{"id":2899,"date":"2026-02-10T22:53:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/cryptos-age-of-speculation-is-over-says-galaxy-ceo-mike-novogratz\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:53:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:53:59","slug":"cryptos-age-of-speculation-is-over-says-galaxy-ceo-mike-novogratz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/cryptos-age-of-speculation-is-over-says-galaxy-ceo-mike-novogratz\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto&#8217;s &#8216;age of speculation&#8217; is over, says Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108235234\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Throughout its history, <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">bitcoin<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> and cryptocurrencies have been subject to significant price fluctuations, whether that&#8217;s due to larger macro factors impacting all asset classes or during &#8220;crypto winters&#8221; tied to industry concerns.<\/p>\n<p>But with a crypto-friendly Trump administration and expectations for passage of a cryptocurrency market structure bill, many onlookers expected another bull run in digital assets to start 2026. However, it&#8217;s been the exact opposite. Bitcoin is down more than 21% so far this year, and it fell to $60,062.00 last week \u2014 its lowest level in roughly 16 months. That marked a drop of nearly 50% from its record back in October 2025.<\/p>\n<p>What is driving this latest decline? Rather than a single event, Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz said at the CNBC Digital Finance Forum on Tuesday in New York City that it&#8217;s a reflection of a larger industry shift. When bitcoin fell 22% in less than a day back in November 2022 following the collapse of FTX, there was a &#8220;breakdown in trust,&#8221; Novogratz told CNBC&#8217;s MacKenzie Sigalos at the event. &#8220;This time, there&#8217;s no smoking gun,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You look around like, what happened?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Collapsible-proliveCollapsableContainer\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" viewbox=\"0 0 256 256\" aria-labelledby=\"title desc\" role=\"img\" focusable=\"false\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMinYMin\" class=\"Collapsible-stockChartIcon\"><title>Stock Chart Icon<\/title><desc>Stock chart icon<\/desc><g transform=\"translate(1.4065934065934016 1.4065934065934016) scale(2.81 2.81)\"><path d=\"M 87.994 0 H 69.342 c -1.787 0 -2.682 2.16 -1.418 3.424 l 5.795 5.795 l -33.82 33.82 L 28.056 31.196 l -3.174 -3.174 c -1.074 -1.074 -2.815 -1.074 -3.889 0 L 0.805 48.209 c -1.074 1.074 -1.074 2.815 0 3.889 l 3.174 3.174 c 1.074 1.074 2.815 1.074 3.889 0 l 15.069 -15.069 l 14.994 14.994 c 1.074 1.074 2.815 1.074 3.889 0 l 1.614 -1.614 c 0.083 -0.066 0.17 -0.125 0.247 -0.202 l 37.1 -37.1 l 5.795 5.795 C 87.84 23.34 90 22.445 90 20.658 V 2.006 C 90 0.898 89.102 0 87.994 0 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 65.626 37.8 v 49.45 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 23.518 L 65.626 37.8 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 47.115 56.312 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 42.03 L 47.115 56.312 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 39.876 60.503 c -1.937 0 -3.757 -0.754 -5.127 -2.124 l -6.146 -6.145 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 59.844 C 41.952 60.271 40.933 60.503 39.876 60.503 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 22.937 46.567 L 11.051 58.453 c -0.298 0.298 -0.621 0.562 -0.959 0.8 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 48.004 L 22.937 46.567 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"Collapsible-proLivePlayerCloseOrExpand\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe title=\"Bitcoin price since the start of 2026\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/appchart?symbol=BTC.CM%3D&amp;range=YTD&amp;type=mountain&amp;embedded=true&amp;$DEVICE$=undefined\" height=\"460\" scrolling=\"no\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border:0;width:100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin price since the start of 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Novogratz did note the wipeout that occurred in October 2025 as a significant event, when more than 1.6 million traders suffered a combined $19.37 billion erasure of leveraged positions over a 24-hour period, a situation that he said, &#8220;wiped out a lot of retail and market makers&#8221; and put plenty of pressure on prices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Crypto is all about narratives, it&#8217;s about stories,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Those stories take a while to build and you&#8217;re pulling people in \u2026 so when you wipe out a lot of those people, Humpty Dumpty doesn&#8217;t get put back together right away,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>But Novogratz also sees something more lasting he expects to come out of the current downturn, saying the recent era of crypto investing, &#8220;the age of speculation,&#8221; will be phased out going forward as the crypto industry has brought in &#8220;institutions where people have a different risk tolerance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Retail people don&#8217;t get into crypto because they want to make 11% annualized,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They get in because they want to make 30 to one, eight to one, 10 to one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Some traders will always speculate, Novogratz says, but overall, &#8220;it&#8217;s going to be transposed or replaced by us using these same rails, these crypto rails, to bring banking [and] financial services to the whole world. And so, it&#8217;s going to be real world assets with much lower returns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He also pointed to tokenized stocks as assets that will have &#8220;a different return profile.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sigalos asked Novogratz if the eventual passage of the CLARITY Act could be a catalyst for the industry, with the stall in the crypto market structure bill&#8217;s momentum on Capitol Hill at least a short-term headwind. He is confident a crypto market structure bill will eventually become law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I talked to [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer two nights ago and he said &#8216;We&#8217;re going to pass the goddamn CLARITY Act,'&#8221; Novogratz said. &#8220;The Democrats want to pass the act, and the Republicans want to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Novogratz said the crypto industry needs the bill for &#8220;a lot of reasons,&#8221; but notably, &#8220;We need it for spirit back in the crypto market.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108263596\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108263596\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000403381\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"InlineVideo-videoThumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108263858-1770736628689-1770678606901-2ED3-ETF-SEG-1-020926.jpg?v=1770736630&amp;w=750&amp;h=422&amp;vtcrop=y\" alt=\"'People are looking for one thing to blame for the current retracement in bitcoin. But there is not any one thing to blame,' says Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan\"\/><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images Throughout its history, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been subject to significant price fluctuations, whether that&#8217;s due to larger macro factors impacting all asset classes or during &#8220;crypto winters&#8221; tied to industry concerns. But with a crypto-friendly Trump administration and expectations for passage of a cryptocurrency market structure bill, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2813,806,2780,1733,2815,2816,2814],"class_list":["post-2899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-age","tag-ceo","tag-cryptos","tag-galaxy","tag-mike","tag-novogratz","tag-speculation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}