Mike Novogratz, the CEO of crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, predicts that bitcoin will break out of its 2018 doldrums and soar to $20,000 in 2019 — fueled by a spike in institutional investments.

The former Goldman Sachs investment banker says institutional “FOMO” (fear of missing out) will drive the market up over the coming months as cryptocurrency assets gain more mainstream acceptance and traditional finance players take the leap into crypto.

Year-End Bitcoin Price Target: $8,800-$9,000
“Bitcoin has to take out $6,800, and after that we could end the year at $8,800 to 9,000,” Novogratz told Financial News.

    “By the end of the first quarter [of 2019], we will take out $10,000. And after that, we will go back to new highs — to $20,000 or more.”

This past summer was a bloodbath for cryptocurrencies, which were hamstrung by a slump the market could not shake since the beginning of the year. It was a humbling anti-climax for bitcoin, whose prices rocketed to almost $20,000 in December 2017.

Despite the recent downswing, the industry scored major street cred after Harvard, Yale, and Stanford University announced that their multi-billion-dollar endowments had invested in crypto. MIT, the University of North Carolina, and Dartmouth also jumped on the bandwagon, as CCN has reported. The combined endowments of the six universities top a staggering $108 billion.

CCN | https://www.ccn.com/bull-call-novogratz-says-bitcoin-will-see-record-highs-in-2019/