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toomanysinks · 6 years

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A look inside crypto firm Galaxy Digital, founded by “sidelined” Wall Street legend Mike Novogratz

Mike Novogratz, a former hedge fund manager who was once captain of Princeton’s college wrestling team, has been described as many things, including in just one New Yorker article in which he was featured last year. An on-and-off-again billionaire. A sidelined Wall Street legend. “Bombastic.” “Full of shit.” A former party animal whose “lifestyle issues” led to his removal as a partner at Goldman Sachs back in 2000.

While Novogratz appears to be beloved by many friends, despite these qualities or perhaps because of them, he may be more notable as a risk-taker who has racked up big wins — and big losses — first at Goldman, then at Fortress Investments. Now, he’s trying to rebuild his fortune with his own merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, which describes itself as a “bridge between the crypto and institutional worlds,” and which is squarely focused on cryptocurrencies and the promise of new blockchain technologies. It may be a smashing success, but failure looks like an option again, too. At least, as of November, Galaxy had suffered at least $136 million in trading losses.

To better understand the firm and whether it has what it takes to stick around, we talked last week with Sam Englebart, a longtime media and tech investor who first began managing money for Novogratz’s family office and wound up cofounding Galaxy with him. Englebart — who was visiting San Francisco from New York for the weeklong Game Developers Conference — oversees the outfit’s principal investments business and the EOS.io Ecosystem Fund, a $325 million joint venture with Block.one that’s focused on making investments in projects that utilize the EOS.io blockchain software. We asked about Galaxy’s not-very-good 2018 and how Englebart, Novogratz, and the rest of their 75-person team can produce the returns they expect to see. Our chat has been edited lightly for length.

TC: For our readers who aren’t familiar with Galaxy Digital, what’s the elevator pitch?

SE: It’s an investment bank with a balance sheet to invest. We invest in everything blockchain and crypto related and in the future of tech broadly. We had two pools of capital, our balance sheet, and we’re also publicly traded in Toronto [having executed a reverse merger with a shell company on the exchange]. We’ve invested several hundred million dollars already in blockchain and crypto investments and tokens.

TC: One of the things you oversee is a venture fund that counts Block.one as the only limited partner other than Galaxy. Block.one develops software known as eos.io, a blockchain-based infrastructure software.

SE: It’s an evolution of bitcoin and ethereum; it’s another blockchain protocol that allows [developers] to build applications atop it that are decentralized. Block.one did a token sale and had enormous success, raising $4 billion dollars. And having raised all this money for the development of their protocol, they wanted to allocate some of it back to professional VCs who could then invest in way that’s beneficial to [its own] ecosystem, so they committed $1 billion to partner VC funds. Well, they are managing $400 million themselves, and $600 million is being managed by five partner funds, of which we’re managing $300 million. [The funds] are all geographically diverse. We’re the largest and cover North America.

TC: And you kicked in $25 million to have some skin in the game. Do you co-invest in anything with the other partner funds or share deal flow in any way? Also, does Block.one have to sign off on what you want to fund?

SE: Generally speaking, we’re trying to stay somewhat close to our geography, but if we see a great deal in Asia, we might share it with [former Jefferies Asia CEO Michael Alexander, the fund manager there] and take a share. And ours is ultimately a fund managed by Galaxy. We work closely and collaboratively with [Block.one] but they aren’t technically on our investment committee.

TC: What other products does Galaxy have?

SE: We’re also in the process of raising a credit and special opportunities fund to make structured credit investments in the . space. We have an index fund. It’s a portfolio of investment products. Galaxy Digital more broadly has an investment business, a trading business — Mike is best-known for and been a macro trader for most of his career and is now trading around crypto tokens and liquid products — and then and advisory business, too. We’re a registered broker-dealer doing M&A advisory, increasingly focusing on what we think will be opportunities as startups begin to [consolidate their efforts], and also doing traditional capital raising for startups and later-stage companies.

TC: Of those, which is your biggest business?

SE: Our investment business is our biggest business by far. Our trading business is growing quickly, even through a downturn in the market, though it’s really taking the longest to stand up as any trading business would. Our advisory business is [the most nascent].

TC: Galaxy found a way to go public back in August. Why was that important to the firm to do?

