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
1626
How Excess Capital and Low Interest Rates Resha...
Today on the Brief: Everyone turns bullish as S&P 500 nears all-time highs Emerging market currencies are floundering  holding sentiment highest in two years Our main conversation features Race Capital’s Chris McCann. Chris was...
60 min
1627
What’s Actually Happening with Inflation Right Now
There is perhaps nothing more important or contentious in macroeconomics right now than the question of inflation.  On the one hand, there is a growing concern that rapidly growing money supply and increasing central bank balance sheets will...
23 min
1628
Is Asteroid Mining Really Our Best Argument for...
Earlier this week, the Winklevoss brothers introduced Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy to .  One of the notable parts of the recap video was a discussion of how Elon Musk was set to destroy the value of gold on Earth by mining gold from...
14 min
1629
Here Comes the Most Bizarre Bull Market Yet
On this edition of The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap, NLW looks at the strange melange of realities interacting in the new emerging bull market.  On the one hand, bitcoin has found narrative relevance and technical importance in a world of social...
16 min
1630
Fortnite vs. Apple/Google is the Internet's Fir...
Today on the Brief: Jobless claims down and retail sales up The U.S. Federal Reserve is running distributed ledger technology experiments  The end of an era, as BitMEX begins KYC Our main discussion: the big battle brewing between Epic Games...
19 min
1631
Preston Pysh on Why We’ve Entered a Fundamental...
The Investor’s Podcast Network cofounder Preston Pysh last recorded with The Breakdown on Black Thursday in March. As NLW and Pysh discussed the potential of future currency crises, smashed all the way below $4,000.  In the five months since,...
102 min
1632
#SupplyGate and the Battle to Frame Crypto’s Ne...
Today on the Brief: WSJ study finds TikTok was tracking data in a way that broke Android rules The latest Core Inflation statistics  MicroStrategy stocks pops 10% after cash to bitcoin announcement Our main discussion: What’s the Ethereum...
29 min
1633
Joe Rogan for Fed Chair! Feat. Hugh Hendry
Today on the Brief: A public company has switched $250 million in cash reserves to bitcoin The latest in the vaccine rumor trade with Vladimir Putin’s propaganda play  Hong Kongers use the stock market to protest Our main conversation is with...
69 min
1634
The Latest on the Global Economy’s Most Content...
Today on the Brief: Grayscale launches national digital asset TV ad campaign Rough times for oil as Saudi Aramco sees 73% decline in revenue Kodak crashes as government grant paused amid allegations of impropriety   Our main conversation is a...
19 min
1635
How the Purpose of the Stock Market Has Changed
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads three pieces: - Matt Levine in Bloomberg A look at how public markets are less and less about accessing new capital and more about narrative and liquidity for early investors. - Anil Lulla on CoinDesk...
21 min
1636
The Mounting Evidence of a New Bitcoin Bull Mar...
This week’s Breakdown Weekly Recap is all about that vibe you’ve been feeling - that inescapable notion a new crypto bull market is afoot.  NLW looks at the evidence: Rising gold price Recirculation of crypto money out of zombie...
10 min
1637
11 Numbers That Tell the Story of the Economy R...
Mainstream financial media loves reporting the stock market like it's the only economic indicator that matters. On this episode, NLW breaks down 11 numbers that together tell a much more complete story, including: Record price of gold Square’s...
13 min
1638
The History, Present, and Future of Central Ban...
Today on the Brief: Better news in the jobless claims this week A new bitcoin adoption cycle? A check in on Lebanon Our main conversation is with Dr. George Selgin.  Dr. Selgin is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Cato Institute's Center for...
79 min
1639
Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough on Stagflation, Bi...
Today on the Brief: Robinhood doubles quarterly trading revenue Square did $875 billion in revenue in Q2 - up 600% YoY ADP report: 167,000 jobs added in July (instead of expected 1.2 million)  Our main conversation is with Hedgeye CEO Keith...
38 min
1640
Can Social Media Be Redeemed? Feat. Early Faceb...
Today on the Brief: President Trump wants a cut of the TikTok deal Previewing this week’s COVID-19 vaccine trade  Dave Portnoy breaks into Our main conversation is with Bobby Goodlatte.  Bobby is the founder of Form Capital, a new seed...
70 min
1641
The Best of the Breakdown July 2020
Today on the Brief: The TikTok-Microsoft Deal The Twitter hacker was 17 A changing of the guard for crypto hedge funds Our main discussion: recapping the best interviews of July 2020 Despite a huge variety of perspectives and experiences, one theme...
28 min
1642
What Future Are We Building Bitcoin For?
Bitcoin started as a rebellious, anti-establishment technology. In many parts of the world, and for many people, it remains exactly that.  At the same time, however, there is a wave of traditionalists and institutional players moving into the...
11 min
1643
Previewing the Economic Showdowns Coming This F...
On this week’s edition of The Breakdown Weekly Recap, NLW argues the big story of the week was actually a set of smaller stories that preview the faultlines and economic debates likely to absorb us in the coming months.  These include: The...
10 min
1644
What a Professional Trader Thinks of the Fed, R...
Today on the Brief: The DXY hits a 52-week low Consumers seeking alternatives to cash  Bank of England rebuilds settlement system to work with CBDCs Our main conversation is with trader and analyst Tony Greer. In this conversation, he and NLW...
66 min
1645
The Bond Market Is the Truth Teller No One List...
Today on the Brief: More bad news from jobless claims and the GDP The big tech hearing was a whole bunch of nothing; watch TikTok instead Robinhood dives into Kodak (but so do illegal insider traders) Our main conversation is with independent bond...
55 min
1646
How DeFi Could Disrupt Traditional Finance, Fea...
Today on the Brief: Big tech goes to Washington The debate on the next COVID-19 relief act heats up More on institutional investors’ move into gold  “Imagine a world without counterparty risk.” That was Chainlink co-founder Sergey...
82 min
1647
How Real Is Bitcoin’s Rally? 8 Interpretations ...
It was a beautiful Monday.  crashed through $10,000 and got all the way up to a new yearly high of about $11,000 before retracing slightly.  As with any dramatic price action, people were quick to start giving their interpretations of why...
24 min
1648
SPACs 101: A Bubble, the Future or Both?
Special purpose acquisition companies have been around since the 1990s, but have seen a significant uptick in popularity in recent years. Companies like Virgin Galactic, Draft Kings and Nikola have changed SPAC’s reputation from a tool for second-...
27 min
1649
The Economic Conflict That Will Shape The Next ...
This week on Long Reads Sunday, our selection is by Adam Tooze in the London Review of Books.  Nominally a review of four recent scholarly works on the conflict between the US and China, Tooze main argument is that the central problem with...
24 min
1650
As Economic Indicators Get Worse, the US Revs U...
This week on the Breakdown Weekly Recap, NLW covers: A terrible week for US-China tensions, with dueling Consulate closures and an incredibly hawkish speech from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Worsening economic indicators, particularly around...
14 min