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Alex Svanevik, founder of onchain analytics firm Nansen, predicts that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ billionaire minimum tax could “tank markets” via asset selloffs but tips a $100,000 Bitcoin price if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins.
Speaking to Hall of Flame about his journey into crypto and rise to prominence on social media, Svanevik says he was skeptical of Bitcoin when he first encountered it. If it weren’t for a random lunch break at work one day, he might never have changed his mind — and Nansen might’ve never existed.
“I first looked at Bitcoin in 2013, and I dismissed it. I thought it was only for money laundering criminals, like everyone else,” Singapore-based Svanevik says.
“Then, in 2017, Ethereum popped up on my radar while I was at lunch at work, and some engineers were talking about it. Some folks were also investing in ICOs,” he explains.
That day changed everything for Svanevik. He was working as a data science manager and quickly fell “down the rabbit hole with Ethereum.” Living in Barcelona at the time, he packed up and moved to Hong Kong for a new job at a crypto startup.
But as was par for the course in 2017: “That startup collapsed within 11 months, and they had to lay off everyone,” he explains.
The redundancy was the push that kicked off Nansen. Svanevik spotted the opportunity and “took some of the best people” from the company to help start Nansen, which has now become one of the world’s most powerful multichain analytics platforms.
Two others became co-founders in 2019: data engineer Lars Bakke Krogvig, who got laid off from the same bankrupt company, and solutions architect Evgeny Medvedev.
They bootstrapped Nansen together, launched in April 2020, and raised a seed round of funding in just six months.
“The thing that was a bit unique was that we charged for the product from the beginning, so we said, you know, ‘Pay $9 to try it for a week,’” Svanevik says.
“The whole point was that if people buy that, that’s a signal that this is something that people want,” he adds.
“It’s weird in crypto because you give away products for free, but in some cases, even pay people with airdrops to use products, and it totally dilutes the signal on whether the product is actually useful, so we did the total opposite.”
How did Alex Svanevik build his X following?
With 183,100 followers on X, Svanevik has built a pretty decent-sized following, but he sounds a lot more down-to-earth than most “influencers” when sharing how he grew it.
“I think it was very synergistic with Nansen. So, it kind of fed off each other,” he explains.
“I would use Nansen to share insights; of course, I still do, which helps grow Nansen.”
Svanevik says that he’s “probably the most active user of Nansen itself” and naturally wants to share what he digs up.
What type of content does Alex Svanevik do?
As the co-founder of an analytics firm, it seems fitting that he can come up with a detailed breakdown in numbers of the sort of content he posts.
“40% onchain insights, 40% shitposting, and 20% Singapore bull-posting,” Svanevik laughs.
Svanevik says “shitposting” isn’t part of some grand branding plan; it’s just his thing, and he enjoys doing it.
“I try to have no filter on my thoughts, and maybe that says something about my brain,” he laughs.
He says when he runs into people who follow him on social media, they’re way more excited about the banter posts than the crypto alpha.
“If people come up to me… they will always say, ‘I follow you on Twitter,’ and it’s typically about the Singapore bull-posting or the shit posting,” he laughs.
Crypto market predictions from Alex Svanevik?
Svanevik believes the mix of United States Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and the chance of a “pro-crypto president” being elected in November has him feeling “insanely bullish” about crypto in 2025.
“If Trump wins, it’s very likely we see Bitcoin at $100,000 next year, and beyond maybe,” he says.
As for a Q4 2024 prediction, Svanevik says, “I don’t know.”
But Svanevik warns that if “some of the stuff” that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has talked about “actually gets into policy,” such as the unrealized gains tax proposal — otherwise referred to as the Harris billionaire minimum tax — it will be “potentially brutal for all markets.”
He reiterates that he’s not trying to “protect the billionaires” but points out the “mechanical effect” that could happen when people have to sell off their assets to pay that tax. He says it could “tank the markets.”
Ciaran Lyons
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