Novogratz Is Buying Bitcoin Again, Despite A More Than 20% Plunge In March

Mike Novogratz, famous for appearing on CNBC about one week before the market crashed as a result of coronavirus and saying he was “extremely bullish”, is now turning his bullish lens to another asset: bitcoin.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

Novogratz says he has been using the recent slump in the cryptocurrency to buy, calling the latest selloff in bitcoin “the volaciraptor”, according to Bloomberg. Bitcoin dropped from highs of about $8,500 at the beginning of March to lows of about $3,914. 

Novogratz said on CNBC yesterday:

 “If there was ever a time — debasement of fiat currencies, monetization of trillions of dollars of debt, this is the time for Bitcoin.” 

Novogratz is a long time bull on bitcoin and has said he thinks that ultimately, it will rally this year. Its design as an alternative for central banks that have “run amok” was made for times like now, where global central banks have printed unprecedented amounts of money to stimulate their respective economies, he argued.

He said:

“It needs to rally this year. If at the end of the year Bitcoin’s not a lot higher, I’m going to scratch my head and say, ‘Look, what the heck is going on?”

We wonder if he’s scratching his head about stock right now…

While bitcoin has been sold off during the market rout, just like basically any other asset, the drumbeat of calling it a “safe haven” in times of turmoil has faded.

Christel Quek, chief commercial officer and co-founder at Bolt Global said:

 “It could be very likely that traditional investors are seeking to regain liquidity though profit hunting from crypto assets as equities are negative worldwide.”

Other bitcoin bulls insist on using technical analysis (big surprise) to make their argument to buy, noting that the GTI VERA Convergence Divergence Indicator is showing bitcoin as a buy.

We’ll look forward to Novogratz’s next mandatory CNBC appearance, explaining how and why he got it all wrong, and why this time, he’s really bullish. 

Not everyone is bullish on Bitcoin, however, as CoinTelegraph’s Adrian Zmudzinski reports, “Only fools are choosing Bitcoin” over gold, according to renowned gold proponent Peter Schiff.

In a March 24 tweet, Schiff expressed his negative view of the intellectual capabilities of Bitcoin (BTC) investors. He wrote:

“Only fools are choosing Bitcoin.  So far this year gold is up over 7%, while Bitcoin is down 3%. Gold is only 2% from its 2020 high, while Bitcoin is 35% below its 2020 high!”

Schiff also pointed out that during the 2008 financial crisis, gold fell by about 25% and reached a new high in seven months. Based on that, he made his prediction:

“During the 2008 financial crisis, gold fell about 25% and took 7 months to make a new high. This time gold only fell about 15%, and may make a new high in under a month. This shows how much greater this financial crisis is, and how much more reckless current Fed policy is.”

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

“Bitcoin is still in a bear market”

In another tweet, Schiff said that Bitcoin proponents are accusing him of ignoring the coin’s 12% gain on the day. He responded to them:

“Bitcoin is still in a bear market. It’s still down 35% from its 2020 high, and 3% YTD. In contrast, gold is in a bull market. It’s only 2% below its 2020 high, and up 7% YTD.”

It is worth mentioning that Schiff’s praise towards gold is well aligned with his personal interests. He is the chairman at Schiffgold, a precious metal dealer.

As Cointelegraph has reported in the past, Schiff often attempts to convince his followers that Bitcoin is not a worthy investment. On March 10, Bitcoin surged to $8,150 before encountering resistance and being pushed back to $7,730 while most of the market was in a freefall. Shiff at the time ignored the fact and said:

“Bitcoin is no longer a non-correlated asset. It’s positively correlated to risk assets like equities, and negatively correlated to safe-haven assets like gold. When risk assets go down, Bitcoin goes down more. But when risk assets go up, Bitcoin goes up less. No value in that!”