The Breakdown

The broader crypto sector encompasses more than just policies and price action: Decentralized technology has given rise to immersive play-to-earn digital economies where players can maximize their gaming experience. In this “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW takes a step back from the recent regulatory focus to take a look at the world of gaming. He reads the piece “A Play-to-Earn Account Beats a Bank Accou...

On this episode of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW covers the past week’s biggest financial, regulatory and markets news, including: The three simultaneous crypto hearings across Congress Binance’s moves to position itself favorably for oncoming regulation Proposed legislation with sweeping implications to crypto Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple....

Today on the Brief: Robinhood's underperforming IPO and settlement battles  MicroStrategy’s continued faith in bitcoin  Proposed sweeping crypto legislation  Robinhood’s underperforming initial public offering came amid settlement after settlement, with the latest coming with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Next on the Brief, MicroStrategy’s second-quarter earnings report lays...

First, on the Brief: U.S. growth last quarter performing under economists’ expectations Robinhood's subdued IPO debut "Wild amounts" of capital going into crypto In the main discussion, NLW addresses the specifics, reactions and potential impacts of a crypto provision within the Biden administration’s big infrastructure bill. A draft copy of the provision aims to raise $28 billion via a crypto tax...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW addresses the recent wave of increased regulatory scrutiny, one that has prompted the crypto industry to prepare itself for the possibility of legislation. The discussion includes: A distinction of regulatory categories Exchanges altering leveraged trading rules Uniswap’s token removal decision The increased regulatory scrutiny is a culmination of a number o...

Today on the Brief: Exchanges leaving China Binance looking to replace CZ with a regulatory-focused CEO Crypto venture funding continues   In today’s main discussion, NLW addresses not one, not two but three crypto hearings today spread across the Senate and House. One with a focus on ransomware, another on central bank digital currencies and the last a wide-ranging outlook at the value of cryptoc...

Crypto’s green weekend was the biggest surge in recent months. On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW analyzes the various forces behind the success, including: An Amazon job posting and token rumor Viral tweets from a teenager and an astrologist Market structure explanations   The first piece of news from Amazon was in the form of a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Lead” job posting. Next, a sel...

On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads Nic Carter’s recent essay “Why Central Bankers Invoke Free Banking to Attack Stablecoins.”  -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9u...

On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW covers: Institutional interest revamping The B Word conference, Elon’s reveal of SpaceX BTC holdings NFT platform OpenSea’s funding round success Regulatory bodies pursuing BlockFi -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwg...

This week, institutional involvement was revived after the past few months’ inactivity. NLW covers new evidence for institutional interest, including: A billionaire you can’t ignore JPMorgan offering crypto exposure Galaxy Digital’s big bank backers   Elon Musk’s revelation that SpaceX, the space exploration company that he founded, held bitcoin was joined by billionaire Thomas Peterffy’s admissio...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” host NLW dissects a highly-anticipated discussion between Cathie Wood, Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk at yesterday’s “The B Word” conference, including: Wood’s predictions of deflation rather than inflation Dorsey’s unwavering belief in bitcoin as the internet’s native money Musk reveals he, Tesla, and SpaceX all hold bitcoin Wood, one of the earliest Wall Street inv...

Bitcoin is up just over 7% in the last 24 hours, following its first close below $30,000 since New Year’s Day. On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW proposes possible explanations for this reversal, including: Competing concerns of Inflation and slow post-COVID recovery Institutional interest in crypto A few weeks ago, headlines were centered around markets being nervous about inflation. Emergen...

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win.”    In this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW examines crypto’s current “and then they fight you” phase, citing recent regulatory battles: New Jersey’s BlockFi interest accounts cease and desist order Stablecoins in the hot seat in recent meeting of U.S. presidential advisory group Busting FUD headlines following a...

In addition to the deep dive into distributed autonomous organizations, or DAOs, and their future in venture capital, today’s “The Brief” covers: Bitcoin futures trading approved for some Bank of America clients Stablecoin discussions entering the upper echelons of U.S. government The bubble continuing to inflate as markets roll over historical indicators SushiSwap, the decentralized exchange base...

This week’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of “Bitcoin: An Orange New Deal” by Andrew Bailey and Bradley Rettler. -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLm...

On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW covers: The latest in Binance’s global regulatory troubles  Leaked crypto legislation from Paraguay  Capital Group’s big bet on MicroStrategy The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority slated to spend £11M on an anti-crypto campaign for young people  -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?a...

Square has announced a new initiative, titled “TBD,” that CEO Jack Dorsey describes as “focused on building an open developer platform with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless and decentralized financial services.” Dorsey intends the platform to be developed completely transparently: “open road map, open development and open source.” In this episode, NLW puts th...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW addresses recent shifts in institutional and regulatory discussions on crypto, including: How BlackRock CEO Larry Fink sees the state of crypto  ShapeShift’s final structural shift Fed Chairman Jay Powell’s stance against stablecoins A dissenting letter from two SEC commissioners BlackRock made headlines when it entered the crypto market because it viewed bi...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW analyzes a stablecoin-focused speech from Randal Quarles, vice chair of the Federal Reserve, starting with a primer on developing trends related to the topic, including: CBDC discussion, investigation and development across global powers The ability of stablecoins to make a U.S. CBDC redundant  The conversation around central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW analyzes value investor turned bitcoin bull Bill Miller’s contrarian take on a possible upcoming market bubble. Miller’s background lies in traditional markets, with a massive portion of his portfolio grounded in strategically held Amazon shares. That, in addition to his relatively early bitcoin investments, provides him with an insider perspective from an e...

In this episode, NLW focuses on: Inflation measures, impacts and who’s to blame News out of Paraguay concerning pro-bitcoin legislation A recent “Wall Street Journal” survey of economists revealed they expect higher inflation rates to persist for years to come. “Money Week” ran an op-ed playing on the increased attention on inflation where they pin bitcoin as an unused hoard of productive wealth a...

On this edition of “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads an excerpt from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s questions to SEC Chairman Gensler about crypto and crypto exchanges. NLW then reads an essay responding to Warren’s recent discussions of the topic from Murtaza Hussain called “Elizabeth Warren’s Bitcoin Blind Spot.” -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podca...

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at how Wall Street momentum in crypto rose last year only to fade this year. With Circle coming to markets via a SPAC merger and Robinhood going public, is there a chance those events will bring some renewed excitement?  -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lS...

On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW analyzes President Joe Biden’s “Factsheet: Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” including: The shift in public sentiment against Big Tech The order’s implications to the tech and finance sectors Crypto’s decentralized nature as intrinsically anti-monopolist For a period of time, tech companies enjoyed the highest public opinion...

NLW explores the debate surrounding the GBTC unlock’s bearish or bullish nature on this episode of “The Breakdown,” including:  Historical impacts of market structure on prices GBTC’s influence on markets as its premium attracted investors Analysis of the GBTC unlock bearish vs. bullish debate Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, GBTC is an investment vehicle that allows institutional and public market invest...