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.

Business
Investing
1401
JPMorgan Launches JPM Coin: Welcome to the Priv...
Today on the Brief: Stocks down; bitcoin up Consumer confidence shaky as baking supplies demand grows 3,400% Bank for International Settlements and Swiss central bank to test CBDC this year Our main discussion: JPM Coin.  Initially announced in...
13 min
1402
Hedge Funds Failures, Bankruptcies and Pandemic...
Today on the Brief: Turkey’s real inflation rate 3x official number Hot new DeFi protocol Harvest Financial hacked whales hit largest number since 2016 Our main conversation is about the rise of a new wave of COVID-19 and the economic fallout...
15 min
1403
Should We Care if the US Is Falling Behind on C...
For this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads two selections from CoinDesk’s op-ed section: - Benoit Coeure  - JP Schnapper-Casteras & Misha Guttentag
16 min
1404
Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Paul Tudor Jones...
On this week’s Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at: The initial price action that started the week Debates about whether was thriving at the expense of alts and DeFi The PayPal news News of more public companies putting treasury reserves into BTC...
14 min
1405
Why Fiat is Failing in 2020: Argentina, Turkey,...
Today on the Brief: DOJ crypto enforcement a “disaster” for privacy Ant’s blockchain tools pre-IPO Better news around jobless claims  Our main discussion: fiat failures, 2020 edition.  In this episode, NLW looks at a raft of...
14 min
1406
Monopoly is Un-American: Matt Stoller on Google...
Matt Stoller works with the American Economic Liberties Project and is the author of “Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy” as well as the popular Substack newsletter “BIG.” In this conversation, he and NLW discuss...
45 min
1407
PayPal Adds Bitcoin: Most Bullish News of the Y...
Huge news broke this morning as PayPal announced it would be offering buying, selling and eventually merchant payments for and other cryptos across its network.  In this late-breaking Breakdown episode, NLW explores: The specifics of the news...
15 min
1408
How Strong Is Bitcoin’s Push Above $12,000?
Today on the Brief: DOJ files biggest antitrust case in two decades against Google  Goldman Sachs’ 1MDB settlement  LINE’s new CBDC platform  Our main discussion: bulls vs. bears as passes $12K Someone recently tweeted,...
15 min
1409
A New ‘Bretton Woods’ Moment?
Today on the Brief: Chinese citizens less than impressed with DCEP trial Is Filecoin the “Titanic” of ICOs? Mnuchin, Pelosi go one more round on stimulus Our main discussion: A new Bretton Woods moment? In a recent speech, the International...
21 min
1410
How Stocks, Bitcoin and Other Investments Fare ...
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads: “” The piece examines how different asset classes – from stocks to bonds to bitcoin and beyond – fare in the context of a world where the Federal Reserve is determined to keep interest rates at or...
21 min
1411
Blockchain is a National Security Issue, Accord...
On this edition of The Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at: Growth in the institutional investment space in crypto A new 10,000 BTC treasury announcement  Reports from the Bank for International Settlements, G20, WEF, IMF and more around...
11 min
1412
RAC on the First Truly Free Markets for Music a...
Today’s Breakdown is a conversation with Andre Anjos – aka RAC, a Grammy Award-winning recording artist and music entrepreneur. He and NLW discuss: Starting the “Remix Artist Collective” as a business Evolving from remixing to performing...
93 min
1413
Is Crypto Converging With Public Markets?
Today on the Brief: Initial jobless claims rise to highest level since August as a DeFi reserve asset Twitter reactions as Filecoin goes live Our main discussion focuses on the convergence of the crypto and public markets. NLW looks at: Narratives...
16 min
1414
A $10B Firm Makes Bitcoin Its Primary Treasury ...
Today on the Brief:  Bitcoin hashrate at all-time highs Record number of large companies lose money during the pandemic JPMorgan releases research note on bitcoin Our main discussion: Stone Ridge Holdings Group discloses $114 million in bitcoin...
14 min
1415
The IMF, G20 and BIS Gear Up for the Central Ba...
Today on the Brief: Is the “blue wave” Democrat victory narrative in the presidential election starting to shake up Wall Street?  Johnson & Johnson pause COVID-19 vaccine trial  1000 Satoshi-era are on the move  Our main...
18 min
1416
What the Stock Market is Predicting Around the ...
Today on the Brief: Market rally to highest point in six weeks BTC and ETH up in part on Grayscale ETH trust becoming an SEC reporting company (Grayscale, like CoinDesk, is a unit of DCG.) CBDCs (and CBDC skepticism) on the rise Our main discussion:...
17 min
1417
Is Bitcoin More Correlated to Stocks or Gold?
Today on Long Reads Sunday, a reading of Lyn Alden’s piece for CoinDesk: “” In it, Lyn argues that correlation patterns are, in part, reliant on where bitcoin finds itself in its own cycles of expansion or consolidation.
12 min
1418
A Regulatory Reckoning for the Crypto Industry?
On this week’s Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at a cross-section of regulatory news, including: CFTC and DOJ action against BitMEX and its leadership The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s ban of crypto derivative products for retail investors...
11 min
1419
Cathie Wood: Secrets of the World’s Best Innova...
Forbes called her “the newest superstar investor,” and it’s not hard to see why.  Cathie Wood is radically disrupting the way money is allocated. Fighting the rise of passive – what she calls the “greatest misallocation of resources in...
80 min
1420
The Market Reacts to Square’s $50M Bitcoin Buy
A special breaking edition of The Breakdown follows the market’s reaction to Square’s surprise $50 million bitcoin investment.  NLW breaks down the foundations for the investment, including: 2020’s alignment between the bitcoin...
19 min
1421
Why Bitcoin Will Become the Reserve Asset for D...
Today on the Brief: Stimulus talk shutdown spooks markets House recommends antitrust actions but likely to get nowhere CBDC trial results from China Our main discussion is with trader and entrepreneur Qiao Wang. In this conversation, NLW and Qiao...
41 min
1422
The UK Bans Bitcoin & Crypto Derivatives
Today on the Brief: John McAfee arrested in Spain BTC addresses added spikes to two-year high A new election-market narrative emerges Our main discussion: The U.K. has banned crypto derivatives.  Just days after the U.S. announced significant...
17 min
1423
Are Central Bank Coins the End of Financial Pri...
Today on the Brief: Markets gain as Pres. Trump’s condition stabilizes SEC Chairman Clayton sees future where all stocks are tokenized Uniswap had more volume than Coinbase in September  Our main discussion: central bank coins and financial...
21 min
1424
Inflation Is the Cruelest Tax
Today’s Long Reads Sunday selection is “” from the Wall Street Journal. NLW argues the piece reflects a changing conversation in mainstream financial circles about the possibility of inflation on the other side of new Federal Reserve policy.
14 min
1425
“The Fed Meetings Are a Dead Spectator Sport” B...
A recap of September, which NLW calls a transitional month between the post-lockdown excitement of the summer and the growing macro insecurity around second wave fears and election volatility.  Featuring some of the most interesting insights from...
16 min