The Breakdown

As week (one million, it seems) of the COVID-19 lockdown plods on, many are wondering what the economy will look like on the other side.

Ryan Selkis is the CEO and founder of Messari. He was one of the earliest voices in crypto to sound the alarm on the potential impact of COVID-19 not only on the health system but on the economy. 

In this episode of The Breakdown, Ryan joins @NLW to discuss:

• Why the markets right now represent an economic and psychological relief rally
• What it takes to reopen the economy 
• Why voluntary, privacy preserving contact tracing is part of the solution
• Why crypto has performed largely as Ryan expected

Even as the market tries to make sense of everything happen (or ignores it, depending on your perspective), crypto keeps on plugging along. 

Today on The Breakdown @NLW looks at 5 recent crypto stories that are representative of larger trends, including:

• Coinbase Custody enabling staking for Polkadot DOTs
• A Telegram-focused exchange shutting down due to regulatory compliance costs
• A $20k Human IPO on Ethereum 
• Shapeshift acquires Portis & other crypto M&A
• A G20 report on the threat of Stablecoins 

The full week's episodes in one convenient file:

• Monday | How Covid-19's Second Order Effects Could Make Humanity Stronger, feat. Emerson Spartz
• Tuesday | Exit Plans, Premature Rallies and Frontline Heroes feat. Ben Hunt
• Wednesday | The Questions We're Not Allowed to Ask, Feat. Hidden Forces' Demetri Kofinas
• Thursday | Rebuilding the Resilience Economy, Feat. Anthony Pompliano 
• Friday | Quantitative Tightening and 5 Key Questions for Our Changing World

As we wrap up another crazy week - 6.6m more jobless claims, $2.3T more in stimulus - this episode offers a few key themes and questions for bitcoiners and the crypto-minded to think about over the long Easter weekend:

1. Crypto-dollarization: why money is pouring into USD stablecoins and how it could create a future onramp to bitcoin
2. ‘Quantitative Tightening’: why a new brand for the bitcoin halving could help us better capture a unique narrative moment
3. What it takes to get the economy back to work: beyong the political hemming and hawking, how can we force the real, nuanced conversation of turning the economy back on?
4. What it takes to rebuild as a Resilience Economy - and how can bottoms-up networks get started now? 
5. Moments of transition are moments of leverage: what opportunities can each of us take advantage of? 

As host of the Pomp Podcast, author of the daily Off The Chain newsletter, and founder partner at Morgan Creek Digital Assets, Anthony Pompliano is one of the best known media personalities and investors in the crypto industry. 

In this episode, he and @NLW discuss: 

• The Fed’s just announced $2.3 trillion stimulus package - including the authorization to buy junk bonds
• Why media and trust have desiccated to their lowest levels ever 
• The lack of a plan to restart the economy 
• Why Bitcoin was sold in last months larger market sell off
• Why smart institutional investors are looking to bitcoin as a hedge when the deflationary environment turns inflationary 
• Why companies have to be allowed to fail to increase resilience 
• Why the best way to build a resilience economy is to put money in the hands of entrepreneurs and small businesses