Via Bloomie:
Michael Novogratz says cryptocurrencies could be worth north of $5 trillion in five years — if the industry can come out of the shadows.
“The Nasdaq got to $5.4 trillion in 1999, why couldn’t it be as big?” the former hedge fund manager said in an interview, referring the Nasdaq Composite Index. “There’s so much human capital and real money being poured into the space and we’re at the takeoff point.”
Novogratz said he took some profits on his bitcoin and ether holdings as prices surged, but still has 10 percent of his net worth invested in the sector, including blockchain-based assets he bought in fundraising mechanisms known as initial coin offerings. He’s looking to add more ether if it falls between $200 and $150, and more bitcoin if it falls to $2,000.
Bitcoin could become a viable store of wealth, similar to gold, while ethereum could be the platform underpinning the Googles and Facebooks of the future, while money transfers to securities settlement will probably be done using blockchain technology, he said.
…Companies need to develop sound business principles to satisfy regulators and lend legitimacy to the budding industry, he said.
“Pay your taxes, because nobody in that space pays taxes. It’s a bunch of libertarians,” he said, adding he thought a core group of developers have good intentions. “There really is a revolutionary spirit amongst the guys that are building this system.”
The bubble quite comes from the same interview via ZH (clearly he has never seen Aussie house prices).
Readers will know my view that this belongs in Wild West investment category owing to extreme regulatory risk. To wit, today I discovered that there actually is a cryptocurrency called PonziCoin and it’s attracting some interest!
The madness of crowds always amazes. When it’s an entire planet…
