Novogratz Says Biden and Harris Good for Country, Bad for Markets

Galaxy Digital CEO and known Bitcoin (BTC) proponent, Mike Novogratz, said he sees upcoming financial market difficulties if Democrats take the U.S. presidential bid in November. 

"Electing Biden and Harris, as much as it's going to be great for the country, it's not going to be great for the market," Novogratz told Bloomberg in an Aug. 14 interview. 

Following his comments on Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, being "fair" to Wall Street if elected, Novogratz mentioned heightened taxes from a Democratic presidential win. "The Democrats are going to be tougher on Wall Street in terms of the tax plan," he said, noting increased corporate, income and capital gains taxation.

In the midst of answering other questions, Novogratz described mainstream markets at present as comparable to Bitcoin's exuberant 2017 ride, due to various measures, such as government spending. "Everything is trading literally like Bitcoin in 2017, into a speculative frenzy," he said.

Noting abnormally high company valuations seen stock prices, Novogratz added:

"Bubbles normally end with policy response. Usually its Fed action. It could be action on raising taxes that could end this froth we have."

Novogratz also touched on Bitcoin as a store of value — an extremely common tagline for the asset among crypto industry participants. The CEO explained he thinks Bitcoin, over the last year, has transitioned from people seeing it as a possible store of value, to a cemented position in that role. 

"It's literally a downhill race from here as opposed to an uphill race," Novogratz said of Bitcoin gaining acceptance, noting mainstream institutions joining the game as of late. 

He added:

"I like Bitcoin better than gold solely because Bitcoin has been hard to buy. Its only got a $220 billion market cap, where gold is over $10 trillion and so Bitcoin has a long way to go to catch gold in just adoption. That said, I still think gold goes higher."

Bitcoin has gained a significant amount of mainstream financial interest in 2020 alone, as hedge fund giant Paul Tudor Jones entered the asset alongside other developments. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Galaxy Digital for additional comments from Novogratz, but received no response as of press time. This article will be updated accordingly should a response come in.