Mass Adoption of Crypto and Blockchain is ‘Still Five to Six Years Away’, Says Mike Novogratz

The crypto community agrees that the mass adoption of crypto and blockchain is bound to happen. However, views differ on the time this process will take: many men, many minds. One more prediction has been recently given by Mike Novogratz, former Wall Street executive and the founder of Galaxy Digital. He believes that the mass crypto adoption is still half a decade away from now.

At the Beyond Blocks Summit Seoul Mike Novogratz made several predictions on the future of the crypto sphere. The overall tone of the speech remained positive, but realistic. The billionaire investor expects the variety of financial institutes to join the developing sphere during the next two-three years. Nevertheless, it does not mean that blockchain will enter every aspect of our life at the same time. The mass adoption of crypto will take a little longer. Novogratz gave a reasonably exact predction: “You won’t see mass adoption until the user experience does not feel like something new and that is still five to six years away.”

Novogratz gave an explanation of his estimate. According to the CEO and founder of the crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, one of the obstacles on the way to mass crypto adoption is the lack of confidence in this sphere which causes doubts among professional investors. Unless the investors see the strong regulatory backgrounds in this sphere, operation on the crypto market remain risky business. Novogratz has already supported some projects that make the crypto sphere more clear for investors. A notable example is his support of the US Department of Justice’s investigation in Bitcoin price manipulation: Novogratz treated it as a way of getting rid of the unwanted elements on the crypto market.

The problems with mass crypto adoption are also influenced by human factor. The rapid increase in the “cost of technical talent” is a negative factor for the development of the industry. At the same time, Novogratz urged the need of brining the mainstream public to the crypto sphere – and deep understanding of the underlying technology is not an essential part of the process. After all, not all the people using credit cards understand the technology behind them. Still, it does not seem to be a problem.

One more important issue raised included the uncommon structure of investors. The crypto market is dominated by retail investors while professional institutions still get a small part in the sphere. This situation is unusual for the regulators and puts to the test their ability to be flexible and adopt to the changing realities. At the same time, Novogratz plans to turn his Galaxy Digital merchant bank in the “Goldman Sachs of crypto”.

Mike Novogratz was ranked as one of the richest people in the crypto sphere according to Forbes. He swapped the successful career of a hedge fund manager on Wall Street for the crypto sphere before it had become that popular. In January 2018 he announced his new project: the launch of a cryptocurrency “merchant bank” which is likely to help in getting rid of the fuss at the cryptocurrency market.