Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz said that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell would possibly be on the verge of slowing down the cryptocurrency market now that he has been appointed for a period of time.
Novogratz told CNBC on Wednesday that “the macro narrative has replaced a little bit” and that “people are getting bearish” with cryptocurrencies.
“Powell is being re-elected, and that would possibly allow him to act more like a central banker than a guy who needs to be re-elected,” Novogratz said on CNBC’s “Crypto Night In America. “
“It would slow down all the assets. It would slow down cryptocurrencies, if we started raising rates much faster than we think. “
President Joe Biden nominated Powell for a term as Fed chairman before this week.
Powell oversaw the largest financial stimulus in U. S. history for the economy to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
But the Fed is now grappling with the highest inflation in 31 years, has cut the rate at which it buys bonds, and minutes of its most recent financial policy decision, released Wednesday, showed officials were in a position to ease quantitative easing even faster.
Financial markets are popping up and investors now think the Fed could raise interest rates in May, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies such as ether and dogecoin are among the many assets that have been raised through the Fed’s cash rush over the year and a half.
Novogratz has predicted in the past that bitcoin will succeed at $100,000 through the end of the year, but said it is now unlikely. Bitcoin rose 3. 83% on Thursday to $58,667 on the Bitstamp exchange.
However, the former hedge fund manager, who now runs crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, said there’s still a lot to get excited about in the world of virtual assets.
“The number of establishments Galaxy sees moving to this area is staggering. I spoke on the phone with one of the largest sovereign wealth budgets in the world today, and they made a resolution to start making a cash investment in the future. Crypto. ” I’ve had the same conversations with a big pension budget in America,” he said.