MIKE NOVOGRATZ

Born in 1964. Former wrestler at Princeton — made it to the NCAA tournament.

Then Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner. Left for Fortress Investment Group in 2002 and helped build it into a major alternative investment firm.

Made and lost a fortune at Fortress. Was reportedly worth $2.5 billion before the 2008 crisis, then lost most of it.

Fortress's stock went from $35 to $2. He rebuilt, got interested in crypto, and pivoted his entire career.

Founded Galaxy Digital in 2018 as a diversified crypto and blockchain investment firm. It went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange and later listed on Nasdaq.

Galaxy does trading, asset management, investment banking, and mining — all crypto-focused.

Galaxy Digital Holdings is the main vehicle. It operates four business lines: trading, asset management, investment banking, and mining.

At peak crypto prices, Galaxy managed over $3 billion in assets.

Before Galaxy, he was a principal at Fortress Investment Group — one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world. He ran macro hedge fund strategies at Fortress and was considered one of the best macro traders of his generation.

He's also a significant personal holder of Bitcoin and Ethereum. His net worth swings dramatically with crypto prices — from over $8 billion at crypto peaks to under $2 billion during crashes.

Novogratz is a macro trader who applied macro thinking to crypto. He sees Bitcoin as a macro asset — a hedge against fiat currency debasement and government overreach.

His framework comes from George Soros and Stanley Druckenmiller's playbook, adapted for digital assets.

He makes big, concentrated bets on macro themes. When he believed in crypto, he didn't buy 2%.

He went all-in. Galaxy Digital is essentially a leveraged bet on the crypto ecosystem.

He's loud and public about his positions — the opposite of most crypto whales who hide in pseudonymous wallets. He tweets his market calls, appears on CNBC constantly, and wears his conviction literally on his sleeve (the Bitcoin arm tattoo).

Getting into Bitcoin early. Novogratz started buying Bitcoin around $100-200 in 2013.

He accumulated aggressively through the early years and was vocal about the thesis before most of institutional finance took it seriously. His early positions generated enormous returns as Bitcoin went to $69,000 in 2021.

The call was both right and early, which is the best combination in investing.

Luna/Terra. Galaxy Digital was an investor in and promoter of the Terra ecosystem, including the Luna token and UST algorithmic stablecoin.

When UST de-pegged and Luna collapsed to zero in May 2022, Galaxy lost approximately $300 million. Novogratz had a Luna tattoo (a wolf howling at the moon) and had to publicly eat crow.

The tattoo became a permanent reminder of the loss.

Novogratz believes in cycles. His macro background taught him that assets go through boom-bust cycles driven by liquidity, sentiment, and monetary policy.

Crypto is the most volatile expression of these cycles. The key is surviving the busts and being positioned for the booms.

He believes Bitcoin is digital gold — a store of value that will appreciate as governments debase fiat currencies. His Ethereum thesis is about a new computing platform.

Galaxy is positioned to be the Goldman Sachs of crypto.

On loss: he's said that the worst thing you can do is become too attached to a position. Lose money, learn, move on.

Married to Alicia Rickter Novogratz. They have four children.

His personal life is relatively public — he's active on social media and doesn't separate his public and private personas much. He's talked openly about using psychedelics and ayahuasca for personal growth.

Attended Princeton University, where he wrestled competitively. Then Harvard Business School for his MBA.

Joined Goldman Sachs straight out of business school. The academic path is elite and traditional — which makes his crypto pivot even more striking.

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