Galaxy Digital, the crypto merchant bank owned by Mike Novogratz, lost $134 million in Q1 of 2018 due to the fall in Bitcoin’s price.
A lot of excitement was generated during Bitcoin’s incredible bull run in late 2018. One of those particularly pumped was Mike Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs trader that’s been a very vocal proponent of the cryptocurrency. He started Galaxy Digital, a virtual currency merchant bank, last November. However, the firm has lost quite a bit of money since then due to the fall in the price of Bitcoin this year.
Massive Loss
In a financial report detailing the first quarter of 2018, Mike Novogratz said that Galaxy Digital lost $134 million during that time. This news isn’t surprising as the price of BTC fell from its all-time high of nearly $20,000 to less than $7,000 by the end of March.
The full breakdown of the financial hit for Galaxy Digital includes a net loss of $103.3 million on trading. This includes $13.5 million on digital assets and $85.5 million on unrealized losses on those assets.
Mike Novogratz Still Upbeat
Still, Mike Novogratz is not deterred in the slightest. He says:
I am very proud of the progress that we have made since the beginning of the year.
He believes that his team will still drive growth for the company. Novogratz also says that Galaxy Digital is “strategically positioned to help further institutionalize the digital assets and blockchain industry.”
Novogratz is planning on listing Galaxy Digital on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada. He hopes to accomplish this by buying Coin Capital, a crypto startup, and then merging via a reverse takeover with Bradmer Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian shell company.
It’ll be interesting to see how the second quarter numbers look for Galaxy Digital. Bitcoin, after suffering a long bear market, has finally stabilized and seen some growth. Despite the US SEC not approving a Bitcoin ETF recently, more companies and governments are slowly coming on board the cryptocurrency train.
One wonders if Novogratz has backed off his $40,000 Bitcoin price prediction, but he is still very bullish on the world’s foremost cryptocurrency. He felt so strongly in the future of Bitcoin, he invested $302 million of his own assets to start Galaxy Digital. That’s someone who definitely puts their money where their mouth is.
Do you think Galaxy Digital will see better returns as 2018 progresses? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of CNBC and Shutterstock.