The Breakdown

Balaji Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur, the former CTO of Coinbase, a former General Partner at Andressen Horowitz and more. 

In this wide-ranging conversation with NLW, he discusses:

• How networks are taking a power role once reserved for god and the state
• Why pre-internet institutions will not survive the internet 
• Why bitcoin at $1 million is a global government
• Woke capital vs. communist capital vs. crypto capital

With so much focus on bitcoin’s record-setting price run, a number of huge (and hugely bullish) stories have gotten comparatively short shrift. In this episode, NLW looks at:

• Ruffer LLP’s $744 million bitcoin buy
• Hedge Funder Alan Howard and One River’s $1 billion digital assets bet
• Northern Trust getting into crypto custody
• Guggenheim Partners’ CIO calling for $400,000 BTC
• CoinDesk sister company Grayscale as the fastest-growing asset manager in history? 

After weeks of flirting with all-time highs, bitcoin has broken through the most significant psychological barrier: $20,000. 

In today’s episode of The Breakdown, NLW looks at why the moment is so significant, arguing:

• Bitcoin is an incentive design system where price drives more benefits than financial gain 
• The validation of retail traders and more recent institutional investors creates an even stronger group of evangelists 
• The psychological price barrier is likely to increase FOMO among those on the sidelines

Ben Hunt is the founder of Second Foundation Partners and lead author of Epsilon Theory. Alex Gladstein is the chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation. 

In this conversation, they discuss one of the most important burgeoning topics of the year: In a world where bitcoin goes mainstream with traditional financial institutions, can it keep its more renegade spirit? More important, can it keep its more renegade features such as permissionless access and censorship resistance? 

Ben and Alex join for a good faith, spirited discussion of whether the bitcoin we know today will be preserved or whether it is doomed to be co-opted by the financial powers that be. 

Find our guests on social:

Ben: @EpsilonTheory

Alex: @Gladstein 

Today on the Brief:

• First COVID-19 vaccines roll out in the U.S. 
• Are IPOs the new ICOs?
• U.S. Treasury and other federal departments hacked 

Our main discussion: A massive new category of bitcoin demand? 

Last week, when MassMutual announced its $100 million buy, NLW explored whether it would be the beginning of a trend for other insurance companies. A recent note from JPMorgan analysts suggests that even a 1% allocation by that category of company in major markets in the U.S., Europe and Japan could represent $600 billion of new demand. 

NLW also discusses recent comments from long-term institutional bitcoin and crypto bulls including Chamath Palihapitiya and Abigail Johnson.

This week’s edition of Long Reads Sunday is a reading of “How Much Debt Is Too Much?” by Raghuram Rajan on Project Syndicate.

In it, the author explores the shifting conventional wisdom on national debt and worries that countries may reach their limit far earlier than they think.

On this edition of the weekly recap, NLW looks at the brewing battle to be the bitcoin and crypto bank of the future. He looks at three stories reporting banks getting into crypto (BBVA, Standard Chartered and DBS) as well as crypto companies applying to become banks. Finally, he examines why this is happening right now, and what are the true stakes of the game. 

Today on the Brief:

• FDA panel recommends Pfizer vaccine approval as initial jobless claims soar
• Antitrust lawsuit calls for Facebook breakup
• Crypto-friendly CFTC chairman to resign at the beginning of the year

Our main discussion: Why MassMutual bought $100 million in bitcoin and why it matters.

In this episode, NLW looks at recent news that MassMutual had purchased $100 million in bitcoin for its general account, as well as made a $5 million minority investment in $2.3 billion asset manager NYDIG, which helped facilitate the bitcoin purchase. He discusses why insurance company purchases are different than other institutional buyers like MicroStrategy, and why this might be the beginning of a more significant industry trend.

Hester Peirce is a commissioner at the Securities Exchange Commission, sworn in for her second term in August. 

Sometimes referred to as “Crypto Mom,” Peirce has been a fierce advocate for the industry in a regulatory context that hasn’t always been on her side. 

In this conversation, she and NLW discuss:

• Why the SEC’s approach on crypto has been too slow and too ambiguous
• Why it matters that FinHub is becoming a standalone office
• The prospect for a regulatory “safe harbor” for crypto
• What the SEC thinks of the OCC’s crypto custody guidance
• The prospect for a bitcoin ETF

What were the most important trends? Who were the most important people? Was it the year of Bitcoin Macro, the year of DeFi or both?

Ryan Selkis is the founder and CEO of Messari. Each year he puts together a massive “Crypto Theses” report that looks at the year that was and the year to come.

On this episode, he and NLW discuss the highlights of Selkis’ 2020 report, including:

• The top 10 people in crypto 2020
• The bifurcation of bitcoin and ethereum
• How DeFi was and wasn’t like ICOs in 2017
• Why regulatory battles loom