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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Gradually, Then Suddenly: Mastercard, BNY Mello...
On today’s episode of The Breakdown, NLW looks at a slew of news from corporates getting into the bitcoin and crypto space, including: Twitter CFO exploring bitcoin treasury holdings and payments to employees and vendors Mastercard announcing...
13 min
1527
How Nigeria and India Are Dealing With Crypto Bans
On today’s episode, NLW examines two governments' attempts to restrict how their citizens interact with crypto. He breaks down: India’s history with crypto bans India’s history with demonetization and financial control What we know about a new...
20 min
1528
Will Apple Be the Next Fortune 500 to Buy Bitcoin?
Today on the Brief: A shifting inflation narrative Reddit raises $250M and has a $6B valuation Castle Island Ventures announces $50M fund II Our main discussion: Might Apple by the next company to dive into bitcoin? In the wake of...
18 min
1529
Elon Musk Buys Bitcoin: Everything You Need to ...
Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) has purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Additionally, the company will soon be allowing people to pay for Teslas with bitcoin. In this episode, NLW breaks down: How Elon got to this moment,...
22 min
1530
Wall Street Is ‘The Hunger Games’ With Suits
On this edition of Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads Ben Hunt’s latest essay “” about the lies of Wall Street and how the GameStop episode has exposed them for all to see.
20 min
1531
A Bitcoiner Is Now on the Senate Banking Committee
On this edition of The Breakdown’s weekly recap, NLW discusses: The state of WallStreetBets The Bitcoin for Corporations event ETH all-time highs in advance of CME ETH futures Tether Cynthia Lummis on the Senate Banking Committee -- Earn up to 12%...
9 min
1532
Travis Kling: In the Fed Era, There’s No Such T...
On today’s episode, NLW is joined by Travis Kling, co-founder and chief investment officer of Ikigai Asset Management. They discuss: GameStop, WallStreetBets and financial populism Whether regulatory hearings will actually address any issues around...
77 min
1533
What We Learned About PayPal's Crypto Strategy ...
Today on the Brief: Elon Musk back to DOGE trolling Bank of England says to prepare for negative interest rates Janet Yellen on “Good Morning America” discussing retail investors Our main discussion: What did we learn about PayPal’s crypto...
14 min
1534
Michael Saylor’s Mission to Get 1,400 Corporati...
Today on the Brief: An update on Ant and Jack Ma Bezos stepping down as CEO of Amazon Miami’s play to become a crypto hub Our main discussion: MicroStrategy’s “Bitcoin for Corporations” event Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy...
22 min
1535
Is This the End of the Reddit Retail Investor D...
WallStreetBets is having a rough day. Its stocks are crashing. Champions from as recently as last week are selling out. More brokerage apps are turning off buying. In this episode, NLW explores what it means for this set of assets and the larger...
20 min
1536
Have the Hedge Funds Infiltrated Reddit’s WallS...
Today on the Brief: Elon Musk talks bitcoin on Clubhouse India trying to ban crypto? DEXs have best month ever in January Our main discussion: Has WallStreetBets been infiltrated by hedge funds? Reddit community WallStreetBets became...
19 min
1537
What Ray Dalio Really Thinks of Bitcoin
Today’s “Long Reads Sunday” is a reading of Ray Dalio’s recent LinkedIn post, “.” In his interpretation, NLW argues the post shows Dalio and Bridgewater are at the beginning of a deep dive into the space. -- Earn up to 12% APY on...
11 min
1538
GameStop, Robinhood and the Failure of Un-Free ...
In this edition of the Breakdown’s weekly recap, NLW looks at: Robinhood’s ham-fisted explanations for why it shut down buying for GME and other stocks Why the root cause seems to have been insolvency How politicians are gearing up for political...
15 min
1539
In Retrospect, It Was Inevitable: Elon Musk Pum...
Last night, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk changed his Twitter profile to a single word: “bitcoin.” He also tweeted a cryptic message: “In Retrospect, It Was Inevitable.” The price of bitcoin surged in the wake of the tweet, as did Google...
12 min
1540
WallStreetBets Is Occupy Wall Street With Teeth
This week, a collective of foul-mouthed internet memers took down some of Wall Street’s best-known hedge funds. In today’s episode, NLW looks at: The historical context of how the Great Financial Crisis set the stage for WallStreetBets How WSB...
27 min
1541
Bitcoin Doesn't Care About Your Politics: Why B...
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. ...
65 min
1542
‘The Four Wars We Could Fight With China,’ Feat...
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...
46 min
1543
The Bitcoin Whales Won’t Stop Buying
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...
19 min
1544
The Bitcoin Whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto
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. -- Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum,...
17 min
1545
Another Pro-Crypto Appointment in the Biden Adm...
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...
11 min
1546
This Bitcoin Dip Was Not Caused by FUD
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....
14 min
1547
Why the World's Largest Asset Manager Is Gettin...
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:...
13 min
1548
Is Janet Yellen Bitcoin's Biggest Enemy or Grea...
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...
21 min
1549
Goldman Sachs Can No Longer Dismiss Bitcoin
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...
15 min
1550
Lyn Alden on Why the Dollar System No Longer Se...
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...