Bitcast

Strive just dropped a 15 percent fixed-rate perpetual preferred and strategy is firing back with a daily dividend vote on STRC that closes October 27th, and the crew digs into why neither of these "Bitcoin credit" products is actually credit at all. Plus Richard Hart gets dragged out of Istanbul in handcuffs with watches, guns and ammo seized, and the ledger supply chain mess somehow gets worse with Southeast Asian resellers pulling product off shelves.

In this episode:

• Strive's 15 percent fixed-rate perpetual preferred IPO versus strategy's proposed daily STRC dividend, and what the shareholder vote (open through October 27) signals about Michael Saylor's standing

• Why the hosts argue these preferred equity products are being marketed with misleading "Bitcoin credit" framing when holders have no claim on the underlying Bitcoin

• The OCC's confirmed findings on Operation Choke Point 2.0, naming digital assets as one of six industries systematically debanked for reputational rather than risk reasons

• Treasury's 1.21 billion dollar penalty against Bank of America for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, the third largest in Treasury history

• Hex founder Richard Hart arrested in Istanbul on an Interpol red notice, with cash, firearms, jewelry and electronics seized

• The ongoing Ledger supply chain compromise, resellers suspending sales across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, plus new claims and pushback around Trezor device security

• BitChat's new Android release, its use of Bluetooth mesh networking during internet blackouts, and why governments in China and India have moved to ban it

• A closing riff on the Shane Gillis SNL monologue controversy and what the backlash says about modern outrage culture

For the full visual conversation including the charts, clips and website walkthroughs, check out the video version of this episode.

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/UIQxNeEKd_0

Researchers have found a second compromised Ledger device hidden inside a European electronics retailer, this time with its own 4G modem secretly phoning seed phrases home, and the crew breaks down exactly how the scam works, why it is not technically a Ledger supply chain hack, and what it means if you bought your hardware wallet anywhere but direct. From there the conversation turns into a real reckoning about self custody itself: is multisig, DIY builds and circuit inspections really a reasonable ask for a newcomer, and are shitcoin profits secretly the thing funding better security audits for Bitcoin only hardware.

In this episode:

• The newly discovered 4G LTE modem and hidden antenna found inside a tampered Ledger Stax, and the expanding retailer watch list including Media Markt

• Why the panel insists this is downstream of Ledger's supply chain, not a direct Ledger breach, plus a look back at Ledger's past data leaks

• Cold Card's clear case jab and a genuine debate over whether a "throw it in the chip sorting algorithm" approach to visual circuit inspection is actually useful

• The uncomfortable argument that shitcoin revenue may be subsidizing better security audits for the Bitcoin only hardware makers

• Practical anti tamper tricks discussed: weighing devices against manufacturer specs, checking adhesive seams, and moving toward multisig with devices from different vendors

• Michael Saylor's latest buy (848,250 BTC now held), STRC repurchases, and a running bit about MSTR's sats per share chart

• Luke Gromen's currency framing of US housing prices versus gold, and the panel's take on immigration, rate lock in and regulation as the real distortions

• Europol's quantum computing warning for crypto wallets, a 14 year old Bitcoin address moving coins, and the Moscow Exchange opening Bitcoin trading to 40 million clients

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/22nGCxiu_Bs

A ledger supply-chain hack just drained $86 million from hundreds of wallets, and the crew digs into how a reseller swap to a new owner turned into physical tampering between a device's secure element and screen. Then it's over to France, where lawmakers are pushing wallet declarations, exit taxes and stablecoin swap taxes on anyone holding crypto, all while the country logs 90 physical attacks on Bitcoiners in seven months. Add in Tether freezing Thorchain vaults, Trump buying more MSTR, and Elon's Starlink move that's tanking telecom stocks, and it's a packed one.

