The Bitcoin Layer

In this episode, Nik breaks down the current macro landscape through the lens of Bitcoin, interest rates, and market liquidity. He shares new insights from TBL’s proprietary liquidity index, revealing how quarterly cycles in the Treasury market are shaping Bitcoin’s price behavior. Nik also unpacks key valuation metrics like the Mayer Multiple and MVRV, and explains why Bitcoin’s current range sug...

In this episode, Nik recaps Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas—where the energy wasn’t about price hype, but real-world adoption, corporate treasury interest, and global legitimacy. He shares conversations with readers, the emergence of institutional presence, and what the crowd revealed about Bitcoin’s next phase. Nik closes with a quick technical breakdown of the recent weekly candle and what it may sign...

In this episode, Nik is joined by Kane McGukin, a traditional wealth manager and longtime Bitcoin writer. They break down the global financial war unfolding through treasuries, stablecoins, and Bitcoin. From the collapse of Eurodollar dominance to the rise of SOFR and secured collateral systems, the U.S. is reshaping liquidity—and weaponizing financial plumbing to defend its position. Kane explain...

In this episode, Nik breaks down Bitcoin’s explosive move past $110,000 through the lens of candlestick analysis. From foundational concepts to advanced signals, this full lesson in candle behavior uses Bitcoin’s current bull market as a live case study. Nik covers higher lows, resistance breakouts, the Three White Soldiers pattern, and the critical role of weekly shadows in revealing market convi...

In this episode, Nik breaks down the quiet force powering Bitcoin’s 2025 bull market: calm in the Treasury market. As bond volatility unwinds, risk assets are thriving. Nik explains how Bitcoin, as a liquidity asset, is tied to Treasury stability through credit creation, term premiums, and the pace of government debt relative to GDP. He covers Bitcoin’s institutional FOMO, the mechanics of the yie...

In this episode, Nik answers Demian’s questions about what’s driving Bitcoin’s price in 2025, as ETFs, options, and structured products reshape the bull market. With new pipes built for institutional capital to flow into Bitcoin, financialization is transforming how price behaves—suppressing volatility, changing breakout dynamics, and introducing both long and short positioning at scale. Nik break...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia sits down with James Check (Checkmate) to break down the latest shifts in Bitcoin market structure, sentiment, and investor behavior. They explore how the macro landscape and price action are shaping this phase of the bull market, with an emphasis on derivatives, MVRV, and the psychology of unrealized losses. The conversation highlights the transition from mining-driven...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia and TBL Research Associate Demian Schatt unpack how the Federal Reserve actually influences the financial system—and who it serves. They discuss what happens mechanically when the Fed changes rates, why bond market expectations matter more than policy statements, and how the entire credit system is structured to resist deflation. Nik shares insights on the origins of th...

In this episode, Nik is joined by Bitcoin researcher Daniel Batten to unpack the latest Cambridge report on Bitcoin mining and energy. They reveal how years of misinformation—driven by central banks and amplified by the media—have distorted public perception of Bitcoin’s environmental impact. Drawing on new data, Daniel explains how miners are increasingly using off-grid and stranded energy, stabi...

In this video, Nik Bhatia explores the Eurodollar system through an unexpected lens—a conversation with Grok. Drawing from his own research in Layered Money and Bitcoin Age, Nik traces the origins of offshore dollar finance, explains how Regulation Q and Cold War politics fueled the rise of the Eurodollar market, and examines China’s role in expanding this shadow system through the Belt and Road I...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia sits down with TBL Research Associate Demian Schott to break down Bitcoin’s strong price action despite signs of macroeconomic slowdown. They explore how falling bond volatility, shifting interest rate expectations, and the Fed’s potential rate cuts are boosting risk assets through the TBL Liquidity lens. Nik explains how market certainty affects dealer activity, why lo...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia and Matt Dines unpack the evolving dynamics of global finance, focusing on gold’s renewed monetary role, the effects of China’s gold market activity, and the broader trend of de-dollarization. They explore how tariffs and shifting trade flows are reshaping global dollar circulation, and examine the interplay between gold, bitcoin, and dollar strength. The conversation a...

In this video, Nik dives into America’s new financial war on offshore dollar power. He outlines how the Trump administration’s tariffs are just the opening move in a broader strategy to dismantle the Eurodollar system, drain shadow banking liquidity, and force a return to Treasury-backed money. Nik charts the end of 30 years of globalization, the reshaping of global trade, and the early signs of a...

