Next Bitcoin Bull Run Will Be Half Story, Half Utility: Mike Novogratz at Token2049

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

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

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

According to Novogratz, the 2017 bull run was mostly about the story of people who don’t trust the government and want more privacy and decentralization. “It was a Gen Z millennial revolution. And it was global. It’s a strong story,” noted the CEO.

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

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

“It’s theory and all the other levels really started to accelerate the work of building a shared blockchain that we could build companies on top of,” Novogratz said.

Unlike the aforementioned cryptocurrency bull runs, the next Bitcoin rally will have to be “50% history, 50% utility,” Novogratz predicted, saying:

“I see that there are people building applications, people building systems that are fast and scalable and that are user-friendly. We don’t have them yet. That is why we are where we are. But in the next few years they will come.”

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

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

Related: Bitcoin Analyst Who Called 2018 Bottom Warns ‘Bad Winter’ Could See $10K BTC

Additionally, the CEO noted that despite the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, Bitcoin has still outperformed 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 against 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 approaching the $30,000 price mark by the end of 2020.

Additional reporting by Andrew Fenton.