In this episode:

• The Ledger/Cryptobillis hack: $86 million drained across Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron, tied to a reseller sold to a Chinese national two months before the attack

• Why Joey and Joe Consorti say Ledger shares the blame for not vetting resellers after ownership changes, and the case for multisig and splitting custody across devices

• France's new crypto tax bill: stablecoin conversion taxes, an exit tax over 800,000 euros, and a floated 100,000 euro wallet declaration rule

• Tether freezing roughly 93 percent of Thorchain's Tron USDT and what it says about "decentralized" chains

• Scott Bessent's debt-to-GDP comments, the Trump-Russia diesel license, and the Microsoft/Adobe H-1B visa suspension

• Strategy (MSTR) trading volume passing Google, Trump's added MSTR position, and a STRC versus STRF dividend comparison with Joe Consorti

• Canada's September jobs report showing 68,300 jobs lost and the ongoing Brampton housing collapse

• SpaceX's Starlink spectrum deal hammering Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile stock, plus a detour into Palmer Luckey's latest comments

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/1awJiVmyVxk

Bitcoin cracked below 83,000 today as hundreds of millions in leveraged longs got wiped out during Strait of Hormuz tanker attacks, but the real story might be what the New York Fed is quietly doing inside JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Morgan Stanley. The crew digs into why examiners are suddenly asking about $1.3 trillion in private credit exposure, plus a wild tangent on gold reserves, Fortress North America, and why French teenagers are burning down schools over homework.

In this episode:

• Bitcoin drops to 83,321 with 150-400 million in leveraged longs liquidated in hours, and why buy-side support sits at 81-82k

• New York Fed examiners go inside JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Morgan Stanley over private credit exposure and collateral quality

• Private credit defaults hit a record 6.3 percent as Apollo, BlackRock and Blue Owl impose withdrawal limits

• A strong 10-year Treasury auction (2.7 bid-to-cover) complicates Luke Gromen's thesis on banks dumping bad private credit

• Bessent's Treasury buyback plan brings the week's total near 10 billion as 30-year yields hit multi-decade highs

• Robin Hood's first-ever Bitcoin purchase, a 25 million dollar balance sheet add, plus China and Russia's accelerating gold buys

• France's government weighing a bypass of Parliament for 43 billion in budget cuts amid violent student protests

• A deep dive on boomer polling data favoring higher taxes on younger workers, and Canada's Patrick Pichette "pay it back" tuition clip

For the full conversation with charts, clips and all the tangents, check out the video version of this episode.

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/sTKgYGTQ3X4

Treasury just quietly killed the $3,000 and $10,000 self-custody wallet reporting rules that CoinCenter fought for years, and the crew calls it a real win, but they're not letting anyone forget that Bill and Keone from Samurai Wallet are still sitting in federal prison for building privacy tech. From there the conversation spirals into Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey getting pulled into a Pentagon project on the future of warfare, a bond market that's creaking everywhere from Japan to the UK, and a UK town getting locked down by police for a migrant boat that hadn't even landed yet.

In this episode:

• Treasury withdraws the FinCEN unhosted wallet and mixer rules that would have required reporting on self-custody transactions over $3,000 and $10,000

• Why Bill Hermosillo and Keone Rodriguez (Samurai Wallet) deserve pardons, and the SDNY jurisdiction maneuver used to prosecute them

• Elon Musk, Newt Gingrich and Palmer Luckey tapped for Project Meridian, a 120-day Pentagon study on the future of war

• MicroStrategy's latest buy, 344 BTC added, bringing holdings to 848,000 BTC, plus a breaking CFTC proposal on crypto market rules

• Credit market stress check: UK and US 30-year yields pushing toward 6 percent, CCC junk bonds at 17 percent, mortgage applications at the lowest since 1995

• USAID's dismantling and its claimed link to a string of right-leaning wins in Brazil and elsewhere since 2025

• A Siberian lab plague outbreak story out of Russia and whether it's fear porn or a real event worth prepping for

• India pulls BitChat from the App Store, plus a UK town placed under a Section 34 dispersal order for an incoming migrant boat

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/1gVHEs4WLMc

Bitcoin briefly tagged 87K the same day the September jobs report landed at just 29,000 versus 89,000 expected, rate hike odds collapsed from the 60s down near 17 percent, and the crew digs into whether Kevin Warsh already made a policy mistake by hiking before seeing the revised numbers. From there it's a wide-ranging rip through debt, dollar debasement, Trump saying inflation could pay down the $40 trillion debt "faster than anyone's ever seen," and a wild detour into French riots, Canadian tax exodus fears, and sending Bitcoin with zero internet connection.

