The Breakdown

Falling down the proverbial bitcoin rabbit hole tends to lead people to ask deep questions about the nature of the economy and society. Today’s Breakdown guests are all professionally trained to ask those sorts of questions as philosophers. 

NLW is joined by:

Andrew Bailey, Yale-NUS College @resistancemoney

Bradley Rettler, University of Wyoming @rettlerb

Craig Warmke, Northern Illinois University @craigwarmke

The three form a research collective called Resistance Money and are working on a book about bitcoin’s use helping individuals overcome infringement by states and other institutions. 

On this episode they discuss bitcoin’s ideological flexibility and situate it in the context of the larger political landscape.

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In this episode, NLW speaks with Kyle Bass. Kyle is the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on global events. He is known for correctly predicting the subprime mortgage crisis, as well as for his outspoken and critical views on China. 

In this episode, he and NLW discuss: 

• Contrarian investing
• The larger macro landscape
• Bitcoin and crypto 
• How the U.S.’ relationship with China changed under former President Donald Trump
• How the relationship is likely to evolve under current President Joe Biden 

Find our guest on Twitter: @Jkylebass

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Today’s grab-bag episode looks at five different topics:

• Bitcoin whales kept accumulating during last week’s dip
• Jim Cramer advises Powerball winner to put 5% in bitcoin
• Previewing the first FOMC meeting of the Biden Administration
• Earnings week on Wall Street looks good for Big Tech
• An insider’s look at the state of crypto venture capital

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For this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads the document that started it all - the Bitcoin White Paper. Interestingly, this document was released under an MIT open-source license, available free to all.

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On this edition of the Weekly Recap, NLW argues that while bitcoin’s price was the short-term story of the week, the medium-term story was all about the transition of power in the U.S. to the new Biden Administration. In it, he discusses what the appointments (reported or confirmed) of Janet Yellen, Gary Gensler, Michael Barr and Chris Brummer suggest about the future of crypto policy. 

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Today on the Brief:

• Home sales up, home supply down
• Biden’s first test on the stimulus
• Euro pessimism 

Our main discussion: Why the bitcoin dip wasn’t caused by FUD. 

Anyone paying attention this week had reasons for frenetic worry. Janet Yellen’s comments on criminal activity. Persistent questions around Tether. A non-story about a double-spend that got amplified by mainstream media. 

In this episode, NLW argues that none of these actually explains the dip. Instead, he argues, they were used by sophisticated traders to amplify the dip’s impact. 

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Today on the Brief:

• A new SPAC exchange-traded fund with bitcoin-experienced leadership
• First look at Brian Brooks’ possible replacement at OCC
• What to expect from institutional bitcoin price targets in the coming weeks

Our main discussion: BlackRock comes to bitcoin. 

BlackRock filings with the SEC suggest two funds might buy bitcoin futures. In this episode, NLW looks at:

• The signs leading up to BlackRock’s interest
• Why BlackRock’s CIO thinks bitcoin will out-compete gold for millennial investors 
• How ARK ETFs are seeing startling fund flows, causing larger market FOMO around innovation

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Today on the Brief:

• Jack Ma is not dead
• The latest in crypto M&A
• Deutsche Bank survey sites bitcoin as biggest bubble

Our main discussion: Yellen’s impact on bitcoin and digital assets

In this episode, NLW breaks down the cryptocurrency FUD competing to be the “wall of worry” for the new 2021 bull market, including Tether FUD, environmental FUD and the idea that crypto is only used for crime. 

The illicit transactions idea was given new oxygen when Janet Yellen repeated it in her Senate confirmation hearing this week. New research from Chainalysis shows, however, that the percentage of crypto volume involved in crime is decreasing. 

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The Breakdown is produced and distributed by CoinDesk.com

Today on the Brief: 

• Gary Gensler is officially Biden’s pick for SEC chairman
• Investors are betting against the U.S. dollar
• Grayscale has best day ever with $700 million in investment
• Ethereum reaches new all-time high 

Our main discussion: Goldman Sachs reportedly coming to crypto. 

Over the last year, many traditional financial institutions have recanted previous skepticism to join the bitcoin space. For most of that time, Goldman Sachs has been a noticeable holdout, saying as recently as last May that bitcoin and cryptocurrency weren’t an asset class. 

According to new reports from a Goldman insider, all that is finally changing as the bank prepares a crypto custody strategy. The change in attitude is inspired at least in part by the recent rulings from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

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This is an encore presentation of NLW’s first interview with macro analyst Lyn Alden, from May 2020. In it, they discuss:

• Why we’re at the end of a strong dollar cycle
• Why the Federal Reserve is terrified of the global dollar shortage
• The difference in creditor vs. debtor nations
• The concept of the Triffin dilemma 
• Why Japan has been able to print money without seeing rampant inflation 
• Why we have inflationary and deflationary forces competing to influence the U.S. economy 
• Why debt is going to matter more than ever 
• What alternatives to the USD system might look like

-- 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