The Breakdown

Early this morning, bitcoin reached a new all-time high above $50,000. While the market quickly retraced, the psychological barrier was breached. On today’s episode, NLW explores what it means, including whether there is any technical value in the number and Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy’s new $600 million debt offering to buy more bitcoin. 

He also explores Dan Held’s concept of a bitcoin supercycle, looking at the three pillars of the argument:

• Perfect macro backdrop
• Singular narrative 
• Availability and ease of use

Today on the Brief:

• A follow-up on celebrity in crypto
• Dapper Labs and BlockFi raising at multibillion dollar valuations
• Cathie Wood and ARK increase their bitcoin position

Our main discussion looks at the latest institutional bitcoin news:

• Deutsche Bank – the world’s 21st largest – quietly revealed a digital asset custody program with much bigger ambitions in a December 2020 World Economic Forum report 
• Bloomberg is reporting that Morgan Stanley’s $150B investment unit is considering a direct bitcoin position

This week’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of Nic Carter’s latest essay for CoinDesk “What Bloomberg Gets Wrong About Bitcoin’s Climate Footprint.”

On this edition of the weekly recap, NLW breaks down the entrance of corporates into the crypto space this week, including:

• Tesla
• BNY Mellon
• Mastercard
• Twitter
• Amazon

He also argues that more corporate actors investing in bitcoin and crypto makes it significantly less likely the U.S. government would look towards severe regulation.

On today’s episode, NLW breaks down:

• The Miami Commissioners vote to start educating people about bitcoin and crypto
• The Nigerian Senate debate following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent crypto ban
• Why Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey’s bitcoin trust matters

NLW argues the relationship between the crypto industry and celebrities is very different this time around compared to the previous ICO-led bull market.

On today’s episode of The Breakdown, NLW looks at a slew of news from corporates getting into the bitcoin and crypto space, including:

• Twitter CFO exploring bitcoin treasury holdings and payments to employees and vendors
• Mastercard announcing crypto coming to payment rails in 2021
• Amazon revealing its digital currency plans in a series of job posts
• BNY Mellon, the world’s largest asset custodian, opening new digital asset business 
• Why Christine Lagarde says central banks won’t buy bitcoin anytime soon.

On today’s episode, NLW examines two governments' attempts to restrict how their citizens interact with crypto. He breaks down:

• India’s history with crypto bans
• India’s history with demonetization and financial control
• What we know about a new bill that would ban crypto and provide a framework for an Indian government digital currency 
• Recent action by the Central Bank of Nigeria to block banks from interacting with crypto
• Why the CBN action might be related to the politics of the #EndSars movement.

Today on the Brief:

• A shifting inflation narrative
• Reddit raises $250M and has a $6B valuation 
• Castle Island Ventures announces $50M fund II 

Our main discussion: Might Apple by the next company to dive into bitcoin? 

In the wake of Tesla’s surprise $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase announcement, many are wondering which Fortune 500 will be next. 

According to a new report from the Royal Bank of Canada - the country’s largest bank with more than C$800 billion in assets - the best candidate may be Apple. 

In this episode, NLW breaks down:

• Why the RBC thinks Apple should build a crypto exchange
• How a BTC treasury purchase could fund it
• Why the crypto exchange space and the bitcoin treasury movement are both white-hot topics of discussion right now

Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) has purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Additionally, the company will soon be allowing people to pay for Teslas with bitcoin. 

In this episode, NLW breaks down:

• How Elon got to this moment, including his exchanges with MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) Michael Saylor
• What critics of the Tesla community and the bitcoin community are likely to say 
• How this de-risks bitcoin purchases for other Fortune 500 companies 
• How it relates to Elon’s doge memeing 
• Why this is likely to have a significant impact on bitcoin’s narrative regarding climate change and energy use 
• Why Cathie Wood is laughing all the way to the bank.

On this edition of Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads Ben Hunt’s latest essay “Hunger Games” about the lies of Wall Street and how the GameStop episode has exposed them for all to see.