American billionaire and cryptocurrency enthusiast Mike Novogratz has announced via a press release a plan to create a cryptocurrency-based merchant bank with his cryptocurrency investment fund.
According to the release, Galaxy Digital Assets Fund has entered into a letter of intent with Bradmer Pharmaceuticals Incorporated and First Coin Capital, which will result in Galaxy Digital and First Coin combining to form the bank.
Galaxy Digital Assets Fund is Novogratz' investment fund. Bradmer Pharmaceuticals is a Canada-based company which was created to develop and commercialise a new treatment for brain cancer. According to the letter of intent, Bradmer will acquire and hold a minority investment in Galaxy Digital and change its name to 'Galaxy Digital Holdings'.
The press release states the intention to establish Galaxy Digital as a "full service, digital assets merchant bank". The plan is to operate in four business areas: trading, venture investments (such as in ICOs), asset management, and consulting - this last is to cover the fields of market research, Whitepaper writing, architecture design, business and technical documentation, vendor selection and project management.
Novogratz is listed as the chairman and CEO of the new venture, and the press release lists a further eight individuals that will make up the management team. Novogratz is the ex-CEO of Fortress Investment Group, and his enthusiasm for cryptocurrency is well documented. He told CNBC in December that he thinks that Bitcoin could “easily” reach $40,000 by the end of 2018.
We reported on him in September when he announced the creation of Galaxy Digital Assets Fund, which is worth $500 million. He put up $150 million of his own money into the creation of the fund, which he runs from New York.
In October, that fund invested in Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX), a decentralized marketplace for trading video game assets. WAX was created by OPSKins, which claimed to be the largest such marketplace in world, with over 150 million transactions in the 18 months leading up to the deal.
Interestingly, Novgoratz announced the creation of his fund, which is the biggest of its kind in the world, directly after calling Bitcoin "the largest bubble of our lifetimes" in an interview with Bloomberg. “Prices are going to get way ahead of where they should be. You can make a whole lot of money on the way up, and we plan on it,” he added.
