The Breakdown

On this edition of Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads Ben Hunt’s latest essay “Hunger Games” about the lies of Wall Street and how the GameStop episode has exposed them for all to see. 

On this edition of The Breakdown’s weekly recap, NLW discusses: The state of WallStreetBets The Bitcoin for Corporations event ETH all-time highs in advance of CME ETH futures Tether Cynthia Lummis on the Senate Banking Committee -- 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 is joined by Travis Kling, co-founder and chief investment officer of Ikigai Asset Management. They discuss: GameStop, WallStreetBets and financial populism Whether regulatory hearings will actually address any issues around retail investors  How WallStreetBets relates to bitcoin The rise of institutional investors  The end of career risk around bitcoin for investment profe...

Today on the Brief: Elon Musk back to DOGE trolling Bank of England says to prepare for negative interest rates Janet Yellen on “Good Morning America” discussing retail investors Our main discussion: What did we learn about PayPal’s crypto strategy from its quarterly earnings report?  In this episode, NLW breaks down: How PayPal’s perspective on crypto evolved What we learned about the success of...

Today on the Brief: An update on Ant and Jack Ma Bezos stepping down as CEO of Amazon  Miami’s play to become a crypto hub Our main discussion: MicroStrategy’s “Bitcoin for Corporations” event  Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy opened a new category of bitcoin investment last year when the company moved hundreds of millions of dollars of cash reserves into bitcoin.  For the next two days, the compa...

WallStreetBets is having a rough day. Its stocks are crashing. Champions from as recently as last week are selling out. More brokerage apps are turning off buying.  In this episode, NLW explores what it means for this set of assets and the larger shift in power from institutional to retail investors.  He argues, ultimately, that over the last year retail traders of the type led by WSB have establi...

Today on the Brief: Elon Musk talks bitcoin on Clubhouse India trying to ban crypto? DEXs have best month ever in January  Our main discussion: Has WallStreetBets been infiltrated by hedge funds?  Reddit community WallStreetBets became headline news last week when its short squeeze of GameStop (GME) nearly brought a famed hedge fund to its knees. According to Twitter personalities and the mainstre...

Today’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of Ray Dalio’s recent LinkedIn post, “What I Really Think of Bitcoin.” In his interpretation, NLW argues the post shows Dalio and Bridgewater are at the beginning of a deep dive into the space.  -- 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:  h...

In this edition of the Breakdown’s weekly recap, NLW looks at: Robinhood’s ham-fisted explanations for why it shut down buying for GME and other stocks Why the root cause seems to have been insolvency How politicians are gearing up for political inquiries around the trading shutdowns  How WSB is reacting to the shutdown attempts -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoin...

Last night, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk changed his Twitter profile to a single word: “bitcoin.” He also tweeted a cryptic message: “In Retrospect, It Was Inevitable.” The price of bitcoin surged in the wake of the tweet, as did Google searches for “bitcoin.” The price increases liquidated some $387 million in short positions.  In this episode, NLW breaks down the market reaction to Musk, t...

This week, a collective of foul-mouthed internet memers took down some of Wall Street’s best-known hedge funds. In today’s episode, NLW looks at: The historical context of how the Great Financial Crisis set the stage for WallStreetBets How WSB gained infamy during the COVID-19 crisis by correctly predicting the market’s rebound while other investors remained bearish  Why WSB started going after sh...

Falling down the proverbial bitcoin rabbit hole tends to lead people to ask deep questions about the nature of the economy and society. Today’s Breakdown guests are all professionally trained to ask those sorts of questions as philosophers.  NLW is joined by: Andrew Bailey, Yale-NUS College @resistancemoney Bradley Rettler, University of Wyoming @rettlerb Craig Warmke, Northern Illinois University...

In this episode, NLW speaks with Kyle Bass. Kyle is the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on global events. He is known for correctly predicting the subprime mortgage crisis, as well as for his outspoken and critical views on China.  In this episode, he and NLW discuss:  Contrarian investing The larger macro landscape Bitcoin and crypto  How th...

