Some benefits of investing in cryptocurrencies can be quite unexpected. For billionaire financier Mike Novogratz, it was the chance to give a speech about digital art at a prestigious auction house — and settle an old score.
“I was thinking: if only my third-grade art teacher could see me now,” says the 56-year-old former money market trader. “She didn’t think I was very good and here I am, on stage at Christie’s giving a talk.”
It may not be his biggest achievement, but it adds to the pleasure he says he is finding in his current venture, Galaxy Digital, a specialist cryptocurrency financial services and investment management company. For him, the excitement of the crypto boom stands comparison even with his greatest professional triumph: the 2007 flotation of Fortress, the first hedge fund to go public.