Mike Novogratz Says He’ll Be ‘The Happiest Guy’ If Bitcoin Ends 2023 At $30k

• Crypto bull Mike Novogratz said Wednesday that he will be happy if bitcoin trades at $30,000 by the end of the year.
• “I would have given both my shoes for that to be true just six weeks ago,” he said at a Bank of America conference.
• That’s a far cry from the $500,000 price target Novogratz previously shared.

Mike Novogratz said Wednesday that he expects bitcoin’s price to reach $30,000 within a few weeks, but would be happy if it is still trading at that level by the end of the year.

“When I look at the price action, when I look at the excitement of the customers calling, the FOMO building — it wouldn’t surprise me if we were at $30,000 at the end of the quarter,” the Galaxy Digital chief told a Bank of America conference , according to Bloomberg.

“I would have given both my shoes for that to be true just six weeks ago,” Novogratz added. “Like if we end the year at $30,000, I’ll be the happiest guy.”

Cryptocurrencies have rallied in early 2023, as investors became more confident that a widely predicted recession will not actually happen. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has risen 48% so far this year to trade at just under $25,000.

The token needs to climb another 22% to reach Novogratz’s $30,000 goal. Even then, it would be well below the $69,000 all-time high it reached in November 2021, at the peak of crypto’s last bull market.

Novogratz – who has previously repeatedly predicted that bitcoin’s price will eventually reach $500,000 – predicts only moderate gains for bitcoin in 2023 because he believes interest rates will remain high for the rest of the year.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates from near zero to just under 5% in less than a year in an attempt to crush inflation. That led to a brutal crypto winter in 2022, because investors could earn higher returns by parking their money in a savings account instead of piling into riskier assets like bitcoin.

Novogratz pointed to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s insistence that interest rates must remain high to bring inflation in line with the central bank’s 2% target. He cited this as evidence that bitcoin will not have a breakout above $30,000 anytime soon.

“What makes me skeptical that we can have the explosive back-to-the-old highs this year is Chairman Powell,” he said. “He’s really doing what he says he’s going to do, and I don’t see the Fed swinging and cutting anytime soon.”

Cryptos also struggled in 2022 due to the implosion of high-profile companies such as FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in November.

Novogratz has repeatedly slammed former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried – who is currently awaiting trial for fraud in the US – and said last month that he wants to punch the disgraced crypto titan in the face.

Read more: Mike Novogratz Rejects Demand for Bitcoin to Reach $500,000 in 5 Years, Blames Fed Rate Hikes