Mike Novogratz and Howard Lindzon talk crypto, GameStop, Robinhood, and more on Alpha Trader (Podcast)

This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talking first with Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings (BRPHF), and then with Howard Lindzon, co-founder of StockTwits and general partner at Social Leverage.“This GameStop (GME) squeeze is deeper than a squeeze,” tweeted Novogratz last week. “It is a revolution that started with people not trusting central authority; it is a call for transparency and fairness. It makes my more bullish crypto but more importantly more focused and committed to systems change.”De-centralization, represented mostly by Bitcoin (BTC-USD), but also by Ethereum (ETH-USD), and other blockchains may help hold the answer to some of these issues, says Novogratz, as crypto goes right after the “rent-takers.” Bitcoin, he says, is this generation’s “digital gold,” i.e. it’s going to be too clunky to be another currency, but will work perfectly as a store of value. Ethereum, he says, is the “fabric” upon which we can rebuild institutions.He’s bullish on the prices of both since both networks will continue to gain users, and more users means more value. This doesn’t mean there won’t ever be big moves to the downside - rest assured, there will be - but over time the chart direction will be upward and to the right.Next up is Howard Lindzon, an investor in Robinhood (RBNHD), who freely admits the company likely made some PR mistakes last week, but also had no choice - given the capital needs of any broker/dealer - to halt trading in a number of names.As to whether this is an existential blow to the Robinhood franchise, Lindzon notes the staggering number of Robinhood app downloads in the past few days suggests otherwise. He also reminds of major stumbles by a wide range of large-cap stalwarts over the years - they ended up being just that … stumbles.There’s plenty more, including the guests’ takes on whether the silver (XAGUSD:CUR) squeeze can work, why former global macro portfolio manager Novogratz is betting on an upside surprise in interest rates, and Lindzon’s reminder that open price discovery cures many ills.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices