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Here’s a crypto tidbit for you.
In late 2015, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold half a million Ethereum (ETH) to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz in an over-the-counter transaction. He sold each ETH for just $ 0.99.
Today, that nest egg would be worth $ 229 million.
Novogratz explained how the sale came about during an interview with YouTube channel Nugget’s News. He said he met with college roommate Joseph Lubin to discuss buying a 25% stake in his venture firm ConsenSys – the company, incidentally, also funds a Decrypt.
Novogratz was inspired by Lubin’s belief in Ethereum. He was convinced of the idea that it could be used to revolutionize a variety of industries. But when buying a stake in ConsenSys got more complicated than Novogratz initially thought, he figured he should at least buy some Ethereum.
“I was at least smart enough to say I’m not leaving until I buy some ethers,” he said.
At the time, Ethereum was difficult to buy as few exchanges, particularly in the US, supported it. At the time, it was trading at around $ 0.95.
Novogratz said: “I called him [Ethereum cofounder, Vitalik Buterin] up; I met him once at dinner. He remembered me but he didn’t know me. He thought it was good for the community to have a Wall Street guy buying, so I bought half a million ether for $ 0.99 maybe, $ 0.98. He changed the price for me at the last minute from 98 to 99 because I had waited too long and the price went up. “
He added: “And then I really became a lot more of a crypto maniac.”
Novogratz on the purchase of Bitcoin
At that point, Novogratz already owned some Bitcoins. He said he started buying Bitcoin at around $ 95, but that was pure speculation. He then called Dan Morehead, CEO of the Pantera investment firm, and asked him to look into the matter.
“After two weeks, he called me back and said, ‘Dude, this is going to change the world for this and this reason, the coolest thing I’ve found, thank you very much,'” Novogratz said.
The three have decided to invest. Morehead began with a purchase of 30,000 Bitcoins. “We were like, I’m going to have 30,001 because we couldn’t leave him any more than we had. We all bought more or less the same amount, “Novogratz said. That amount of Bitcoin would be worth $ 490 million today.
But then he made a mistake in talking about it publicly. “I say mistake because I didn’t know the press was there. The next day I was on the cover of the Financial Times. The only time I’ve been on the cover of Financial Time, “he said.” Fortress’s Novogratz says Bitcoin will go for $ 1,000, “was the headline, the former Wall Street investor said.
Novogratz pointed out that it actually hit that price. “I actually wanted to sell it for $ 1,000. To sell it and buy a jet, “he said, adding:” My partner, [Peter] Briger, he didn’t let me and was so adamant, he actually went out and bought Bitcoin for Fortress’s balance sheet. “Since the company was buying, Novogratz said, you couldn’t see it was selling – it would be bad for the sake of appearance.
“I’m doing you a favor,” Briger reportedly told him, “This is going to go much higher, we never want to sell it.”
And the two crypto maniacs have never looked back.
