THE SHORT VERSION
Novogratz went from Princeton and Army helicopters to Wall Street, then crypto, built Galaxy, bought a West Texas bitcoin mine near the bottom of the cycle, and turned it into a hyperscale AI data-center campus leased to CoreWeave.
AI NEWS PAGE DOSSIER
Mike Novogratz
Army helicopter pilot → crypto fortune → Texas bitcoin mine → AI infrastructure.
WHY THIS PERSON MATTERS
HOW THE HELL DID MIKE NOVOGRATZ GET HERE?
1987
PRINCETON, THEN ARMY HELICOPTERS
Princeton identifies Novogratz as Class of 1987 with an economics degree and notes that he served as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army before his long Wall Street career.
RECEIPTS: Princeton Universityreported
2013
A FRIEND SENDS HIM THE BITCOIN WHITEPAPER
Novogratz says a friend pushed him to read the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2013, beginning the crypto bet that eventually pulled him out of conventional Wall Street and into building Galaxy.
RECEIPTS: Galaxyfirst-party
2018
HE BUILDS GALAXY
Novogratz says he chose to build in 2018, launching Galaxy to connect institutional finance with the emerging digital-asset economy.
RECEIPTS: Galaxyfirst-party
Dec 28, 2022
HE BUYS A WEST TEXAS BITCOIN MINE
Galaxy acquired the Helios mining facility in Dickens County, Texas for roughly $77 million, gaining a large power site with substantial room for expansion.
RECEIPTS: Galaxyfirst-party
Mar 28, 2025
THE BITCOIN MINE BECOMES AN AI LANDLORD
Galaxy signed a 15-year lease to deliver 133 MW of critical IT load at Helios to CoreWeave for AI and high-performance computing, beginning the site's explicit conversion from bitcoin mining toward AI infrastructure.
RECEIPTS: Galaxyfirst-party
Jul 6, 2026
THE AI DATA CENTER STARTS COLLECTING RENT
Galaxy completed Helios Phase I, delivering 133 MW of critical IT load to CoreWeave; the company said the campus had become revenue-generating AI infrastructure with 1.63 GW of approved power capacity.
RECEIPTS: Galaxyfirst-party
PROFILE
- EDUCATION
- Princeton University · Economics · ABPrinceton University