Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz says he bought Facebook stock to capitalize on the company's digital wallet launch

• Mike Novogratz said he bought Facebook stock in anticipation of its digital wallet launch.
• "All of a sudden you're going to have 2.4 billion people connected to this crypto space," he said.
• The billionaire expects Facebook's Novi to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2021.

Billionaire Mike Novogratz revealed in a Bloomberg interview Tuesday that he has bought shares in Facebook ahead of its digital wallet launch.

"I bought Facebook stock because the company is going to come out with the Novi wallet sometime this quarter I think," he said. "All of a sudden you're going to have 2.4 billion people connected to this crypto space."

Facebook's Novi wallet aims to allow users to send and receive its Diem digital currency. Diem, formerly called Libra, is a blockchain-based payment system that has faced multiple roadblocks. It was meant to launch in early 2021, but regulatory concerns over Facebook's data privacy and potential money laundering issues has caused delays.

Novogratz, who is worth about $6.4 billion, is one of the most prominent bitcoin bulls and expects money to continue pouring into the space. As CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, his outlook on cryptocurrencies is closely followed.

The market value of all cryptocurrencies combined surpassed $2 trillion last week. Novogratz predicted the market will make up 1% of global wealth by the end of 2021, up from the current 0.5%.

His latest advice to bitcoin holders is to bet against the five-year treasury because he expects the Federal Reserve to pull the plug on monetary support, owing to a swift recovery of the economy. The billionaire said he's short a "lot of interest rates" since that's a good hedge for any portfolio - crypto or otherwise.

"Everyone long bitcoin should be short the five year," he said.