Bloomberg Crypto

Some of you may already know the work and writing of Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Levine. For everyone else — well you’re in for a treat. 

Matt’s just published many thousands of words on the subject of crypto for a special issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. It lives HERE.

He joins this episode to talk about what motivated him to do such an intensive dive into the blockchain, why he thinks of crypto as a “living laboratory” for innovation, and what prompted him to start at the very beginning, with one big question: what is crypto for?

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September is traditionally a bad month for crypto - a down month for the past five years. But for Bitcoin proponents, October might hold something a bit more hopeful. The month of pumpkins and Halloween has typically been one of the best months for Bitcoin price gains. Advocates are crossing their fingers that the same thing will happen this year, especially as Bitcoin’s total market share has risen to 48%, its highest since 2017. 

To better understand what lies ahead for BTC, Bloomberg reporter Hannah Miller joins Bloomberg’s Vildana Hajric.

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Our colleagues on QuickTake, Tim Stenovec and Katie Greifeld, host a weekly video series called QuickTake IRL - In Real Life. Just for listeners of the Bloomberg Crypto podcast, we've got an audio version of their latest episode.

For the full experience, find them on the web here.

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This is episode 100 of the Bloomberg Crypto podcast. When we launched, in June, Bitcoin was trading around $30,000. Celsius and Three Arrows Capital hadn’t yet filed for bankruptcy. People knew where Do Kwon was. Celebrities cared about NFTs. It was a different time.

When we launched, we knew what we wanted to do: every day, we’d take a look at all things digital assets. And we’d talk to reporters, editors, analysts, investors,  industry experts, academics, policymakers - all in service of helping you better understand how crypto is shaping (and being shaped by) finance and culture.

For this hundredth episode, we’re flipping the focus just a little. We’re going to spend some time answering your questions, and hearing from Bloomberg senior executive editor Chris Nagi about how he thinks this whole crypto thing is going. 

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It might seem like the conversation about the metaverse right now is a combination of jokes about Mark Zuckerberg’s digital legs, snark about the cost of virtual reality headsets, and a real lack of clarity on why any corporation might want to be in the space. 

So we asked Matthew Boyle, a Bloomberg reporter who’s written a lot about the future of work, to help explain what’s going on here. Specifically, what’s happening with businesses hiring Chief Metaverse Officers - and what these folks do all day. 

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Wealthy crypto investors are dumping a bunch of money into US politics, especially ahead of November’s congressional elections. Over the past 15 or so months, crypto-affiliated donors have sent roughly $70 million to political causes - topping what traditional players like defense and big pharma are spending. 

One of the most prolific donors in the space is Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire co-founder of FTX. Bankman-Fried has said that he could spend up to $1 billion on the 2024 presidential election.

Zach Cohen from Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg campaign finance reporter Bill Allison join this episode to discuss how crypto is shaping the political landscape.

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Bankruptcies can be chaotic times for companies, and for their creditors. Investors, vendors, and former customers often end up jostling in court to get their share of what they lost from what remains of the firm. 

In the crypto space, bankruptcies can bring even more questions. Some restructuring lawyers say the U.S. bankruptcy code still does not adequately address how to handle crypto assets. But just like other bankruptcy cases, there will be winners and losers. 

To explain what happens to crypto assets during these times, Bloomberg reporter Justina Lee, and Thomas Braziel, founder of 507 Capital join this episode.

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It’s October 2021. Crypto prices are rocketing. Celebrities can’t stop talking about NFTs. There’s packed conferences in glitzy venues attended by people wearing t-shirts with cartoon monkeys on them. If you’re an executive at a big gaming studio, you might be forgiven - maybe - for sending one of those emails with the subject line: NFT strategy question mark.

And several executives at these gaming companies did indeed send those emails. And some of their companies even announced plans to make blockchain gaming happen.

Flash forward about a year. Celebrities aren’t talking about their NFTs. People are trying to sell their Apes. And gaming studios don’t seem quite so convinced that they need an NFT strategy.

Joining this episode are Bloomberg reporter Emily Nicolle and Mark Venturelli, CEO and creative director at game studio Rogue Snail, who’s also a game developer.

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Our colleagues on QuickTake, Tim Stenovec and Katie Greifeld, host a weekly video series called QuickTake IRL. Just for listeners of the Bloomberg Crypto podcast, we’ve got an audio version of their latest episode.

For the full video experience, find them on the web at https://www.bloomberg.com/qt/series/crypto-irl, on Bloomberg TV or over on YouTube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been (another) busy week for digital assets. And now that we’re well into October, we have a better idea of whether the month will deliver a boost to crypto value as it has in years past. 

Guest-host and senior crypto editor Anna Irrera reviews some regulatory actions that took place this week and considers what smoke signals it may be sending to investors and to companies. Plus, a look at how China’s crypto ban has played out - spoiler alert: it’s not unfolding like many expected it would.  

Joining Anna for this episode is Bloomberg senior crypto editor Philip Lagerkranser and Bloomberg Crypto blogger Emily Nicolle, who wrote about DeFi’s current doldrums in this week’s Crypto Newsletter.

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