In this episode:

• September jobs report misses badly, August revised down, rate hike odds crater to 17 percent per CME futures

• Luke Gromen's fiscal dominance thesis and why a weaker dollar may be the only way out

• IMF approves a $139 million disbursement to El Salvador after waiving its Bitcoin accumulation breach

• Trump's "inflation could pay down the debt" comment and reactions from Larry Lepard and Saifedean

• Treasury's repeated bond buybacks and why they're barely denting long-end yields

• The Netherlands scraps a proposed 36 percent unrealized gains tax on Bitcoin, gold and silver after fears of investor exodus

• Canada-EU associate membership talk and what it means for capital flight and tax policy

• A demo of sending Bitcoin eCash over Apple's Find My mesh network with zero internet, plus Ben's custom Cold Card firmware redesign

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/nlbNJoxsPWQ

An Ari Paul tweet storm is rocking the Bitcoin world, alleging Coinbase buried over a billion dollars in Lazarus Group hacks and ransom payments while telling pensioners and investors they'd never been hacked. The crew digs into what that means for self custody, for the 84 percent of Bitcoin ETF assets Coinbase holds in custody, and why they think exchanges self-insure rather than carry real coverage. From there it's a sprint through a bond market that just will not believe the inflation numbers, Germany's looming Bitcoin tax changes, a bearish Canadian bond auction, and whether Anthropic's leaked IPO numbers are the first crack in the AI debt bubble.

In this episode:

• Ari Paul's allegations that Coinbase covered up over a billion dollars in Lazarus Group related hacks and ransom payments across a dozen firms

• What Coinbase's thin insurance coverage (reportedly 400 million) against 245 billion in platform assets and 8.8 billion cash on hand actually means for custody risk

• Coinbase holding 84 percent of spot Bitcoin ETF assets and what that concentration risk looks like for institutional investors

• August PCE inflation coming in below expectations while the 10 year and 30 year Treasury yields hit multi-year highs, and why the panel distrusts the revised methodology

• Germany's proposed changes to its one-year tax-free Bitcoin holding period and a new 25 percent plus solidarity tax, plus a look at German economic sentiment

• Peter Brandt's surprisingly bullish 300,000 to 600,000 dollar Bitcoin price targets and whether diminishing returns are a thing of the past

• Anthropic's leaked IPO prospectus showing a 42 billion dollar net loss and 518 billion dollars in compute obligations, and what that says about the AI spending bubble

• Canada's weak 30 year bond auction, the loonie nearing 70 cents, Bill C-2 on encryption backdoors, and the EU's chat control proposal getting blocked again

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/XFdKyeNP3J4

10-year Treasury yields just tore through 5.27 percent, the highest print in 19 years, the S&P dropped 700 billion in a single session, and a sixth US bank quietly failed in 2025 — triple the pace of the last two years combined. Meanwhile Bitcoin shrugged it all off, closing above 84,000 for its best weekly close in eight months, and Strategy kept buying. The crew breaks down why gold and silver are suddenly getting hammered even as the debasement trade should be roaring, and gets into a genuinely wild tangent on America, AI abundance, and why building beats complaining.

In this episode:

• 10-year yield hits 5.27 percent, highest since the GFC era, with talk of a run toward 6 percent by November

• Nanobank becomes the sixth US bank failure of 2025 after 25 percent of its commercial real estate loan book went bad

• Gold down almost 4 percent and silver down 5.7 percent in a single stretch, and what that says about the "higher for longer" regime

• Bitcoin closes above 84,000, up 45 percent from June lows, and Wicked Smart Bitcoin's DCA data showing every historical buyer is still in profit

• Strategy buys another 1,665 BTC and repurchases 152 million in STRC, plus a debate on MSTR dilution and Bitcoin-per-share

• River Financial sues Blockstream Services Canada over a 6.7 million dollar termination agreement, with confusion over Blockstream's actual ownership structure

• Oracle's credit default swap spreads surge past 2008 levels amid stress tied to its AI data center buildout, plus Meta's data center bonds getting downgraded

• Bank of Canada holds rates at 2.75 percent, Mark Carney shifts a Starlink contract to a rival firm, and Stelco shuts its Hamilton steel plant for good

For the full conversation with charts, graphics and all the tangents, check out the video version of this episode.

