Mike Novogratz says Mark Cuban is making a ‘mistake’ by backing Dogecoin – and says banks piling into bitcoin could send it to $500,000

Mike Novogratz says Mark Cuban is making a ‘mistake’ by backing Dogecoin – and says banks piling into bitcoin could send it to $500,000

Mike Novogratz has said he thinks Mark Cuban is making a "mistake" in letting Dallas Mavericks fans pay for tickets and merchandise in Dogecoin, calling it a "joke" currency.

The Galaxy Digital boss told Bloomberg TV bitcoin is where the action is, saying banks are "frantically" trying to get into the world's biggest cryptocurrency, and that it could jump to $500,000 by replacing gold as investors' favored hedging asset.

Mavericks owner Cuban said on Thursday he was taking the "fun" decision to let the NBA team start accepting Dogecoin, the meme cryptocurrency that started as a joke, but has a market capitalization of more than $6.4 billion.

Novogratz criticized the move, saying: "I think Mark's making a mistake there. He'd be better off with 15 other ways to pay for his tickets."

He raised concerns that young investors would get hurt by piling into Dogecoin. "Let's put people in the safest, best stuff, not, you know, these joke coins," he said.

Novogratz said he thinks bitcoin can soar to $500,000 in the future thanks to a "paradigm shift", with banks "frantically trying to figure out how to get into crypto." He cited interest from JPMorgan, which has supported customers investing, and Goldman Sachs, which has reopened