Dogecoin’s massive rally this year can be seen as a kind of “middle finger” to the traditional financial system, longtime crypto bull Mike Novogratz on Wednesday.
Novogratz’s comments came as the price of dogecoin surged again early Wednesday. The cryptocurrency — initially started as a joke in 2013 — was now approaching 70 cents per token, putting its year-to-date gains at nearly 14,000%.
“When you think about the whole spirit of what this crypto revolution is, there’s something pure in what dogecoin has done,” Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, said on “Squawk Box.” “It’s a little bit of a middle finger to the system. People are unhappy with the current financial system. They just are.”
Novogratz repeated his concern about the sustainability of dogecoin’s rise, but the billionaire investor also said, “It would be very dangerous to be short, I’ll tell you that much.”
Dogecoin began the year worth fractions of penny. Its speculative ascent began in earnest in late January, around the same time the Reddit-fueled trading frenzy in GameStop and other so-called meme stocks took off.
Dogecoin’s spike higher this week is happening in advance of Elon Musk’s scheduled appearance to host NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO has frequently mentioned dogecoin on Twitter in recent months, boosting the cryptocurrency’s popularity and price.
One analyst has suggested crypto traders could be pilling into the digital currency because they “do not want to miss out on any buzz” resulting from Musk’s “SNL” host debut.
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban also has spoken favorably about dogecoin, recently making the case on Twitter that the meme-based cryptocurrency can mature into a “usable currency.” The NBA team Cuban owns, the Dallas Mavericks, accepts dogecoin as payment.
