Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz warned that XRP’s value will increasingly depend on whether it can keep its community narrative intact as markets shift toward tokens that behave more like real businesses.
“The moment you’re not money, Bitcoin is money, then you’re just a business,” Novogratz said on Galaxy Brains. “The valuations are a lot lower.”
He then pointed directly at XRP’s ecosystem durability.
“The questions will be can Ripple hold it together? Can Cardona hold it together?” Novogratz said, arguing that as more tokenized real-world assets come on-chain, networks that rely mostly on community momentum could face tougher competition.
“Can you keep the community together when there’s so many other options?” he added.
Mike Novogratz is a billionaire investor and the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, a financial services firm focused on crypto, digital assets, and blockchain technology. He is a former hedge fund manager at Fortress Investment Group and previously worked at Goldman Sachs. Novogratz is one of the most prominent Wall Street voices advocating for Bitcoin, crypto adoption, and tokenized financial markets.
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Novogratz framed 2026 as a turning point where crypto’s plumbing starts carrying more traditional assets, and where that change could pressure tokens that have historically traded on belief, narrative, and loyalty.
“It is a building year for us and for other crypto companies,” he said. “It is the year for this stuff to start working… It’s time for us to start being important.”
He suggested the market will begin separating “money-like” assets from protocols that ultimately get valued like companies.
That matters for XRP, he implied, because once investors stop treating a token as “money,” the market starts asking more traditional questions about utility, adoption, and cashflow-like fundamentals.
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Novogratz warned that crypto remains highly sensitive to broader markets, especially tech and AI.
“The big risk to Bitcoin, and it’s a big risk to all the crypto, is that there is a scenario where the Nasdaq shit its pants,” he said. If that happens, he added, “crypto’s not going to go higher… It probably goes lower.”
He also noted year-end conditions can exaggerate volatility across majors.
“We’re at a very illiquid period right now, and so one big flow can drive the market,” he said, describing how sharp moves can appear and fade quickly.
