Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz says dogecoin's record-breaking surge is even more 'bizarre' than GameStop mania
- Mike Novogratz said dogecoin's record-breaking rally is even more "bizarre" than the GameStop mania.
- "There is a kind of crazy excitement around very young investors around meme coins and meme ideas," Novogratz told CNBC.
- The billionaire reiterated that he would not be "long" on dogecoin.
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Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz on Tuesday said dogecoin's record-breaking 600% monthly rally is even more "bizarre" than January's GameStop mania.
Dogecoin in recent weeks has outpaced the rally of bitcoin and ether, two of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. On Tuesday, advocates of dogecoin are banding together to push the price of the Shiba Inu-themed token to break $1 from its current $0.42 level, dubbing April 20 'Doge Day'.
"There is a kind of crazy excitement around very young investors around meme coins and meme ideas, Novogratz said in a CNBC interview Tuesday. "I mean, it's shocking to me that GameStop continues to hold any value - let alone, you know, $10 - $12 billion of market cap. Dogecoin is even more bizarre in that respect."
The GameStop trend hit a fever pitch in January when an army of retail traders coordinating on Reddit's Wall Street Bets forum sparred with short-focused hedge funds and pushed their favorite stocks higher. GameStop surged from around $65 to a 52-week high of $483.
"All of this is happening because interest rates are zero," the billionaire CEO and chairman of Galaxy Holdings said.
With the Federal Reserve set to keep interest rates close to zero as the economy recovers, the thinking has been that more and more investors will dabble speculative investments to generate returns, including in cryptocurrencies and meme stocks like GameStop.
Novogratz added that, unlike bitcoin which is becoming an institutional asset, the fundamental value of dogecoin remains to be seen.
I've told people over and over that I would not be long," he said, referring to his position on dogecoin, a token created as a joke in 2013.
John Wu, President of Ava Labs, creator of the blockchain platform Avalanche, expressed the same sentiment on the meme token.
"Bitcoin has solidified the store of value narrative, and dogecoin is firmly entrenched as the store of meme value," Wu told Insider. "Tokens with a long track record have surprisingly strong staying power as the base of holders and brand awareness expands."