(Bloomberg) -- Michael Novogratz, the billionaire founder of Galaxy Digital, said interest in crypto surged in conjunction with Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential race, with the digital-asset firm posting its largest trading day of the year on Wednesday.
“We own a lot of crypto, but our franchise was operating at full boar — trading with counterparties both in the US and abroad, lending, the derivative desk,” Novogratz, who was a supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris in the race, said on a company conference call. “It really felt like an affirmation of everything we’ve been working for.”
Over the last four years, the former Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs partner said in an earlier interview with Bloomberg News that he has “poured a fortune” into Democratic politics, leaving him in an odd position to likely reap large gains if Trump won. Novogratz’s net worth surged about 15%, or by around $600 million, to $4.6 billion on Wednesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“I didn’t publicly support Donald Trump as President,” Novogratz said on the call Thursday. “I was actually on the other side. But I was always pro-crypto and I thought, let’s do the best we can to have a bipartisan agreement.”
Galaxy reported a third-quarter loss of $54 million, narrowing from about $177 million in the second quarter. For the nine months ended September 30, Galaxy had net income of $191 million.
On Wednesday, Bitcoin surged around 10% to a record of more than $76,000 as part of a wave of trades across global markets in response to Trump’s victory. The former president embraced digital assets during his campaign after a major push by the industry. Crypto companies were the largest single contributor as an industry to US federal election campaigns this year.
“I think with the election of Donald Trump and what he has pledged to be a very liberal crypto policy, we’re at the very beginning of what I think will be 52 weeks or 104 weeks of one piece of good news every week,” Novogratz said.
Shares of Galaxy Digital rose about 5.6% to $15.66 as of 10:30 a.m. in New York. They jumped 25% on Wednesday, and have more than doubled this year.
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