The Breakdown

On this edition of the “Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at three key themes:

• The continued institutionalization of bitcoin (and, increasingly, ethereum as well) 
• Warning signs of market mania in DOGE and NFT prices
• Global intrigue around bitcoin and 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

Dogecoin is on a tear. And it’s causing many mainstream media outlets to call “bubble.” On this episode, NLW breaks down DOGE as:

• Valueless memecoin
• Internet culture incarnate
• Dada-esque protest to a broken system 

Much wow. 

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On today’s “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at an underreported story from earlier this week. There are increasingly loud whispers that officials across several agencies, including Treasury, National Security and Defense, are growing concerned with China’s digital currency efforts. 

NLW looks at:

• Why CBDCs are about power, not digital efficiency 
• Why Facebook’s libra was the starting gun
• China’s possible objectives 
• Why the U.S. tone on a digital dollar is changing 
• How Gary Gensler as SEC Chair could portend a broader attitude shift for the U.S. vis a vis digital currencies 

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On the day of Coinbase’s historic direct listing on NASDAQ, NLW answers your most important questions about the company and its place in the industry. 

• How did Coinbase become successful?
• What is the crypto public's perception of Coinbase?
• What is Coinbase's business model and how has that model been shifting?
• What is Coinbase's role in the recent institutional shift in bitcoin?
• Does Coinbase have any controversy in its past?
• Why did Coinbase choose a direct listing?
• What are people expecting, price wise?
• Why did BTC and ETH hit all-time highs in advance of the listing?
• How might Coinbase impact the crypto markets?

-- 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

There is perhaps no question more debated in macroeconomics than what sort of inflation we’re likely to see in the coming years. Many are convinced that the combination of a growing money supply, expansionary monetary policy, pent-up demand, reshoring of manufacturing and more are pointing us to a secular inflation era. Others say the forces of deflation and disinflation, like technology and demography, are too strong. 

In today’s episode, NLW looks at not only the latest Consumer Price Index numbers released today, but also recent Producer Price Index surveys, wage growth and more to try to put together a more complex, nuanced picture of the likely inflation scenarios going forward.

-- 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

Coinbase is set to go public via direct listing on Wednesday.

In today’s episode, NLW breaks down why this is the current bull market’s first big test, looking at:

• Mainstream narratives 
• Institutional liquidity 
• Retail participation 
• Spillover effects 
• The direction in which we head next 

What’s clear is that this bull run does not equal 2017 and will be shaped by a largely different set of forces. 

Byzantine General’s overview thread: https://twitter.com/ByzGeneral/status/1381095621017354240

This week’s edition of “Long Reads Sunday” features NLW reading Bradley Rettler’s “The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Bitcoin.” It is an argument that, far from being just a speculative tool for the already wealthy, bitcoin represents a disruptive force that can combat wealth inequality. 

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On this week’s “Weekly Recap,” NLW digs into the theory of the bitcoin supercycle. Are we in the same sort of four-year, halving-driven, boom-bust cycle that has characterized bitcoin so far, or are the new institutional participants breaking us out of that in a fundamental way? 

-- 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:

• Crypto Climate Accord
• Robinhood crypto trading 
• The decentralization of venture capital

Our main discussion:

This week was absolutely chock-full of institutions getting into the bitcoin space, yet barely anyone noticed. From Liberty Mutual and Starr Insurance investing in NYDIG to a massive real estate company moving treasury into bitcoin and accepting it for rent, the institutional infiltration of bitcoin shows no signs of stopping. 

-- 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

Peter Thiel is nothing if not good at igniting controversy. For the last 24 hours or so, Bitcoin Twitter (and really, FinTwit and TechTwit and Politics Twitter as well) have been hotly debating his assertion in recent remarks that bitcoin had become a “Chinese financial weapon.”

In today’s episode, NLW breaks down:

• The debate around Thiel’s comments 
• Why bitcoin is more likely a threat to Chinese aspirations around the digital yuan’s future status as a global currency than the U.S. dollar
• Why digital dollars like tether and USDC might make this whole debate moot from the get-go

-- 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