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
1526
Violent Reflexivity: Why Market Movements Are M...
Corey Hoffstein is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Newfound Research LLC, a quantitative research and investment fund. He is also the host of the “” podcast.  His most recent research is In it, he examines three popular...
69 min
1527
Marty Bent on Why Bitcoin and Big Energy Are Un...
Today on the Brief: Where the digital euro fits in Lagarde’s economic integration plans New stablecoin guidance from the OCC Mnuchin and Powell head to the Hill Our main discussion features Marty Bent.  Marty is the author of one of the best...
35 min
1528
The FinCEN Files Show Banks Don’t Actually Care...
Today on the Brief Stocks down, dollar up on COVID-19 resurgence fears People’s Bank of China says digital yuan needed to fight USD dominance 140,000 have claimed UNI tokens Judge stops Trump WeChat ban Nikola founder resigns Our main discussion:...
22 min
1529
Lyn Alden’s Latest: Why Currency Devaluation Is...
On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads macro analyst Lyn Alden’s latest: The article looks at: When monetary policy is effective versus when fiscal policy needs to take over  How short-term debt cycles add up to long-term debt...
36 min
1530
Why the First US Crypto Bank Is a Big Deal
On this edition of The Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at: DEXetition – Uniswap’s battle with SushiSwap heats up as the former dropped the UNI governance token in what some likened to a crypto stimulus check  The Fed has no clothes –...
13 min
1531
‘I Didn’t Buy It to Sell It. Ever.’ MicroStrate...
MicroStrategy made waves when it announced in early August it was moving $500,000,000 in treasury reserves out of cash. At least $250 million were to be moved into .  Earlier this week, the company announced its final bitcoin purchases totaled...
80 min
1532
Raoul Pal: Monetary Policy Is Finished and Macr...
Raoul Pal is CEO and co-founder of Real Vision, a platform fundamentally disrupting macroeconomics and financial media.  In this wide-ranging conversation, he and NLW discuss:  Hot takes on the most recent Jerome Powell/Federal Reserve...
58 min
1533
Governments vs. Networks: The Battle for the So...
Today on the Brief: Kraken is the first crypto exchange to become a U.S. bank FTC preparing antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Gold-standard fan Judy Shelton doesn’t have the votes to be confirmed as Federal Reserve governor  Our main...
17 min
1534
The Decade of the Living Dead: How Zombie Compa...
Today on the Brief: MicroStrategy increases its reserves by $175 million  The Oracle-TikTok deal starts to smell fishy The SEC is investigating claims of fraud involving Nikola Corp. Our main discussion: The rise of zombie firms.  A...
20 min
1535
The Business of Geopolitical Competition
Today on the Brief: Crypto exchange volume sees highest month-over-month increase since February 2018 Uniswap overtakes SushiSwap in total value locked What Coinbase vs. Apple means for the future of decentralized applications Our main discussion:...
21 min
1536
Is Being the ‘Saudi Arabia of Money’ Good for A...
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW looks at recent statistics suggesting that, based on a comprehensive set of measures of well-being, U.S. citizens are worse off than they were a decade ago.  One potential explanation is the U.S.’ “USD...
13 min
1537
The Raw, Savage Capitalism of Open-Source Compe...
On this edition of the Breakdown Weekly Recap, NLW looks at: The “holding pattern economy” – why stocks, jobs and central bank policy seem stuck in place Why Joe Biden’s China plan shows that, no matter who wins the presidential election,...
12 min
1538
‘As Toppy as It Gets’: Metals, Bitcoin and Fiat...
Tavi Costa is a portfolio manager at Crescat Capital. In this conversation with NLW, he discusses: The credit exhaustion moment in the engines of global growth The race to the bottom for fiat currencies The explosive moment for precious metals ...
45 min
1539
How Monetary Policy Undermined American Resilience
Today on the Brief: Jobless claims slightly exceed expectations at 884,000 ECB keeps policy unchained; euro rises versus dollar  Survey: What’s the right way to understand the business and market cycle in the U.S. today?  Our main...
15 min
1540
‘Absolute Raging Mania’: Famed Investor Drucken...
Today on the Brief: Markets recover slightly but vaccine trade falters as AstraZeneca pauses trials  Bitcoin and gold correlation increases sharply around dollar instability Mastercard launches simulation tools to help develop central bank...
19 min
1541
Why Bitcoin Investors Aren’t Worried About This...
Today on the Brief: Stock market continues its descent Insider stock selling reached five-year high in August President Trump promises more aggressive decoupling from China Our main discussion: Investors and the BTC price dip. Over the last several...
16 min
1542
Sorry, Uncle Sam, We’re Entering the Era of Pri...
On this special Labor Day edition of The Breakdown, NLW is doing a reading of Nic Carter’s most recent essay In it, Carter argues that rather than fight the tide, the U.S. government should accept and take advantage of its unique position in the...
12 min
1543
A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse
Earlier this week, news broke that David Graeber, author of influential works such as “Debt: The First 5000 Years,” had passed away.  In his memory, today’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of his 2013 piece In it, he argues the impact of...
23 min
1544
Is Tesla a Stock for Suckers?
On this episode of The Breakdown Weekly Recap, NLW looks at the full story the stock markets are telling us about the economy, including: SoftBank unmasked as the “Nasdaq whale” playing the same options game with stocks as r/WallStreetBets The...
10 min
1545
8 Historical Analogies That Help Explain the Ma...
Inspired by Michael Batnik’s “,” this episode examines eight moments from history that can help us make sense of one of the most chaotic years of our lives.  Income inequality of the Gilded Age The election of 1896 The pandemic of 1918 The...
18 min
1546
DeFi Degens Are Crypto’s Suicide Squad
Today on the Brief: Traditional markets falter, led down by tech stocks Bitcoin falls under $11,000 for the first time since July Stablecoins mint $100m daily since mid-July Our main discussion is about DeFi’s “degens.” NLW talks about: The...
17 min
1547
Let Them Eat Equities! The Economic Chickens Co...
Today on the Brief: Debt will exceed U.S. GDP for the first time since 1946 SPACs in action! Decentralized exchange volume flippens centralized exchanges  Our main conversation is with Luke Gromen, founder of the Forest for the Trees consulting...
52 min
1548
Financial Postmodernism and the Great Inflation...
August has come to a close. In this recap and “best of” episode, NLW looks at the big themes that defined the month. Most notable was the discussion of inflation culminating in the Federal Reserve’s newly announced policy of average inflation...
24 min
1549
US Stock Market Cap to GDP Reaches 190%, Eclips...
Today’s episode of The Breakdown looks at the stories the stock market is trying to tell, including: New all time high in total market capitalization to GDP ratio (higher than dotcom bubble)  “No precedent for how high” valuations can...
10 min
1550
The Case for $500,000 Bitcoin
This week’s episode of Long Reads Sunday is a from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. The essay looks systematically at the problems of the slate of current store-of-value assets, including the U.S. dollar, oil and gold.  The brothers argue why...
24 min