Bloomberg Crypto

Mary-Catherine Lader has a story to tell. She was a rising star at Blackrock when she left Wall Street and TradFi for crypto and DeFi. She's now chief operating officer at Uniswap Labs, creator of the world’s biggest decentralized exchange protocol. She joined Bloomberg Reporter Olga Kharif to talk about her belief in blockchain, what comes next after the Terra collapse, and how she sees decentralized finance shaping the future. 

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While there’s a perception that ideas like the blockchain are novel and groundbreaking, the reality is there’s lots of precedents for concepts like DAOs, or Initial Coin Offerings. This is particularly clear right now, as crypto experiences its own version of a “Bear Stearns moment”. Which all begs the question: Is DeFi just reinventing TradFi with more complexity and a sprinkling of blockchain? Or is there genuine novelty here? For more on these questions, Bloomberg Opinion Columnist Matt Levine and Bloomberg Reporter Muyao Shen join this episode.

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The crypto winter of 2022 has claimed several casualties so far, but as of late, there’s one name that’s on everyone’s lips: Celsius Network, the crypto lender that’s now trying to save its skin through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As prices spiraled and customers rushed to withdraw their crypto from the platform, Celsius buckled under the weight. Now we know it’s amassed around $5.5 billion in liabilities, but only has about $4.3 billion in assets to back it up. For the debrief on what’s happening at Celsius, you’ll hear from Bloomberg Crypto senior editor Anna Irrera and reporters Olga Kharif and Emily Nicolle.

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What do Rapper Jay-Z and former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey have in common? No it's not music... It’s Bitcoin.  If you spend enough time around people who believe that crypto can transform society, you’ll eventually hear them make an argument about financial inclusion. Jay-Z has teamed up with Dorsey on what they’re calling Bitcoin Academy, with the goal of educating and empowering people  through financial literacy — with a focus on Bitcoin. Bloomberg reporters Paulina Cachero and Akayla Gardner join to discuss Bitcoin Academy and whether Bitcoin is truly the key to a more financially inclusive society.

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As investors around the world grapple with the reality of sustained declines in prices across crypto markets,  stakeholders are asking the question: what’s next? And in some cases, who’s next? In this episode of Bloomberg Crypto, reporter Emily Nicolle speaks with Alston Zecha, partner at global venture fund Eight Roads, for his perspectives on how the crypto winter is affecting sentiment and markets. 

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You could argue that crypto is no stranger to a recession: in fact, it was the financial crisis of 2008 that birthed the idea of Bitcoin In the first place. But this recession is a little different: in the decade or so since that formative Bitcoin whitepaper, crypto has experienced spectacular growth. Rising and record prices led to investor FOMO, or fear of missing out. But now, in the midst of this crypto winter, investors who entered the digital asset class during its “bull market” are reevaluating their entire relationships with the digital coin. For more on this shift from FOMO to "Oh No", Bloomberg reporter Claire Ballentine joins this episode.

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Every day, around the world, the reporters and editors who work on crypto at Bloomberg wake up (often at the crack of dawn) and start figuring out how we’ll tackle the biggest and most important news events of the day. Crypto is a 24/7 asset class: it doesn’t stop trading, and it doesn’t take holidays. It’s our job to assess both the big trends and the small moments, and to figure out how to translate those into stories - and podcast episodes. In this episode, you’ll get to meet three of Bloomberg’s crypto editors, folks who are making decisions all day long about how we approach this asset class: Beth Williams and Dave Liedtka who are both based in New York, and Philip Lagerkranser, who’s based in Zurich. 

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Since the founding document that led to the invention of Bitcoin first appeared in 2008, Bitcoin’s true believers have adopted a philosophy that resembles “one for all and all for one." Bitcoin is often mentioned as a means to improve financial inclusion, to allow people oppressed by their governments to maintain or reclaim a sense of freedom. In Bitcoin, everyone’s equal - or so the theory goes. But does the theory match the reality of the ecosystem? On today's episode, Data Scientist Alyssa Blackburn and Dr Erez Lieberman Aiden, an Associate Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, join to discuss their research into who controlled Bitcoin from those early days. 

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If you want an example of the intense optimism of certain crypto investors, here’s one: Some investors are still buying the token known as Luna Classic, which has flatlined towards zero in the aftermath of the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin. Why are people so willing to buy up zombie coins? In this episode, Bloomberg  senior editor Mike Regan and Bloomberg reporter Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou stop in to discuss the motivations of these risk-takers. 

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Depending on who you ask, crypto’s volatility is either a bug or a feature. Wild, unexpected or aggressive price swings make this an asset class that is ill suited to anyone who’s less experienced at managing risk. It’s clear that these swings can be challenging, but is there a world in which they’re perceived as a benefit? And if so, what’s the upside?  In this episode, Bloomberg Opinion columnist, Lionel Laurent joins to discuss whether there’s any value to crypto’s volatility.

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