The Breakdown

Today on the Brief:

• Square puts up monster Q1 bitcoin numbers
• First crypto comments from new SEC Chair Gary Gensler
• 3 new institutional bitcoin developments 

Our main discussion: 

As bitcoin becomes more mainstream, the attempts from the powers that be to control it will become more subtle. This week, NLW argues we got a preview of a new approach to trying to exert that control. He argues there is a new attempt to Balkanize Bitcoin and looks at:

• Iran banning crypto that wasn’t mined in the country
• Marathon mining an “OFAC-compliant” block
• Kevin O’Leary insisting on only owning bitcoin not mined in China

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

Today on the Brief:

• MercadoLibre has added bitcoin to its balance sheet
• Galaxy Digital buys BitGo 
• Debates around the new, improved, real economy 

Our main discussion:

While the last year has seen a massive amount of growth in decentralized finance, it has been mostly driven by enfranchised insiders and builders. In this bull market, that is starting to change. In today’s episode, NLW looks at a recent paper by the $1.1 trillion bank ING around where DeFi fits in the context of traditional finance.

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

NLW is joined today by Robby Gutmann, CEO of NYDIG. NYDIG is quickly emerging as one of the leading companies helping onboard institutions to bitcoin. This year, it received investment from and announced partners with companies like MassMutual, New York Life, Liberty Mutual, Morgan Stanley and more. 

In this episode, Gutmann discusses why the firm’s latest partnership with bank software provider FIS could represent their biggest opportunity for bringing bitcoin to the masses yet.

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

NLW asked his Twitter followers about what the success of dogecoin meant to the crypto industry. He got an extremely diverse set of takes. Some see it as a triumph of crypto’s uncontrollability. Some see it as a triumph of the underlying bitcoin tech working on a forked chain that hasn’t had much maintenance in years. 

Others see it as a damning indictment of the market as a whole; something that shows what a joke the whole industry is. 

Which is it? Can it be both?

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

Today on The Breakdown, NLW looks at:

• Charlie Munger’s and Bill Maher’s weekend comments about bitcoin and why we’re likely to see a lot more of this type of critique the more the bull market heats up
• The beginning of Taproot’s ‘Speedy Trial’ 
• The Digital Dollar Foundation beginning private U.S. CBDC tests
• Source reporting PayPal is exploring launching a stablecoin

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

Ben Hunt is the author of the wildly popular and always provocative “Epsilon Theory.” In his recent essay “In Praise of Bitcoin,” he calls on bitcoiners to rise up and recognize that the “bitcoin” being adopted by Wall Street is an abstraction that comes with unacceptable compromises. 

  -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW explores:

• Why JPM and Tesla drove the bitcoin story
• Why Ethereans are hot on the call for a “flippening” again
• Why CBDCs are low key one of the most important stories of 2021 

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

On today’s episode, NLW gives a comprehensive view of the battleground for attention and resources that makes up this 2021 bull market, including:

1. Bitcoin
2. Ethereum and DeFi
3. Ethereum alternatives 
4. Ponzi coins
5. Stablecoins and CBDCs
6. NFTs
7. Doge

Where do the next fights and fault lines lay? Listen and find out.

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

For the past year, bitcoin’s narrative has been deeply tied to the larger macro narrative of looming inflation. As the economy starts to boom, many continue to point to the spectre of inflation as a bullish force for bitcoin.

In today’s episode, NLW explores growing confidence in the markets and what it means for bitcoin. In particular, he looks at what it would mean if consumer inflation didn’t show up. Would bitcoin be cast aside, or are there properties and uses that make it relevant even outside its role as a monetary hedge?

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

Today on the Brief:

1. Elon pumps Doge again
2. Detailing Biden’s $1.8T American Families Plan 
3. Turkey, Iran, SEC

Our main discussion looks at comments this week from Visa CEO Al Kelly on the company’s relationship with crypto, analyzing the five areas of opportunity Visa has identified:

1. Helping customers buy BTC and crypto
2. Enabling digital cash outs to fiat
3. Enabling TradFi to offer crypto to customers
4. Settlement via stablecoins 
5. Central bank digital currencies

-- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io -- Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW   The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com