- Mike Novogratz compared crypto zealots to anti-vaxxers, in terms of their stubborn beliefs.
- The Galaxy Digital boss said GameStop's fans show a similar level of passion and commitment.
- Novogratz disclosed that he shorts viral assets when they explode in popularity.
Bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz compared some cryptocurrency fans to anti-vaxxers in terms of their conviction, and noted GameStop's followers display the same kind of blind devotion.
The billionaire investor and Galaxy Digital CEO spoke at the Barclays Financial Services Conference this week. He remarked that if he questioned cardano's roughly $80 billion market capitalization on Twitter, he would be inundated with thousands of attacks by the coin's supporters.
"It's like telling a Manchester United fan that Man U sucks, or going to an Eagles game with the Giants' jersey on," Novogratz said, according to a transcript on Sentieo, a financial-research site.
"These ecosystems are unbelievably rabid," he continued. "They're passionate. It's like an anti-vaxxer — you can't tell an anti-vaxxer they're wrong, right? They have personalized this stuff."
Viral assets such as cardano, dogecoin, or GameStop and AMC shares don't make sense to rational investors given their limited functions or heady valuations, Novogratz said. Yet online communities have sprung up around them, and diehard members have made owning and touting those assets a key part of their identities, he continued.
"GameStop is a crypto at this point, there's no link to its profitability," Novogratz said.
The Galaxy Digital boss revealed that he seeks to profit from the breathless, but often short-lived, excitement around meme stocks and altcoins.
"I love shorting, because that's how I get longer the stuff I like," he said. "The moment that community gets really big, you're going to short it."
However, Novogratz noted that he cashes out his profits once there's a sell-off, as the support bases for viral assets have proven to be far more resilient than he expected.
Novogratz also trumpeted the crypto industry's prospects at the conference. The sector is only now taking off, he said, and failing to invest in the space would be like missing the internet in the early 2000s.