The Breakdown

On today’s episode, NLW provides an extended brief style episode, covering: Crypto’s allies on Capitol Hill Is “long bitcoin” the most crowded trade in the world? How much of the dip was just Tax Day? No, China didn’t just ban crypto  Pomp launches Bitcoin Pizza -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRI...

If you thought last week’s Elon intrigue was over, think again. This weekend saw an absolute showdown at the bitcoin corral, with Musk seriously losing his cool. In this episode, NLW explores the tussle from a number of dimensions: What it says about the efficacy of Bitcoin Maximalism  What is says about Elon Musk specifically What it says about power in a social media-powered world -- Earn up to...

This week’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of Alex Gladstein’s latest piece, “Check Your Financial Privilege.” It follows the stories of people in three African nations who paint a very different picture from the rampant speculation you hear about in the news.  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCR...

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW discusses: Why the Elon Musk issue is really one of power and audience What the Colonial Pipeline attack reveals about our critical infrastructure  The debate around Vitalik Buterin and the Shiba coins  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to...

Today on the Brief: More chaos from Elon Musk Hedge funds moving into DeFi? Tether reserve attestations Our main discussion looks at recent revelations of investigations by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service around Binance. NLW breaks down: What we know about who is involved Why the sound bite seems worse than the real story Why each possible outcome leads the Bitcoin indus...

Crypto Twitter exploded last night when Elon Musk announced Tesla was backtracking and would no longer be accepting bitcoin as payment for cars. The debate came fast and furious about whether this was genuine environmental concern and, if so, how Elon was just discovering it now. On this episode, NLW looks at other interpretations, including: Elon playing 4D chess with the price The simple vagarie...

Today on the Brief: SEC throws cold water on bitcoin ETF dreams MoneyGram brings bitcoin for cash to 12,000 locations (for a hefty fee) Palantir considering adding bitcoin to balance sheet Our main discussion: Inflation has seen its biggest growth month in a very long time. Is it just transitory or reducible to base effects or is something more going on? Meanwhile, a new survey suggests 46 million...

Last year, hedge fund gurus like Paul Tudor Jones set off the wave of institutional bitcoin buying by cementing the narrative of bitcoin as an inflation hedge. Today, one of those investors - Stanley Druckenmiller - is back with even more dire pronouncements about the likely implication of Federal Reserve policies. The dollar, he says, will lose reserve currency status in the next 15 years. The mo...

Today on the Brief: Elon Musk saves an SNL flop with a dogecoin satellite  Growing interest in Ethereum  UBS explores offering crypto to wealthy clients Our main discussion:The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are both running headlines about increasing consumer prices. For now, most pieces like these remain a healthy combination of spot data (in other words specific companies raising prices) and...

On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads Sune Sorenson’s “China Is Opting Out of US-Run Financial System.” He also discusses recent pieces by Niall Ferguson and The Economist that point to a growing conversation about CBDCs that is fundamentally about power and the global system.  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying...

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at: Why ETH should have had most of the attention The camps forming around dogecoin and why it’s likely to dump after “Saturday Night Live” A slew of massive institutional bitcoin news that flew under the radar "Remy: Dogecoin Rap" (Dog Money), ReasonTV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbI31x3FpS0 -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereu...

Today on the Brief: Square puts up monster Q1 bitcoin numbers First crypto comments from new SEC Chair Gary Gensler 3 new institutional bitcoin developments  Our main discussion:  As bitcoin becomes more mainstream, the attempts from the powers that be to control it will become more subtle. This week, NLW argues we got a preview of a new approach to trying to exert that control. He argues there is...

Today on the Brief: MercadoLibre has added bitcoin to its balance sheet Galaxy Digital buys BitGo  Debates around the new, improved, real economy  Our main discussion: While the last year has seen a massive amount of growth in decentralized finance, it has been mostly driven by enfranchised insiders and builders. In this bull market, that is starting to change. In today’s episode, NLW looks at a r...

NLW is joined today by Robby Gutmann, CEO of NYDIG. NYDIG is quickly emerging as one of the leading companies helping onboard institutions to bitcoin. This year, it received investment from and announced partners with companies like MassMutual, New York Life, Liberty Mutual, Morgan Stanley and more.  In this episode, Gutmann discusses why the firm’s latest partnership with bank software provider F...

NLW asked his Twitter followers about what the success of dogecoin meant to the crypto industry. He got an extremely diverse set of takes. Some see it as a triumph of crypto’s uncontrollability. Some see it as a triumph of the underlying bitcoin tech working on a forked chain that hasn’t had much maintenance in years.  Others see it as a damning indictment of the market as a whole; something that...

Today on The Breakdown, NLW looks at: Charlie Munger’s and Bill Maher’s weekend comments about bitcoin and why we’re likely to see a lot more of this type of critique the more the bull market heats up The beginning of Taproot’s ‘Speedy Trial’  The Digital Dollar Foundation beginning private U.S. CBDC tests Source reporting PayPal is exploring launching a stablecoin -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin...

Ben Hunt is the author of the wildly popular and always provocative “Epsilon Theory.” In his recent essay “In Praise of Bitcoin,” he calls on bitcoiners to rise up and recognize that the “bitcoin” being adopted by Wall Street is an abstraction that comes with unacceptable compromises.    -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoyi...

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW explores: Why JPM and Tesla drove the bitcoin story Why Ethereans are hot on the call for a “flippening” again Why CBDCs are low key one of the most important stories of 2021  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https:...

On today’s episode, NLW gives a comprehensive view of the battleground for attention and resources that makes up this 2021 bull market, including: Bitcoin Ethereum and DeFi Ethereum alternatives  Ponzi coins Stablecoins and CBDCs NFTs Doge Where do the next fights and fault lines lay? Listen and find out. -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at...

For the past year, bitcoin’s narrative has been deeply tied to the larger macro narrative of looming inflation. As the economy starts to boom, many continue to point to the spectre of inflation as a bullish force for bitcoin. In today’s episode, NLW explores growing confidence in the markets and what it means for bitcoin. In particular, he looks at what it would mean if consumer inflation didn’t s...

Today on the Brief: Elon pumps Doge again Detailing Biden’s $1.8T American Families Plan  Turkey, Iran, SEC Our main discussion looks at comments this week from Visa CEO Al Kelly on the company’s relationship with crypto, analyzing the five areas of opportunity Visa has identified: Helping customers buy BTC and crypto Enabling digital cash outs to fiat Enabling TradFi to offer crypto to customers...

Yesterday Bitcoin Twitter reacted in horror upon discovering that Tesla had sold 10% of its bitcoin. Elon has paper hands! Institutions will abandon us! The horror and scorn ran far and wide.  On today’s episode, NLW argues that: The sales proved to Tesla that bitcoin has deep liquidity That the combination of store of value plus upside plus liquidity makes bitcoin uniquely valuable as a treasury...

Today on the Brief: Sports and crypto come together WTF is going on in Turkey? Wyoming DAO law  Our main discussion: After years of CEO Jamie Dimon ragging on bitcoin, JPMorgan is reportedly set to offer a new actively managed bitcoin product. In this episode, NLW looks back at Dimon’s comments on BTC and how things have changed over time.  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP...

For this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads Nik Bhatia’s latest piece: “Asset Managers, Owning Bitcoin Is Now Your Fiduciary Duty.” He also provides more thoughts on the notion of bitcoin as a non-sovereign money and what that might mean in terms of global balances of power.  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this c...

On this edition of “The Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at the twin dips that shaped the week. He argues that one upshot is the dips may have taken the wind out of the sales of some very 2017-esque froth that threatened the entire industry.  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  ht...