Mike Novogratz describes ‘unfair, infuriating’ path to Galaxy Digital’s Nasdaq listing
TORONTO — Mike Novogratz said he spent nearly four years and more than $25 million trying to take crypto firm Galaxy Digital public in the United States.
“It felt un-American, unfair, infuriating,” Novogratz said.
Novogratz told CNBC that a process that should take 45 to 90 days stretched out to 1,320 days. He said it took nine rounds of comments with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“One of the things that people didn’t understand about the crypto tax is that you needed to be very well capitalized — and a pretty big, strong company — just to stay in the game,” he said.
The billionaire crypto mogul will finally ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq Friday under the ticker GLXY with his company trading on U.S. public markets for the first time in a direct listing.
Novogratz said Galaxy’s auditing costs were significantly higher than those of firms like Jefferies — a consequence of the regulatory scrutiny that comes with being a crypto company. He said he expects those fees to drop by as much as 40% now that Galaxy is listed on the Nasdaq.
Yet instead of breaking Galaxy, the ordeal seemed to harden it.
“Scarcity makes you tougher,” Novogratz said. “We funded our company mostly through investment gains and trading.”
“We weren’t the only company that suffered,” Novogratz said, pointing to eToro, the Israeli trading platform, that went public on Nasdaq this week. Its listing was one of the first major fintech IPOs since 2021, signaling that investor appetite for crypto-adjacent firms is returning after years of regulatory caution and market volatility.
Until now, Galaxy Digital’s home on the public markets has been on the Toronto Stock Exchange, where the New York-based company went public in 2020, because U.S. regulators were too wary of crypto.
The TSX has become a testing ground for digital asset firms that couldn’t gain traction in American markets, even as U.S. investors and capital loomed just across the border.
But for Novogratz, whose ambitions were always bigger, the U.S. was the stage that mattered.
“Our visibility, volume, and notoriety in the Canadian market versus the U.S. is one to 30 — the U.S. market is 30 times deeper,” he said. “If we had been in the U.S. markets those four years, we’d be a different company.”
The former hedge fund manager turned crypto entrepreneur has built a reputation for direct and candid conversations. In Washington, he witnessed first-hand how crypto evolved from a fringe curiosity to a central issue in American politics.
“I was at the vice president’s inaugural ball as a representative Democrat,” Novogratz said.
In a room of roughly 300 attendees, he said he counted around 20 crypto CEOs — a striking show of the industry’s growing influence in Washington.
“I mean, it was shocking — the crypto representation down in D.C. over the inauguration — and Democrats noticed that. So I think, in earnest, there’s a core group of Democrats, and a big one, probably the majority of Democrats, that just want to pass crypto legislation that’s good for America, and move on, and, quite frankly, get crypto off the map as an electoral issue,” he said.
The turning point came with the election of President Donald Trump, a political shift that Novogratz saw unfolding in real-time.
“The flip got switched… the old regime knew the new regime was coming, and so they started to be much more supportive,” he said.
Conversations that had once been closed suddenly opened.
Novogratz met incoming SEC Chair Paul Atkins around the time of the inauguration. Atkins wasn’t yet in the role, but his stance was clear — he prioritized fair disclosure and leaned pro-business, pro-risk. Their conversation was high-level, focused on the regulator’s approach, but it left Novogratz with a sense of optimism.
“Ringing the bell is kind of the starting line, not the finish line,” said Novogratz.
China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.
The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.
The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.
China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.
To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.
To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.
The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.
As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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Tesla is starting to experience some consequences for misleading Full Self Driving customers – at least that’s the finding of one arbitration ruling that has Tesla refunding one customer $10,000 plus legal fees for failing to deliver on their promises. Find out more on today’s legally challenging episode of Quick Charge!
An arbitration “court” found that Tesla misled customers with its Full Self Driving product, and has now been forced to refund at least one person’s $10,000 payment (plus legal fees) for the not-quite autonomous driving software. France, too, is piling on claims of deceptive business practices – but there’s some good news for FSD fans! If you’re still willing to pay for it, Tesla will thrown in 0% financing on a brand new Cybertruck.
Check out the relevant links, below, to learn more.
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