Novogratz calls Helios a ‘transformative acquisition’ for Galaxy

The Galaxy CEO seems unfazed by the carnage in the BTC mining sector this year, and outlined that the firm is looking to significantly ramp up its mining initiatives.

Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz has called the Helios mining deal a “transformative acquisition” for the firm as it works to increase its exposure to the Bitcoin mining sector.

The crypto investment firm’s $65 million acquisition of Argo Blockchain’s flagship mining facility was announced on Dec. 28 as part of Argo’s drastic action to stave off bankruptcy.

Tweeting about the deal on Dec. 29, Novogratz emphasized that Galaxy is a “strong believer” in the long-term future of Bitcoin (BTC) and the company will continue to ramp up its mining initiatives:

“Bear markets are for building. We’re long-term believers in BTC and expect the lowest-cost miners to win over time. Helios is a transformative acquisition that will expand our mining capabilities and services as we continue to build for the decentralized future.”

Explaining the deal in further detail, the Galaxy CEO outlined that the firm has a specific “thesis” on how to approach the mining sector:“low-cost electricity, a very efficient team” and “buying ASIC miners cheap.”

“That’s a recipe for success in mining, even when the hash rate rises,” he said.

Recent data from Hashrate Index found that Bitcoin ASIC miner prices are hovering at lows not seen since at least 2021, with the most efficient ASIC miners seeing their prices fall 86.8% from their peak in May 2021.

Galaxy has five business lines across trading, asset management, crypto mining, venture investments and investment banking. According to its website, it currently has $1.9 billion worth of assets under management.

As it stands, Galaxy has mainly utilized hosting services for its mining operations. However, Novogratz notes that owning 200 megawatt (MW) capacity Helios will not only let the company run miners on its own site but host for others as well.

Helios potentially has a lot of scaling ability to make it one of the biggest miners on the market. Argo Blockchain previously outlined in May this year that it had plans to increase electrical capacity to 800MW in “the coming years.”

At the time, the firm also said it expected Helios to reach a BTC mining capacity of 5.5 exahashes per second by the end of the year, with the potential to eventually hit 20 EH/s.

It appears that Galaxy has some cash to splash amid the 2022 bear market, considering that it also gave Argo Blockchain a $35 million equipment finance loan alongside the acquisition.

Related: BTC price preserves $16.5K, but funding rates raise risk of new Bitcoin lows

The move also adds another coup from earlier this month, when Galaxy snapped up crypto self-custody platform GK8 for an undisclosed fee.

GK8 was being auctioned off as part of the Celsius bankruptcy process, after the defunct crypto lender snapped up the firm for $115 million in 2021.

Novogratz called the acquisition a “crucial cornerstone in our effort to create a truly full-service financial platform for digital assets.”

Mike Novogratz: Bankman-Fried is ‘delusional’ and headed to jail

The Galaxy Digital CEO alleges Sam Bankman-Fried and his cohorts perpetuated fraud and suggested they should be in 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 toward 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 echoing the sentiment from many prominent figures in the crypto community that jail time is necessary for the former FTX CEO:

“The reality is that Sam and his cohorts perpetuated a fraud. He stole money from people, people should go to jail.”

Galaxy Digital is among the victims of the FTX collapse having disclosed a $76.8 million exposure to the bankrupt firm.

The former FTX CEO also appears to be taking part in a spree of media appearances over the last few days.

During an interview on Good Morning America on Dec. 1, SBF insisted that FTX was not a “Ponzi scheme” but was “a real business” and denied knowledge of FTX customer deposits being used to pay Alameda’s creditors.

In a recent Twitter Spaces interview with IBC Group founder and CEO, Mario Nawfal, SBF again pleaded ignorance to what was occurring with his companies. When asked about what actually happened, his responses were very vague.

“I, you know, basically, and I should caveat this by saying that I, unfortunately, don’t have access to most of the data right now,” he said.

The reaction was equally vociferous, with many suggesting that SBF was trying to paint a picture of his unfamiliarity and ignorance of what was going on.

Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell also called SBF out for misunderstanding how margin trading works.

The creator of BitBoy Crypto, Ben Armstrong is understood to have arranged his own Twitter Spaces event with SBF, set for Dec. 3.

Related: ‘I never opened the code for FTX:’ SBF has long, candid talk with vlogger

Meanwhile, the crypto community has roasted SBF this week over his incoherent responses and lack of accountability.

On Dec. 1, Reflexivity Research cofounder Will Clemente said the NYT interview was painful to watch, adding, “SBF is clearly talking straight out of his ass. Can’t give a straight answer or even look at the camera. He’s just digging himself a deeper hole …”

Next Bitcoin bull run to be half story, half utility: Mike Novogratz at Token2049

The next Bitcoin rally will require fast and scalable systems, which the community is yet to build, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz.

The next Bitcoin (BTC) bull run will have to be much different from historical cryptocurrency rallies in terms of story and utility, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes.

Compared to previous bull runs, the next Bitcoin rally will have to be more focused on utility and less on the story, Novogratz predicted at a panel at the Token2049 crypto event on Wednesday.

One of the biggest historical rallies, the Bitcoin bull run of 2017, was mostly about the story, the CEO said, referring to the cryptocurrency’s run from about $1,000 to $20,000 within one year.

According to Novogratz, the 2017 bull run was mostly about the story of people not trusting the government and wanting more privacy and decentralization. “It was a Gen Z millennial revolution. And it was global. That’s a powerful story,” the CEO noted.

Another big rally, with Bitcoin hitting all-time highs above $69,000 in November 2021, was “really generated” by the COVID-19 pandemic, Novogratz said. He suggested that the price action in 2020 and 2021 was “probably 80% of the story and 20% of utility,” referring to the growing utility use case of digitalization amid the pandemic.

Mike Novogratz and Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin at Token2049. Source: Cointelegraph

“It’s theory and all the other level ones started really accelerating the work to build a shared blockchain that we could build companies on top of,” Novogratz stated.

In contrast to the mentioned cryptocurrency bull runs, the next Bitcoin rally will have to be “50% story, 50% utility,” Novogratz predicted, stating:

“I see it’s people building applications, people building systems that are fast and scalable and that are user friendly. We don’t have them yet. That’s why we’re where we are. But in the next few years, they’re coming.”

During the panel, Novogratz also revved up the audience with his bullish prediction of the “inevitability” that crypto will succeed.

“The word inevitable keeps coming up. There’s a sense of inevitability that we’re in the right space, inevitable that Bitcoin will have its day,” Novogratz stated. He also expressed confidence that Web3 and nonfungible tokens will be a big part of the gaming space in the future.

Related: Bitcoin analyst who called 2018 bottom warns ‘bad winter’ may see $10K BTC

Additionally, the CEO noted that despite the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, Bitcoin has still performed better than a basket of various fiat currencies this year. “If you look at Bitcoin versus a basket of currencies, it’s done about 20% better than versus the dollar,” Novogratz noted.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Novogratz has made some successful predictions about Bitcoin. Back in 2020, Novogratz predicted that Bitcoin would end the year above $20,000, which turned out to be an understatement, with Bitcoin nearing the $30,000 price mark by the end of 2020.

Additional reporting by Andrew Fenton.