The Breakdown

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   Monday, President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s recognition of two breakaway territories in the Ukrainian region of Donbas. The recognition was widely seen as a major escalation of the tense standoff that has dominated global geopolitics so far this year. On today’s episode, NLW provides a recap of the latest news and looks at how marke...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   This week on “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads “Why Bitcoin Is a Tool for Social Justice” by Charlene Fadirepo.    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 18% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M. Audited in real-time by Armanino. Ra...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at:  a new valuation for Circle a new token fund from Sequoia The FBI’s new crypto enforcement division ConocoPhillips partners with bitcoin mining to reduce flaring    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US. On today’s episode, NLW looks at the increasingly political discourse around inflation in the United States. The Right is claiming government overspending is to blame while the Left is pushing a new narrative of corporate price gouging. Whatever the case, some commentators are proposing increasingly exotic approaches to solving the inflation...

Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at three geopolitical situations shaping the bitcoin discourse: Continued tensions and recent cyberwarfare between Ukraine and Russia Crypto wallets targeted in ongoing Canada protests  A U.S. bill to investigate El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption and the risks it might pose to the U.S. dollar   - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   On today’s episode, NLW looks at the news that JPMorgan has opened a lounge in Decentraland. Specifically, he explores whether the growing corporate interest in the metaverse is a positive reflection on the accessibility of the metaverse, or if it should also represent a warning to a Web 3 community that is dreaming of an open, permissionle...

  This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW digs into the recent news from Canada. Specifically, he looks at the activation of the Emergencies Act which, among other things, will allow banks and financial institutions to freeze the funds of citizens suspected to be involved in the protests – without due process and without liability. The action is draw...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, and FTX US.   Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW covers a set of news from the past few days, including: U.S. Treasury Dept. sends a letter to six concerned senators, saying it won’t be including miners and validators in the agency’s definition of a broker  BlockFi settles with the SEC YouTube and OnlyFans get deeper into crypto and NFTs  Crypto and geopoliti...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com. On this edition of “Long Reads Sunday," NLW reads three threads: Justin Kan on why NFTs are a better business model for games  RAC on what NFT skeptics should know  Chris Burniske on the 2022 crypto outlook  - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com.   This week saw a hearing on stablecoins in the House and on crypto in general and the role of the CFTC in specific in the Senate. On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW argues that both were thoughtful, productive and suggest that U.S. lawmakers are engaging with crypto like never before.  - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto...

  This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com. On today’s episode, NLW explores possible reasons why Russia’s recent 180 on cryptocurrencies might make sense. As the country prepares to legalize and regulate cryptos as a type of currency, he looks at things from the lens of Russia’s relationship with the U.S. and desire to avoid being cut off from the SWIFT network, as well as...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com. Today Twitter was alight with discussion of the biggest inflation print since 1982. With 7.5% inflation, a hike of 50 basis points is looking more and more likely in March. This should be bad news for risk assets. On the other hand, bitcoin and crypto are being buoyed by other macro forces. Notably, news broke yesterday that the worl...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com.   Yesterday the U.S. government arrested two individuals in connection with money laundering and the 2016 Bitfinex hack that saw nearly 120,000 BTC stolen. They also announced the confiscation of around 94,000 of the purloined BTC - worth about $3.6 billion today. On today’s episode, NLW is joined by Zane Tackett, who was the directo...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus, FTX US and MELD.com. KPMG Canada announced Monday it added BTC and ETH to its balance sheet, as well as buying carbon credits to offset its new environmental impact. On today’s episode, NLW explores how the market and crypto community are reacting to the news, and why it may actually be more significant in the long term than Tesla’s buy from a similar ti...

At the end of last week, bitcoin reversed a couple months of downward momentum and reclaimed $40,000. Now, as momentum builds, the community is wondering whether this is a temporary reprieve or a fundamental turn back to the bullish. NLW shares a variety of opinions from across the crypto world.    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, b...

On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads:    Bitcoin Protects Privacy and Fights Oppression – Murtaza Hussain Don’t Let Web 3 Repeat Web 2’s Mistakes – Tor Bair   - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 18% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M. Audited in real-time by Armanino. Rate...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus and FTX US.   On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at Meta’s big flop in the equities markets and how it's spilling over into crypto metaverse tokens. He also looks at the Boston Fed’s CBDC research and recaps the Wormhole exploit.    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exc...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus and FTX US.   Patrick Stanley is the former Head of Growth at Stacks, the founder at Freehold and a contributor at CityCoins. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss one of the biggest trends for the coming decade – the geopolitical competition for talent and resources and how crypto is shaping that battle.    Find our guest on Twitter @PatrickWStanley  ...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Arculus and FTX US. Two Tezos stakers sued the IRS to get back taxes paid on property they say they created through staking. The IRS offered to pay them back but didn’t commit to clear policy guidance. The stakers will now continue the suit, and they’re being backed by the Proof of Stake Alliance. NLW also examines a new bill that would eliminate taxes on bitcoin...

One of the key themes for 2022 is the relationship between governments and the crypto industry. On today’s show, NLW looks at the latest from India, one of the countries with the highest degree of speculation on whether banning or regulation is the path forward. The regulatory and legalization path got a big boost earlier this week during the finance minister’s annual presentation of the budget to...

Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at what the first month of the year taught us about what to expect in 2022. Overall, he argues that the most important megatrend was the shift from risk-off to risk-on as the U.S. Federal Reserve looks towards quantitative tightening later in the year.  He looks at: Crypto markets down Stock market down  Venture investment into crypto hit $4.4 billion for the mo...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Abra and FTX US.      On today’s episode, NLW looks at a proposal moving through Arizona’s Senate to make bitcoin legal tender. He explores: The specifics of the Arizona proposal The controversial author of the bill  A pro-bitcoin battle in the Texas gubernatorial race  Increasing partisan tension around bitcoin and crypto    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one cryp...

On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW pulls out some of the most interesting data from innovation investor ARK’s latest report.    - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 17% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M. Audited in real-time by Armanino. Rated excellent on Trustpilot. Get star...

This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Abra and FTX US.    On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW examines why NFTs are having their best month ever, even as the rest of the crypto market bleeds value.   - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 17% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M. Au...

  This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Abra and FTX US.    On today’s episode, NLW is joined by Nik Bhatia, author of “Layered Money” and The Bitcoin Layer newsletter. They discuss: Bitcoin’s relationship with equities and the TradFi markets Why the Fed is trapped by rates markets Whether privacy is essential to Bitcoin’s success The game theory around nation-state bitcoin adoption  How financializa...