SE: If we’d just wanted to be a venture business, we didn’t need to go public. But we’re in this phase where institutional investors are going to want and need exposure to blockchain [investments] and crypto, while at the same time, it’s going to be a while before they feel comfortable buying these assets directly. Things are changing. Andreessen Horowitz has a [crypto] fund. [Former Sequoia Capital partner] Matt Huang has a fund now. They’re credible investors. But change takes time. And in terms of custody and insurance and CYA-type stuff, we felt having a public currency was the easiest way for investors to do it who don’t want to lock up their capital in a fund but who want to bet broadly across the space.

Not much of the company is floated. We think that as we prove out what we’re building [that will change].

TC: Is it safe to say that last year was pretty brutal, especially given that the firm officially opened its doors last January?

SE: Oh, yeah, definitely, though it was a somewhat predictable selloff from in hindsight. I don’t care what the asset class it is — when things go up with that kind of velocity, they tend to come down with equal momentum. People got very excited. What’s unique about crypto and blockchain relative to other retail [offerings is that it’s] possible for the average person to buy into the frenzy. The development of other tech has involved professional investors taking risk in a calculated manner, but suddenly, [crypto] was available to everyone. And it was the evolution of crowdfunding and social media and information spreads fast, and when the message is that you can get rich fast, people are going to go for it.

Presumably, many retail investors who got in got out, along with people who’d been in the space a while and took their profits. So things were never as good or as bad as they seemed. Despite the ‘crypto winter,’ companies have been [at work] and a lot of the hype is turning into actual working technology.

TC: So no more frenzies or bubbles?

SE: We’ll definitely see more as this technology continues to develop. We’re still a ways away from it being the seamless technology we enjoy with the web. But it’s probably not all that different from what we lived through the last time around, where a few companies become massively important and a lot of them don’t.

TC: How do you rate SEC chief Jay Clayton? Are you in favor of SEC regulating more of this new world?

SE: Yes, for sure. Fair, researched, smart regulation is absolutely what an industry like this needs, along with making sure people understand that there will be standards in terms of behavior and business practices that every industry needs. I think the more, reasonable regulation we have, the better everyone will be.

TC: Is there a country whose regulations or approach you’d like the U.S. to adopt?

SE: There isn’t one particular place where I think, The U.S. should do this. We’re our own unique country, with our own issues and problems and benefits. I do [hope that] in an increasingly global world, we don’t over-regulate ourselves to the point of people building technology elsewhere. There’s a lot at stake.

TC: What has you most excited right now about the deals you’re seeing?

SE: Video games and digital objects are one of the reasons I’m excited. Many will integrate blockchain technology in important ways that will matter this year, and, by the way, I don’t think we’re many years away from web 3.0 and the decentralized internet from being ubiquitous in the same way that we’d be shocked today if we encountered a business that had no exposure to the internet.

TC: What applications are close?

SE: The trickiest thing is to remember [not to expect an] old medium with a new tech thing stuck on it. The reason there’s been so much talk about blockchain and video games, for example, is because the [gaming] world is made up of digital objects. Meanwhile, people have recognized that the blockchain allows you to create truly scarce digital objects that someone can truly own and trade as they as they would a physical object. With respect to gaming, that means you can truly start to own the digital objects you are [using in gaming] or, if you’re a collector of certain physical objects, how you collect them will become gamified in digital ways.

Consider that owning something is really about status. You show your friends, you achieve the status of owning that thing, then you either put it in your closet or trade it for money. In the digital world, you don’t have to go through the process of dealing with that physical object that has to be stored or else packed and shipped to someone else. There’s a startup for example, VIRL, that buys custom shoes, then digitizes them using a volumetric camera system that turns them into a 3D object that you can see on your phone and authenticate as being one of say, only 10 copies. These digital sneakers — these non-fungible tokens — can then remain in the collector’s inventory or be made tradable through an exchange. And it just takes a second. You can have your item instantly.

The lines between commerce and gaming and trading grow more blurred by the day.

TC: What’s your driving thesis?

SE: That the digital world will be no different than the physical world as we invest more and more time in digital worlds and our digital identity, and included in that is the inventory of stuff we own. We’re going to demand that no one can take that away from us.

Above: Mike Novogratz speaks during the 2018 Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit at The Times Center on September 20, 2018 in New York City.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/25/a-look-inside-crypto-firm-digital-galaxy-founded-by-sidelined-wall-street-legend-mike-novogratz/

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fmservers · 6 years

Text

A look inside crypto firm Digital Galaxy, founded by “sidelined” Wall Street legend Mike Novogratz

To better understand the firm and whether it has what it takes to stick around, we talked last week with Sam Englebart, a longtime media and tech investor who first began managing money for Novogratz’s family office and wound up cofounding Galaxy with him. Englebart — who was visiting San Francisco from New York for Game Developer’s Conference — oversees the outfit’s principal investments business and the EOS.io Ecosystem Fund, a $325 million joint venture with Block.one that’s focused on making investments in projects that utilize the EOS.io blockchain software. We asked about Galaxy’s not-very-good 2018 and how Englebart, Novogratz, and the rest of their 75-person team can produce the returns they expect to see. Our chat has been edited lightly for length.