Today’s grab-bag episode looks at five different topics: Bitcoin whales kept accumulating during last week’s dip Jim Cramer advises Powerball winner to put 5% in bitcoin Previewing the first FOMC meeting of the Biden Administration Earnings week on Wall Street looks good for Big Tech An insider’s look at the state of crypto venture capital -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP,...

For this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads the document that started it all - the Bitcoin White Paper. Interestingly, this document was released under an MIT open-source license, available free to all. -- 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://podcasts.apple.com/podcas...

On this edition of the Weekly Recap, NLW argues that while bitcoin’s price was the short-term story of the week, the medium-term story was all about the transition of power in the U.S. to the new Biden Administration. In it, he discusses what the appointments (reported or confirmed) of Janet Yellen, Gary Gensler, Michael Barr and Chris Brummer suggest about the future of crypto policy.  -- Earn up...

Today on the Brief: Home sales up, home supply down Biden’s first test on the stimulus Euro pessimism  Our main discussion: Why the bitcoin dip wasn’t caused by FUD.  Anyone paying attention this week had reasons for frenetic worry. Janet Yellen’s comments on criminal activity. Persistent questions around Tether. A non-story about a double-spend that got amplified by mainstream media.  In this epi...

Today on the Brief: A new SPAC exchange-traded fund with bitcoin-experienced leadership First look at Brian Brooks’ possible replacement at OCC What to expect from institutional bitcoin price targets in the coming weeks Our main discussion: BlackRock comes to bitcoin.  BlackRock filings with the SEC suggest two funds might buy bitcoin futures. In this episode, NLW looks at: The signs leading up to...

Today on the Brief: Jack Ma is not dead The latest in crypto M&A Deutsche Bank survey sites bitcoin as biggest bubble Our main discussion: Yellen’s impact on bitcoin and digital assets In this episode, NLW breaks down the cryptocurrency FUD competing to be the “wall of worry” for the new 2021 bull market, including Tether FUD, environmental FUD and the idea that crypto is only used for crime.  The...

Today on the Brief:  Gary Gensler is officially Biden’s pick for SEC chairman Investors are betting against the U.S. dollar Grayscale has best day ever with $700 million in investment Ethereum reaches new all-time high  Our main discussion: Goldman Sachs reportedly coming to crypto.  Over the last year, many traditional financial institutions have recanted previous skepticism to join the bitcoin s...

This is an encore presentation of NLW’s first interview with macro analyst Lyn Alden, from May 2020. In it, they discuss: Why we’re at the end of a strong dollar cycle Why the Federal Reserve is terrified of the global dollar shortage The difference in creditor vs. debtor nations The concept of the Triffin dilemma  Why Japan has been able to print money without seeing rampant inflation  Why we hav...

This week’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of the “Stone Ridge 2020 Shareholder Letter” by Ross Stevens, CEO and co-founder of Stone Ridge Asset Management, discussing the history of America, sound money and Stevens’ bitcoin “aha” moment. 

On “The Breakdown’s” Weekly Recap, NLW argues that this week is exemplary of a set of trends that will define 2021, including: Market volatility Macro tailwinds  Convergence of crypto and traditional finance Regulatory battles and opportunities Strange categories of FUD -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?  ...

Today on the Brief: Initial jobless claims grow the most since March Biden unveils emergency relief plan Fed Chair Powell discusses CBDCs and stablecoins Our main discussion: Is Miami about to put 1% of its treasury into bitcoin?  Since December 2020 there has been a lot of conversation about whether Miami could become the next Silicon Valley, or at least recruit a big swath of entrepreneurial tal...

On today’s episode of The Breakdown, NLW is joined by Dan Held, growth lead at Kraken and a serial bitcoin entrepreneur.  As the market heats up, so, too, does the number of articles and tweets spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Some of the FUD is new, much of it is old and all of it deserves a response.  Dan and NLW break down 15 categories of FUD, including: Bitcoin is for criminals Bi...