Bitcoin has fallen below $102,000. “Uptober” ended in blood.

But while retail traders are terrified, institutional conversations are heating up.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins are joined by Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise, to unpack the week’s market turmoil.

They dig into why institutions are finally comfortable allocating to bitcoin, how Ripple is building an ecosystem that can’t be ignored, and whether Tether’s staggering $500 billion valuation makes sense.

Plus: the shrinking odds of the CLARITY Act, the merging of TradFi and crypto rails, and why the competition in the payments space is so hot.

Sponsors:

Binance

Mantle

Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida

Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting

Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise

Links:

Unchained: 

Ripple Hits $4B Investment Milestone With Palisade Deal

Extreme Fear Returns to Market as Bitcoin Breaks $104k Support

Solana ETFs Draw $44 Million as Bitcoin Funds Bleed $191 Million

Stablecoin Volume on Ethereum Breaks $2.8 Trillion Record in October

Bitcoin ETFs Record $470 Million Outflows Amid Fed Rate Decision

DL News: Clarity Act has 80% chance of passing by 2026: Bitwise

The Block: Tether's annual profits top $10 billion as Treasury holdings swell

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

📈 3:03 Why Ram is still bullish on markets despite recent carnage

💧 6:03 Why a slingshot economy will soon send liquidity back into risk assets

🏦 9:18 How institutional sentiment now differs sharply from crypto Twitter

🚀 16:43 Inside Bitwise’s clever move to launch BSOL

🌊 21:20 Why Chris says “you can’t sleep on Ripple”

🔗 25:28 How TradFi and crypto rails are starting to merge

💳 29:38 Why every company suddenly wants to own the payments layer

💣 30:53 Exlporing Tether’s biggest challenge —and whether it’s worth $500B

📊 39:52 ETFs vs. digital asset treasuries: Teddy’s take

⚖️ 46:48 Why the CLARITY Act is unlikely to pass in 2025

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