Spot Bitcoin ETF Approved in 2023? Mike Novogratz Believes So

Mike Novogratz – founder of Galaxy Digital and an outspoken proponent of bitcoin – thinks the approval of the spot BTC ETFs filed by BlackRock and Invesco are a matter of “when not if.”

He believes such a financial product could see the light of day in the next four to six months.

‘It’s a Big, Big Deal’

Eric Balchunas (senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg) shared some comments that Novogratz made during his company’s earnings call on August 8.

The CEO of Galaxy Digital said he has inside information from the Invesco and BlackRock sides that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will greenlight the spot Bitcoin ETFs, which both firms displayed ambitions to launch in America, in the next four to six months.

He labeled such an event as a “big, big deal,” asserting that his firm will aim at gaining a huge chunk of the market share once the ETFs go live:

“We are going to fight like cats and dogs there to win market share once it gets approved.”

Novogratz also outlined that Larry Fink (CEO of BlackRock) has drastically changed his stance on bitcoin over the past few years. 

It is interesting to note that the leader of the world’s largest asset manager described the primary cryptocurrency as an “index of money laundering” in 2017. He doubled down on his hostile view in 2020, suggesting that BTC’s development could undermine the dominance of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. 

It seems like he shifted to the pro-crypto side in 2022 when disclosing that BlackRock has started “studying digital currencies, stablecoins, and the underlying technologies to understand how they can help us serve our clients.”

As CryptoPotato recently reported, Fink likened bitcoin to digital gold, calling it an “international asset” that could serve as a hedge against inflation.

Novogratz’s Previous Prediction

Galaxy Digital’s CEO opined in July that America’s securities regulator will most likely give its positive nod to the launch of a spot BTC ETF. While he did not provide a probable timeframe for such a development, he opined that it could be “the seal of approval” from the SEC and the US government that bitcoin is an asset. 

Separately, he forecasted that the price of the leading digital currency will go up by the end of 2023 due to a potential pivot from the Federal Reserve. Nonetheless, the US central bank raised interest rates by another 0.25% during the latest FOMC meeting, casting doubts on whether this has been the end of its aggressive anti-inflationary policy.