Mike Novogratz Says Bitcoin Won the War of Cryptocurrencies

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin has won the war of cryptocurrencies.

That’s the view of Michael Novogratz, the billionaire co-founder and chief executive officer of Galaxy Investment Partners LLC, one of the most prominent companies in the embryonic digital-asset market. The original cryptocurrency is viewed as a store of value, like gold, while other coins still have to find their uses, he said.

“I feel better about Bitcoin today than I have at any time in my career,” Novogratz said during an interview on Bloomberg Television from a conference in Las Vegas.

Among the reasons for his optimism about the sector are increasing regulation and oversight in the light of recent frauds, as well as the efforts of established companies, such as Fidelity Investments and social network Facebook Inc., which is developing its own coin.

Novogratz expects Bitcoin to "struggle around $6,000" before going much higher, he said.

The acknowledged Bitcoin bull has admitted to being overly optimistic in the past, halting plans in December 2017 to launch a cryptocurrency hedge-fund just as the digital coin was plunging in value. He had predicted around the same time that Bitcoin would surge to $50,000 by the end of 2018.

To contact the reporters on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net;Erik Schatzker in New York at eschatzker@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Rita Nazareth

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