Galaxy’s Michael Novogratz: Crypto Legislation Doesn’t Need Perfection to Advance
Move now, tweak later—that's the rallying cry echoing from Wall Street to crypto boardrooms.
Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz just threw a lit match into the regulatory debate. His argument? Waiting for flawless crypto legislation is a losing strategy. Progress beats perfection every time.
The Pragmatic Push
Novogratz cuts through the political noise. He bypasses the endless committee debates and zeroes in on momentum. The goal isn't a thousand-page masterpiece out of the gate. It's establishing a foundational framework—something that provides clarity and lets innovation breathe.
Think of it like launching a protocol's mainnet. You don't wait for every possible future upgrade to be coded. You ship a secure, functional version and iterate. Regulatory frameworks demand the same agile mindset.
The Stakes for Markets
This isn't academic. Institutional capital remains parked on the sidelines, held back by regulatory fog. A clear path forward—even an imperfect one—unlocks trillions. It signals to traditional finance that crypto is moving from the wild west to a governed frontier.
That signal alone could trigger the next major valuation surge, proving once again that in markets, perception often outpaces reality.
The Bottom Line
Striving for the perfect bill has become the enemy of good, workable policy. Novogratz’s stance is a calculated bet on action over analysis paralysis. It acknowledges that in a fast-moving digital economy, the cost of delay far outweighs the risk of an imperfect first draft.
After all, Wall Street has built fortunes for decades on imperfect rules—they just call it 'creative financial engineering.'
Novogratz: “Pass the bill, we will fix it with time”
The negotiations began to fall apart around the treatment of stablecoin rewards. Banking groups have sharply criticized the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin law that passed over the summer. Although the law bars issuers from paying direct interest to stablecoin holders, it does not prohibit third-party platforms such as Coinbase from offering rewards.
In response, crypto industry leaders interpreted it as banks trying to curb competition and noted that stablecoin yield had already been debated during the summer.
Armstrong warned that the bill WOULD effectively ban tokenized equities, impose sweeping DeFi surveillance, erode the CFTC’s authority in favor of the SEC, and “kill” rewards on stablecoins and the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He stated that he would rather have no bill than a bad bill.
“The current draft text that was shown to us earlier this week, for instance, would kill probably three or four different product lines that we have already in market [..] And so if this is going to be a giveaway to the banks, I’d rather just stick with GENIUS, which is already in law and we are able to operate our business just fine in that environment,” Armstrong said.
After Coinbase made its stand public, the banking committee cancelled its markup hearing, pushing it to a later date that has not yet been scheduled.
On the other hand, Novogratz says that the industry needs to move. “I do think there will be a compromise on this […] I don’t think it will be great for crypto, but I think it’ll be fine. And for me, I just keep saying, we got to get this bill passed so we can move on, and the industry can start growing […] And if it’s not perfect, who cares? We’ll fix it in time,” he stated.
Senate Democrats try to revive the bill as the market goes neutral
Senate Democrats have not closed the door on reviving the stalled crypto market structure bill, with negotiations reportedly set to resume between lawmakers and industry leaders today.
According to sources, representatives from both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee are scheduled to hold a call with crypto industry executives to discuss next steps for the legislation. The report said that both sides coming back to the table suggests the bill remains under active consideration, despite recent setbacks
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped 11 points to 50 on Friday, sliding from “greed” to “neutral” in less than 24 hours as debate over the crypto bill intensified. Traders have grown cautious while lawmakers struggled to keep their legislative calendar on track.
The index was at 61 on Thursday, which was the highest level since October 10. On that same day in October, the larger crypto market experienced nearly $19 billion in liquidations. During Thursday’s rally, bitcoin climbed roughly 5% to $97,870. Now the coin has declined over 1% as the broader market shed 0.8% of its market cap.
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