In this episode, Nik is joined by Tanvi Ratna, founder of Policy 4.0, to break down the Trump administration’s sweeping new strategy: a global trade, currency, and security reordering. Tanvi brings her unique expertise across geopolitics, supply chains, finance, and emerging tech to explain how the U.S. is shifting from a consumer-driven economy to an industrial powerhouse—while reimagining allian...

In this Global Macro Update, Nik walks through a massive chart pack to help decode today’s volatile macro landscape. Gold is leading the way, outpacing Bitcoin over the past 12 months and signaling a global monetary reset in motion. Nik connects the dots between soaring gold prices, weakening demand for U.S. Treasuries, and a shift away from dollar recycling as trade relationships are restructured...

In this Global Macro Update, Nik highlights bitcoin’s breakout above a key descending trendline and a textbook bullish divergence on the RSI—two technical signals suggesting the recent downtrend may be losing steam. But the bigger story is gold, which is exploding higher in what looks like the early stages of a full-scale monetary reset. With the dollar breaking multi-year support and massive gold...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia is joined by Demian Schatt to examine why the US Treasury market is fundamentally strengthening despite recent volatility. Nik explains key concepts including SLR reform, Treasury buybacks of off-the-run securities, and current repo market dynamics that are supporting market stability. The conversation also explores how deregulation and fiscal discipline will be crucial...

In this episode, Nik is joined by Matt Pines, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, to unpack what could be the biggest shift in U.S. geoeconomic strategy in decades. Together, they explore the vision behind a potential “Bretton Woods 2.0”—a new system emerging from reciprocal tariffs, capital wars, and a shrinking global dollar zone. They dive deep into how the U.S. is building a tr...

In this episode, Nik Bhatia is joined by Demian Schatt to break down one of the most volatile 48-hour stretches in recent bond market history. As Treasury yields spiked 60 basis points and the MOVE Index surged, Nik unpacks the hidden mechanics behind the dislocation—explaining how a highly leveraged basis trade began to unwind, triggering forced selling and market-wide panic. He walks through the...

In this episode, Nik is joined by PhD economist Peter St. Onge for a masterclass on the strategic use of tariffs in Trump’s economic agenda. Peter explains how tariffs serve as strategic tools, not protectionist measures, to reshape global trade, revive U.S. manufacturing, and drive domestic deregulation. He breaks down America’s asymmetric trade relationships with Europe, China, and Mexico, and o...

In this Global Macro Update, Nik Bhatia breaks down one of the most chaotic weeks in markets this year, using price action to explain the forces driving volatility across treasuries, stocks, Bitcoin, and the dollar. He outlines how the recent collapse in 2-year yields to 3.5% confirms that the Fed's hiking cycle is over, with rate cuts still expected even amid a strong labor market. Nik zooms out...

In this episode, Demian Schott welcomes Yaël Ossowski of the Consumer Choice Center and Bitcoin Policy Institute to break down major shifts in U.S. Bitcoin policy. Yaël explains how Congress’s repeal of the IRS’s DeFi broker rule is a win for privacy and innovation, and why a de minimis tax exemption is key to using Bitcoin as real money. He outlines budget-neutral strategies to grow the Strategic...

In this episode, Nik explains how the Federal Reserve’s slowdown in quantitative tightening (QT) is impacting Bitcoin and risk markets. He breaks down the balance sheet mechanics behind QT, showing how fewer Treasury runoffs reduce the burden on private investors, leaving more liquidity in the system. With fewer deposits redirected to government debt, more capital remains available for assets like...

In this episode, Nik decodes the Fed’s strategy as Bitcoin surges on the central bank’s decision to slow QT while maintaining its commitment to rate cuts. He breaks down what the Fed’s decision means for liquidity, why banks are holding onto reserves, and how this shift impacts risk assets. Nik also unpacks the latest moves in global bond markets, with Japanese and German yields spiking while U.S....

In this global macro update, Nik  analyzes the latest economic data and market moves, from recession fears and falling stock prices to Bitcoin’s rebound. He breaks down the drop in consumer sentiment, the wealth effect’s impact on spending, and the yield curve’s steepening as markets price in rate cuts. With Treasury yields falling and gold hitting $3,000, he examines liquidity conditions and shif...