Not long ago, we put out an article talking about how May was the worst month for bitcoin this year. The currency ended May about two percent less than where it had been in previous months, and this was the first time this year in which BTC didn’t finish a 30-day period on a high. Mike Novogratz – a bitcoin bull and hedge fund manager – had a lot to say on the matter as he made clear in a recent interview.
Mike Novogratz on the Current State of BTC
In his discussion, Novogratz described the situation as the “dog days of summer” coming early for the world’s leading digital currency by market cap. He stated with an air of gloom and doom:
The dog days of summer started early in crypto. That doesn’t make me thrilled. That’s just the reality.
The good news, however, is that bitcoin is still about 60 percent higher than where it ended last year. 2022 was arguably the worst period on record for bitcoin. Things started off well in November of 2021 when BTC reached a new all-time high of about $68,000 per unit.
Sadly, while everyone thought bitcoin was an unstoppable asset and likely to reach the pinnacles of finance, the following 12 months proved harsh and gruesome in ways that nobody thought possible, and bitcoin wound up losing more than 70 percent of its overall value and dipping into mid-$16K territory.
The trouble didn’t quite stop there. The rest of the crypto industry lost more than $2 trillion in value, as several additional coins chose to follow in BTC’s ugly and twisted footsteps. It was a rough and depressing sight.
And while bitcoin is up right now when compared with the horrendous conditions it faced last year, it’s certainly not where it could be, and it’s not in a position that’s even comparable with where it was two Novembers ago. Novogratz took note of this and said:
Crypto’s lackadaisical right now. There’s a constant bid from retail. We’re seeing it through all the platforms. There’s not a lot of institutional excitement right now.
A Lot of Deception
As other news has related, it wasn’t just the price of bitcoin that makes May a relatively weak month. The period also saw lots of new fraud and rug pulls taking place, and it appears many investors lost more than $50 million in combined assets.
Rug pulls often occur when new crypto companies enter the fray and seek to raise funds for their operations. The more money they get, the higher their tokens spike. All who invested early see their portfolios rise and things look solid, but it isn’t long before all the executives shut down and run off with the money they’ve earned, leaving their supporters in bad states and their portfolios in shambles.