TC: For our readers who aren’t familiar with Galaxy Digital, what’s the elevator pitch?

SE: It’s an evolution of bitcoin and ethereum; it’s another blockchain protocol that allows [developers] to build applications atop it that are decentralized. Block.one did a token sale last year and had enormous success, raising $4 billion dollars in their token sale. And having raised all this money for the development of their protocol, they wanted to allocate some of it back to professional VCs who could then invest in way that’s beneficial to [its own] ecosystem, so they committed $1 billion to partner VC funds. Well, they are managing $400 million themselves and $600 million is being managed by five partner funds, of which we’re managing $300 million. [The funds] are all geographically diverse. We’re the largest and cover North America.

TC: What other products does Galaxy have?

TC: Of those, which is your biggest business?

TC: Galaxy found a way to go public back in August. Why was that important to the firm to do?

Not much of the company is floated. We think that as we prove out what we’re building [that will change].

TC: Is it safe to say that last year was pretty brutal, especially given that the firm officially opened its doors last January?

TC: So no more frenzies or bubbles?

TC: How do you rate SEC chief Jay Clayton? Are you in favor of SEC regulating more of this new world?

TC: Is there a country whose regulations or approach you’d like the U.S. to adopt?

TC: What has you most excited right now about the deals you’re seeing?

TC: What applications are close?

The lines between commerce and gaming and trading grow more blurred by the day.

TC: What’s your driving thesis?

Above: Mike Novogratz speaks during the 2018 Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit at The Times Center on September 20, 2018 in New York City.

Via Connie Loizos https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

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psychotherapyconsultants · 7 years

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When Your Antidepressant Isn’t as Safe as You Think

A fortunate knock of luck is always welcomed by scientists and researchers, yet any treatment modalities should be novel by design rather than by serendipity. Antidepressants were discovered by chance in the 1950s, and it seems that they suffer from specific deficiencies when it comes to their clinical effectiveness and safety profile. It is something that very few in the medical field negate, although the degree of disagreement may vary.

Depression — A Poorly Understood Disorder

Depression is a heterogeneous disorder that may be characterized by a group of common symptoms, but the underlying cause may vary from person to person. Despite considerable research about the structural and neurochemical changes caused in the brain of a person suffering from depression, there is no specific brain-based test for the condition. Two of the most widely accepted diagnostic systems, ICD-10 and DSM-IV, have similar but not identical criteria. This means that they have a different threshold for various depression symptoms.

Some of the universally accepted symptoms of depression are depressed mood, fatigue, loss of interest, worthlessness, recurrent thoughts of suicide, insomnia, and alternation in appetite.

The Rise of Antidepressants

Both the US- and European-based statistics show a sharp increase in the prescription of antidepressants since the 1990s. Although statistics also indicate that no more than 8% of the population suffers from depression, 13% are taking antidepressants. Moreover, these drugs are much more commonly used in people above 60 years of age, with almost one-fourth of them taking antidepressants and many older adults using them for more than a decade.

Such a rise in the use of antidepressants is also explained by the fact that these drugs are given not only to treat depression. They have become a kind of all-purpose drugs that are considered useful to treat various mood disorders, painful conditions, inflammatory bowel syndrome, anxiety, panic disorders, and many more.

How Antidepressants Work?

Antidepressants are drugs belonging to various groups. Almost all of them work by changing the level of monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain. There are some additional effects too, as not all drugs capable of altering monoaminergic functioning may work as antidepressants.

Antidepressants change the presynaptic and postsynaptic concentration of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine in the neurons, with most modern antidepressants targeting serotonin and to some extent norepinephrine. Dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine are vital neurotransmitters, playing an essential role in the limbic system and reward system. The drugs help to reset these systems, consequently contributing to the regain of mood and emotional balance.

Antidepressants have been shown to increase the activation of the prefrontal cortex but decrease the activation of the hippocampus, parahippocampal region, amygdala, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex. These areas of the brain play an important role in shaping mood and emotions and are part of limbic and reward systems.

