CoinDesk Podcast Network

A reading of two recent essays. 

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

On this week’s “Long Read’s Sunday,” NLW looks at DAOs and their benefits over traditional fundraising, reading:

“DAOs and the Next Crowdfunding Gold Rush” by Will Gottsegen

“What Kickstarter Going Decentralized Means for Web 3” by Daniel Kuhn 

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: mathisworks/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Analysts, Institutions, DAOs and more. 

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

CoinDesk has just completed its list of 2021’s 50 Most Influential people. On today’s episode, NLW shares that list, and then adds brief commentary on 10 more people or groups that he might have included, including Dylan LeClair and Will Clemente, Punk 6529, Visa’s Cuy Sheffield and more. 

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Svetlana Sultanaeva/EyeEm/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What the CPI print means for Fed policy, the economy as a whole and bitcoin.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

November inflation came in at 6.8%, the highest in 39 years. In this episode, NLW looks at:

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Jeffrey Coolidge/Stone/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Does this represent a turning point for the U.S. crypto industry? 

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

Yesterday the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on the future of digital assets. Shockingly to almost everyone, the tone was respectful, collegial and considered, and lawmakers seemed genuinely interested in working toward a greater understanding of the industry. 

In today’s episode, NLW covers why the hearing felt different as well as key themes like U.S. dollar hegemony and the rebranding of crypto to “Web 3.” 

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The company’s latest crypto division focuses on B2B consulting in the blockchain and crypto space.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

Today’s episode covers a set of topics, including:

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Thinkhubstudio/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A look at the recent report from the Bank for International Settlements.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

Today’s episode of “The Breakdown” is a grab bag of news stories from the past several days. NLW covers:

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Nuthawut Somsuk/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The weekend saw more than $2.5 billion in liquidations.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at the dramatic move downward in the crypto markets that started late Friday night U.S. time. He looks at both market structure factors such as low liquidity and thin weekend order books as well as macro factors including, insecurity around the new Omicron variant as well as a tightening Fed policy. 

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: iNueng/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io, KuCoin and DeFiHorse.

The Lightning Network is arguably the most anticipated scaling solution for Bitcoin to date. Why isn’t everyone using it?

“Speaking of Bitcoin” hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy are joined by Rene Pickhardt, Bitcoin and Lightning Network Developer. The four lead a conversation on the still in development yet rapidly growing Lightning Network. It's a second-layer network that enables fast, secure, private and inexpensive payments that don't make sense to store on bitcoin's base layer. But while that might sound ideal, it's not simple in practice. A scrappy community of companies and developers have been pushing the tech consistently forward as the number of hard problems still to solve ticks down.

Even as early as we are, Lightning has proven to be a radical improvement on the user experience of bitcoin. On the bitcoin network, fees vary but typically range from $1–5 and complete with confirmation in an average of ten minutes. With Lightning, fees and transaction times drop dramatically: the transaction fees are generally 1/100th or 1/10th of a penny and take just seconds. 

If the improvements of Lightning are clear, why isn’t everyone using it today? Listen to hear more about the challenges and solutions coming to this rapidly-evolving aspect of bitcoin.

Additional reading:

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Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your assets. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 12% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M and audited in real-time by Armanino, Nexo is rated excellent on Trustpilot. Get started today at nexo.io.

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KuCoin was listed on Forbes Advisor’s “The Best Crypto Exchanges Of 2021,” which highlighted hundreds of tradable coins, low fees, plus automated and margin trading. Sign up NOW to claim a $500 welcome bonus at KuCoin.com.

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DeFiHorse’s races start in Q1/2022. This GameFi project has premium graphics and highly competitive gameplay. DeFiHorse beams you to a cyberpunk world, providing you with legendary steeds to top the leaderboards and become the ultimate champion. For more info visit bit.ly/DeFiHorse.

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Album art created using AI by Adam Levine/Pixelmind.ai

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the third era of accounting.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

This week’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of Dan Jeffries’ “The Future of Money: A History.”

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

-

“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: KTSDESIGN/Science Photo Library/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A look at what happened in crypto this week, from regulation to institutions. 

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

On this edition of “The Breakdown Weekly Recap,” NLW covers:

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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.

-

“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.