From Wall Street to Crypto World: The Rise of Mike Novogratz

Galaxy Digital is led by Mike Novogratz — a former top executive at Goldman Sachs and former president of Fortress.

He supported Biden and made major donations to the Democratic Party.

Galaxy holds a lot of ETH because:

• They manage ETH-related funds (like ETFs and staking products),

• They acquired CryptoManufaktur, which had over $1 billion in staked ETH,

• They’re actively trading and managing assets.

They decided to convert part of their ETH into Bitcoin and sell some of it slowly, through OTC desks and exchanges. Galaxy took some serious hits after reckless moves and public mistakes.

Novogratz doesn’t care about your losses. He plays like a “Wolf of Wall Street” type — selling hype, dumping heavy bags, manipulating markets through shady tactics that are almost impossible to prove. In crypto, there’s still very little regulation. It’s basically a free-for-all.

Novogratz has deep ties to Goldman Sachs — the bank that paid billions in fines for the 2008 financial crisis, money laundering, and market manipulation.

Leaving Goldman Sachs

Novogratz left Goldman in 2000 after a successful run (he became a partner in 1998 and ran the Hong Kong trading desk). Officially, his exit was due to “personal issues.” Media reports cited his “rockstar lifestyle” — heavy partying, drinking, and wild behavior.

He later admitted he partied too hard, which impacted both his marriage and career. After leaving, he went through rehab in Arizona and eventually joined Fortress Investment Group.

Crypto Scene

He made an early bet on Bitcoin and blockchain but continues to be criticized for risky moves — like backing Luna, 3AC, Celsius — and his loud but wrong market calls. Some see him as a pioneer, others as a reckless speculator whose reputation took a massive hit after the 2022 crash.

Luna: Novogratz heavily promoted Luna, invested Galaxy Digital’s money into Terra starting in 2020, and even got a Luna tattoo. When Luna and UST collapsed in May 2022, they wiped out $40 billion from the market, and Novogratz’s personal fortune dropped from $8.5 billion to $2.5 billion. He later admitted that investors underestimated the risks and called it a hard lesson learned.

In 2024, Galaxy paid a $200 million fine for their role in the LUNA token fraud.

The information was gathered from public sources online and verified with the help of AI.