Apart from modifying the transmission of monoaminergic neuromediators, antidepressant drugs also have a complex effect on various receptors and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The impact of some of the novel antidepressants on different serotonin receptors (e.g., 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors) has been well-studied.

Some of the most commonly used antidepressants these days are tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and selective serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs).

What Are the Safety Issues?

When we talk about drug safety, it is not just about the adverse effect but also about the clinical efficacy. Too many side effects and little clinical effectiveness as compared to placebo could put the utility of any drug therapy under doubt.

When it comes to side effects, anticholinergic side effects like dryness of mouth, blurring of vision, and dizziness are common with most antidepressants. Most of them may also alter appetite and sexual function, and cause an upset stomach, joint and muscular pains, problems with drug interactions, irritability, mood changes, movement disorders and the risk of falling in the elderly, and much more. Moreover, these side effects continue to persist when the drugs are used long term.

The development of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms are widespread. Discontinuation syndrome can be really bad in many cases.

Perhaps the most worrisome of all the adverse effects is the higher occurrence of suicide and violence in those on antidepressants. Although there are many studies with contradicting conclusions, the majority seem to show that suicide and violence are much higher in those taking antidepressants. Moreover, abnormal behavior is equally common with the newer SSRIs and SSNRIs.

There is an abundance of literature mentioning the risk of suicide in depression. However, the efficacy of antidepressants in the prevention of depression-related suicide remains inconclusive.

Clinical studies have demonstrated that the newer non-tricyclic antidepressants are not any better in their safety profile in the elderly population.

Finally, a considerable number of studies seems to put doubt on the effectiveness of antidepressants. Some medical specialists believe that antidepressants do not help at all, and many studies support their view. Thus in one of the studies published in the JAMA, it was concluded that the therapeutic benefit with antidepressants may actually be non-existent or minimal for mild to moderate depression, with more substantial benefits in severe cases of depression.

Conclusion

Although the diversity of depression is well-recognized, almost all the drugs made to treat depression inhibit reuptake of one or another monoamine neuromediator, and very little has changed in our approach towards treatment since the advent of the first antidepressant drug. In order to overcome the dangers and limitations of therapy with antidepressants, there is an urgent need to create antidepressants that have a novel mechanism of action and better tolerance. More caution should be exercised by medical professionals when prescribing anti-depressants, as the ability to promote positive effects in many patients is questionable.

References

Bet, P. M., Hugtenburg, J. G., Penninx, B. W. J. H., & Hoogendijk, W. J. G. (2013). Side effects of antidepressants during long-term use in a naturalistic setting. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 23(11), 1443–1451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.05.001

Bielefeldt, A. Ø., Danborg, P. B., & Gøtzsche, P. C. (2016). Precursors to suicidality and violence on antidepressants: systematic review of trials in adult healthy volunteers. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 109(10), 381–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076816666805

Delaveau, P., Jabourian, M., Lemogne, C., Guionnet, S., Bergouignan, L., & Fossati, P. (2011). Brain effects of antidepressants in major depression: A meta-analysis of emotional processing studies. Journal of Affective Disorders, 130(1), 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2010.09.032

Fournier, J. C., DeRubeis, R. J., Hollon, S. D., Dimidjian, S., Amsterdam, J. D., Shelton, R. C., & Fawcett, J. (2010). Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity: A Patient-Level Meta-analysis. JAMA, 303(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1943

Hollinghurst, S., Kessler, D., Peters, T. J., & Gunnell, D. (2005). Opportunity cost of antidepressant prescribing in England: analysis of routine data. BMJ, 330(7498), 999–1000. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38377.715799.F7

Köhler, S., Cierpinsky, K., Kronenberg, G., & Adli, M. (2016). The serotonergic system in the neurobiology of depression: Relevance for novel antidepressants. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881115609072

Mahar, I., Bambico, F. R., Mechawar, N., & Nobrega, J. N. (2014). Stress, serotonin, and hippocampal neurogenesis in relation to depression and antidepressant effects. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 38(Supplement C), 173–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.11.009

National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (UK). (2010). THE CLASSIFICATION OF DEPRESSION AND DEPRESSION RATING SCALES/QUESTIONNAIRES. British Psychological Society. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK63740/

Pratt, L. A., Brody, D. J., & Gu, Q. (2017). Antidepressant Use Among Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2011–2014. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db283.htm

This guest article originally appeared on the award-winning health and science blog and brain-themed community, BrainBlogger: The Dangers of Antidepressants.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2018/01/03/when-your-antidepressant-isnt-as-safe-as-you-think/

#World of Psychology

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