Bitcoin prices showed tentative signs of stabilizing today (Dec. 22) after a plunge in most cryptoassets, from ethereum to litecoin. One person who thinks things could get worse is Michael Novogratz, arguably one of bitcoin’s biggest bulls. The former Goldman Sachs partner and Fortress Investment Group trader told Bloomberg News that he’s halted plans to start a cryptoasset hedge fund and that he thinks bitcoin could go as low as $8,000.
As Wall Street appears to be slowly gearing up to buy and sell digital assets, bitcoin has fallen for six straight days, its longest losing streak since September. The most valuable cryptoasset plunged more than 30% from its end-of-day high Dec. 16 to $13,338, according to Coindesk. It earlier fell as low as $10,834.94. The overall value of the crypto-universe declined, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
Novogratz, who led the macro fund at Fortress, has been planning a $500-million cryptocurrency fund called Galaxy. While he’s been clear that he thinks bitcoin is a bubble, Novogratz previously said he expected the cryptoasset to reach a price target of $40,000 next year.
Novogratz, who was set to start his fund on Dec. 15, called his clients two days earlier and told them he had changed his mind, according to Bloomberg. Though he still thinks digital assets will be disruptive in finance, Novogratz cited a growing number of challenges, such as the prospect of buying bitcoin or ether. Cryptocurrency exchanges have suffered a series of disruptions and hacks.
Litecoin’s founder also managed to avoid the recent carnage in digital assets by selling most of his stake in the days prior. Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, said in a Reddit post that he had sold the cryptocurrency to avoid the perception of conflict of interest.
Of course, bitcoin has suffered major plunges before and then gone on to gasp-inducing gains. This year, bitcoin is still up more than 1,000%.