Mike Novogratz

AH HA! So THAT'S what Mike N. is up to. When he announced that he was shelving plans to form a hedge fund to soak up cryptos it came as sort of a "what's up" moment. Mike Novogratz is a HUGE bitcoin advocate and when he pulled out of forming his fund it made people (at least me) wonder if he had changed his thinking. BUT NO! He is going bigger. He is going to start a merchant bank dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrencies AND take it public. IN CANADA, via the TSX Venture Exchange. Mike envisions raising $200M with his holding company, Galaxy Digital L.P., to be THE "best-in-class" institutional focused crypto/blockchain firm. AND, once again, it is being done away from the US. Canada is getting hot for new thinking. Good luck Mike.

(Bill Taylor/Founding Editor)


"Mike Novogratz, the Wall Street trader who became one of bitcoin’s most outspoken champions, is starting a merchant bank dedicated to cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based ventures. And he intends to take it public.

The former macro manager laid out a series of transactions in a statement Tuesday that would, if successful, raise $200 million and, through a holding company, list shares of his Galaxy Digital LP on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange. He said Galaxy is building a “best-in-class, full service, institutional-quality merchant banking business in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space” and will be active in four areas: trading, principal investing, asset management and advisory work.

The move comes less than a month after Novogratz shelved plans to start a crypto hedge fund. According to a person familiar with his efforts, Novogratz also had been laying the groundwork for Galaxy for months. The fund, had he continued with it, would have sat inside Galaxy’s asset-management unit.

A merchant bank is among the most ambitious concepts to emerge from the speculative frenzy that has characterized the cryptocurrency market. While Novogratz last year described the runup in bitcoin, ether, ripple and other so-called tokens as the “biggest bubble of our lifetimes,” he also has said he believes blockchain -- the computer code that underpins all cryptocurrencies -- will reshape finance just as the internet did communication.

Under the plan announced Tuesday, Galaxy will as a first step buy Canadian crypto startup First Coin Capital Corp. It then will merge with a Canadian shell company, Bradmer Pharmaceuticals Inc., through a reverse takeover and use that entity to raise C$250 million ($201 million) in a private placement of stock next month. Bradmer, to be renamed Galaxy Digital Holdings, will own an interest in the merchant bank and be listed on the TSX exchange..."


Full Story at Bloomberg.com