In this episode of Bits + Bips, we examine how rising global trade tensions could impact macro conditions, the Fed’s next move, and market stability. We also explore how investors should position themselves with inflation cooling and an uncertain policy path at the Fed.

We then look at what’s happening on the crypto side: volume shifting to tokenized public equities, the growing number of corporate stablecoin plans, and whether the promise of tokenization is matched by meaningful traction.

Joining hosts Joe McCann, Ram Ahluwalia, and Steve Ehrlich is Rob Hadick of Dragonfly, who shares his perspective on product-market fit in crypto, shifting market structure, and where real adoption may emerge.

Sponsor:

Bitwise

Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric

Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained

Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly

LINKS:

WSJ:

Trump Faces Crucial Week for Reaching Trade Deals

EU Still Hopes for Initial U.S. Trade Deal Before Deadline

Reuters: Japan, South Korea face 25% tariffs as Trump ramps up trade war in letters to 14 nations

CNN: Trump announces new tariffs of up to 40% on a growing number of countries

University of Washington: OBBB Signed Into Law

Unchained: 

OpenAI Says Robinhood’s Stock Tokens Are Not Equity

Tron Is Now More Expensive Than Ethereum. Will That Hurt Justin Sun’s New Company?

AI Crypto Tokens Swoon as Nvidia Reaches a New All-Time High

CoinDesk: CoreWeave to Acquire Core Scientific in $9B All-Stock Deal

The Block: Bit Digital swaps entire treasury into Ethereum, says it's now a top public ETH holder after a $173 million splurge

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🎭 2:05 Why Ram sees the tariff drama as more theater than substance

🎌 7:09 Whether Trump is leveraging tariffs ahead of Japan’s elections

📉 8:17 How low inflation is pressuring Jerome Powell and the Fed’s next move

⚠️ 12:06 Why Rob says the market feels “fragile” right now

🪙 14:52 Whether bitcoin has truly matured into a macro asset

🛡️ 22:16 How to hedge in an uncertain landscape, and what to make of Elon’s political pivot

💵 30:05 Whether Elon Musk is preparing to launch a stablecoin on X

📊 32:26 Why digital asset treasury companies are so volatile, and how these deals really work

🧱 39:44 How the tokenization race is unfolding, and whether innovation is keeping up

🧠 47:47 How to think about investing in the tokenized assets and stablecoin narrative

🕳️ 1:01:47 Whether tokenized equities have any real killer use

⛏️ 1:03:54 What the CoreWeave-Core Scientific deal signals for bitcoin mining

📈 1:13:08 Whether we’re still in a bull market, and if now’s the time to take advantage of dip opportunities

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