The Breakdown

A daily analysis of macroeconomics, bitcoin, geopolitics and big picture power shifts, hosted by Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw. The Breakdown is part of Blockworks.

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Investing
1026
Inflation Nation: US Sees Highest Price Increas...
This episode is sponsored by . New statistics show a 6.2% rise in the consumer price index (CPI) year over year for October. On today’s episode, NLW breaks down the news, discussing: How the 2020 inflation debate set up the current bitcoin bull...
15 min
1027
Apple CEO Tim Cook Reveals Crypto Holdings as B...
This episode is sponsored by . Last night both BTC and ETH hit new all-time highs. In today’s episode, NLW explores: What on-chain analysis suggests about how this ATH differs from previous ones Why some are pointing to institutional accumulation...
13 min
1028
What Elon Musk's $21B Tesla Sale Gambit Says Ab...
This episode is sponsored by . Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at why the fracas around Elon Musk’s Twitter poll about his selling 10% of his Tesla stock is about much more than Tesla. It has implications for domestic politics, market...
15 min
1029
The End of the Super Bubble vs. WAGMI
This episode is sponsored by . On this week’s ”Long Reads Sunday,” NLW looks at two very different takes on the economy in threads by and .  , the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who...
13 min
1030
What to Do About the Looming Disaster for Crypt...
This episode is sponsored by . On this edition of “The Breakdown Weekly Recap,” NLW covers: SEC Chair Gensler’s recent comments on crypto enforcement The OCC concludes its crypto sprint Why the crypto community is so concerned about...
12 min
1031
Central Banks Sending Worrisome Signals About t...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s episode, NLW gets macro with a discussion of a flattening of the yield curve and what increasingly seems like a failed yield curve control experiment in Australia. He looks at: What the “yield curve” is...
10 min
1032
Why Some US Congressmen Are Asking Gensler Abou...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s episode, NLW follows up on the burgeoning bitcoin-mayor competition between New York City’s Eric Adams and Miami’s Francis Suarez. The show’s main topic is an open letter sent by Congressional...
12 min
1033
New York City Gets Itself a Bitcoin Mayor
This episode is sponsored by . Despite (or perhaps because of) being one of the world’s great traditional financial hubs, New York has a contentious relationship with crypto. Between the BitLicense and a very active state attorney general, New York...
14 min
1034
What You Need to Know About Biden's Stablecoin ...
This episode is sponsored by . The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets has finally released its much-anticipated report on Stablecoins. In this episode, NLW breaks down: The PWG’s three major concerns surrounding stablecoins The...
19 min
1035
Top 5 Things That Happened in Crypto in October
This episode is sponsored by . NLW counts down the top 5 things to happen in crypto over the last month, including a DAO buying a Wu Tang clan album, top 5 US banks creating new crypto offerings, battles around SEC subpoenas and much more. Listen to...
16 min
1036
Where Bitcoin Fits in a Post-Scarcity World
This episode is sponsored by . This week’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of EY Global Blockchain Lead Paul Brody’s latest essay for CoinDesk: “.” , the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of...
10 min
1037
Inflation or Deflation? Jack Dorsey, Cathie Woo...
This episode is sponsored by . Last weekend, Jack Dorsey set the internet alight when he proclaimed, “Hyperinflation is going to change everything. It’s happening.” That kicked off a mighty debate involving Cathie Wood, Elon Musk, Jeff Booth and...
10 min
1038
Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s ‘M...
This episode is sponsored by . Facebook announced yesterday it is changing its corporate name to Meta. The name change reflects the company’s growing focus on virtual reality, augmented reality and a new version of the internet that people are...
18 min
1039
14 Takes on Shiba Inu Coin
This episode is sponsored by . NLW today provides 14 different takes on shiba inu coin (SHIB) that reflect the range of perspectives across the crypto community, including: “You could have been a billionaire if…” This plays into regulator’s...
20 min
1040
CFTC Acting Chair: ‘Nearly 60%’ of Cryptos Are ...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s episode, NLW does an extended brief, covering: The CFTC Chair arguing for more power to regulate crypto Comments from the FDIC chair saying that banks need to be allowed to participate in crypto...
12 min
1041
Has the SEC Won the Battle to Regulate Stableco...
This episode is sponsored by . 2021 has been the year of crypto regulation. In China, that has manifested as a complete banning of bitcoin mining and crypto trading. In the U.S., the verdict is still out, but it has been clear there has been a fair...
17 min
1042
Why One Crypto Company Is Suing the SEC
This episode is sponsored by . At Messari’s Mainnet conference in September, rumors flew that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had served a subpoena on a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol founder moments before he was set to speak on...
14 min
1043
The US Government Sold a Wu-Tang Album to a DAO...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW tells the story of PleasrDAO buying a one-of-a-kind hip hop album, and what it means that the U.S. government is interacting with this new type of collective. He also reads: ,...
12 min
1044
Bitcoin Wraps the First Week of the ETF Era
This episode is sponsored by . On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW covers: The record-setting performance of the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund and what happens next as new ETFs come to market  A massive...
10 min
1045
Why the Bitcoin and Crypto Communities Are So S...
This episode is sponsored by . Today’s episode is nominally about Worldcoin. The project launched this week with ambitions to airdrop a new cryptocurrency on everyone in the world. To do so, it’s using biometric eye scanning to identify people and...
22 min
1046
Paul Tudor Jones: ‘Inflation … [Is] the Single ...
This episode is sponsored by . Last year, Paul Tudor Jones wrote a paper called “The Great Monetary Inflation” that would end up creating narrative motivation for many traditional retail and institutional investors to allocate to bitcoin as an...
15 min
1047
LFG! Bitcoin Clears $66K and Hits New All-Time ...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at the market’s reaction to a new bitcoin all-time high, including: The success of the first day of the ProShares bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund  Why...
12 min
1048
Massive Trading Volume for ProShares Bitcoin Fu...
This episode is sponsored by . On today’s episode, NLW catches up on a variety of topics from the past week, including: How the first day of trading the ProShares $BITO bitcoin futures ETF is going (and why it could be headed for record breaking...
18 min
1049
It's Here: Bitcoin Futures ETF to Begin Trading
This episode is sponsored by . Today on “The Breakdown,” NLW rounds out the story of the bitcoin futures ETF process that has dominated crypto chatter for the last week or more. He looks at the details of the first ETF that will go live, as well...
14 min
1050
Hester Peirce Reclaims the “Wild West” for the ...
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s recent speech:
21 min