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/CXVHx_Lntsk

A $351 million exchange hack, a bond market flashing 25-year highs, and Strategy quietly copying the competitor it used to mock with daily dividends — this week's Bitcast covers all of it, plus a wild cameo from a very confused "convert" named Walter and a former radiologist explaining why Bitcoin's price runs on three burners. Ben, Joey, Nathan and Brandon are joined by Adam Bitcoin and returning guest Dr. Jeff Ross for a wide-ranging rundown of what's actually moving markets right now.

In this episode:

• Strategy proposing daily dividends across STRC, STRK and its preferred stock lineup, and why Joey calls it proof the "balance sheet composition" pitch was always cover for chasing SATA's yield game

• The Bitget hack: $351.6 million stolen, a $464 million user protection fund covering it, and how it stacks up against Mt. Gox, QuadrigaCX, FTX and the Cold Card phishing losses

• Adam's "counterparty ladder" framework — why holding Bitcoin on an exchange is worse than a dedicated custodian, and the honeypot problem proof-of-reserves can't fix

• Tether's reported $183 billion USDT push onto the Bitcoin base layer, Morgan Stanley talks, and whether stablecoins are actually a top-of-funnel bridge into Bitcoin

• Dr. Jeff Ross breaking down the bond bear market, 5.2% ten-year yields, Bessent's "Operation Twist," and why AI data center spending is now competing with Treasuries for capital

• The "three burners" framework for Bitcoin's price: liquidity, US manufacturing strength, and leverage in the system, and where each stands heading into 2027

• A new proposed protocol for shielded, private Bitcoin transfers on the base layer using zero-knowledge proofs, with no soft fork required

• Jack Dorsey and Block joining the 402 Foundation to bring Lightning payments to AI agents

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/vjACKX23jYs

Bitcoin at $84,385 while the US 10-year Treasury just hit a 19-year high — and the hosts are asking whether the bond market is simply breaking. BlackRock published research arguing that AI agents will need permissionless, machine-native money to transact autonomously, and the crew has a lot to say about which asset actually fits that description.

In this episode:

• US Treasury yields hit multi-decade highs across the entire curve — 1-year at a 25-month high, 30-year at a 19-year high — while the Treasury Department quietly doubled its bond buyback program from roughly $2 billion to $6 billion.

• BlackRock's digital assets research paper claims AI agents will need "machine-native money" for autonomous microtransactions; the hosts debate whether that inevitably points to Bitcoin, and reference the Bitcoin Policy Institute's moneyforai.org report showing ChatGPT and Gemini favor stablecoins while Grok and Claude prefer Bitcoin.

• X/Twitter integrated ticker-based trading functionality, which the hosts read as a gateway to retail crypto speculation and prediction market gambling baked directly into the social feed.

• Tether confirmed it is exiting the EU after MiCA regulations would have forced 60% of reserves into commercial bank deposits — replacing US Treasury holdings with uninsured bank accounts capped at €100,000 per depositor.

• Bitcoin ETF flows flipped positive for the year despite bond market chaos, with Bitcoin holding near $84,000 while traditional markets struggled.

• The Blake2B fork continues its slow implosion: a node operator reported a Raspberry Pi would take 45 days to sync the new chain, and the project's lead developer responded "get a real computer" — directly contradicting the original argument that the fork was needed to keep node operation accessible.

• Umbrel released a major update adding an AI agent layer that lets users manage their personal server, install apps, and automate setup tasks through plain-language chat commands.

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/kVzOUgfjXvU