The Breakdown
The Breakdown dives into the deepest topics in crypto, blockchain, and the macro forces shaping markets and power structures. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into clear, grounded analysis — separating signal from noise across crypto, finance, and geopolitics.
Hosted by David Canellis, The Breakdown features explainers, interviews, and conversations with the people building, regulating, and challenging the financial system.
A Blockworks podcast.
Subscribe to The Breakdown newsletter: https://the-breakdown.carrd.co/
1651
A Crypto Ally as Top US Bank Regulator?
Today on the Brief: Markets fight to remain optimistic Jobless claims rise for the first time in five weeks China borrows at negative rates for the first time Our main discussion: a crypto ally as top bank regulator? Brian Brooks...
14 min
1652
Vijay Boyapati’s Four Mental Models for Valuing...
Vijay Boyapati’s “The Bullish Case for Bitcoin” is one of the most influential articles in the history of the industry – even being assigned reading from MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor as he tried to convince his board on the merits of what...
57 min
1653
HODL FOMO vs. Speculative FOMO: Why This Bull M...
Today on the Brief: Tesla to join S&P 500 Airbnb files for IPO The Mooch wants crypto Our main discussion: HODL FOMO vs. Speculative FOMO. The 2017-2018 bull run was driven by ICO mania and a relentless get-richism that was nothing...
17 min
1654
Bitcoin at $318,000 Next December? One Citibank...
Today on the Brief: Moderna trial success drives markets up New all-time high in negative-yielding debt Jay Clayton to leave SEC Our main discussion: BTC $318,000 in December 2021? That’s the prediction of one Citibank exec in a report...
14 min
1655
Dollar Decline and the Paralysis of Conventiona...
On this week’s edition of Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads former IMF chief and current Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff’s latest Op-Ed, “” in Project Syndicate.
9 min
1656
Dalio Says Governments Will Kill Bitcoin. Is He...
On this edition of the weekly recap, NLW looks at bitcoin’s surge past $16,000. Additionally, he explores some recent FUD from Ray Dalio, which NLW argues seems strangely locked in years-old narratives.
11 min
1657
PayPal Rolls Out Crypto for All US Customers
Today on the Brief: Christine Lagarde’s digital euro hunch Deutsche Bank CBDC note COVID-19 resurgent Our main discussion: PayPal is rolling out crypto to all its users and increasing transaction limits from $10,000 to $20,000. In...
11 min
1658
Meet the $10B Asset Manager With a 10,000 BTC T...
Robby Gutmann is the co-founder of Stone Ridge Holdings Group, a $10 billion alternative asset manager and co-founder and CEO of NYDIG, the group’s subsidiary. In this first-ever podcast conversation, Gutmann discusses: Buying his...
68 min
1659
Discovering Bitcoin Through the #EndSARS Moveme...
Yele Bademosi is CEO at Bundle social payments app and the founder of investment firm microtraction. Akin Sawyerr is involved across the industry and leads operations at BarnBridge. Over the course of October 2020, the world’s attention became...
52 min
1660
Legendary Investor Stan Druckenmiller Turns Bit...
Today on the Brief: Was Monday’s stock rally overdone? Lebanon to launch digital currency 3 reasons BTC has rallied 60%+ in two months Our main discussion: Stan Druckenmiller, Bitcoin Bull. A few months ago, Stan Druckenmiller...
14 min
1661
"The Biggest Macro Event Since March”
Today on the Brief: GRIN gets 51% attacked Crypto trading volume down 25.8% in October How the market is receiving Joe Biden Our main discussion: The stock market soars on promising Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trials. The S&P 500...
14 min
1662
Why Emerging Markets Are Wary of Modern Monetar...
Today’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of Andy Mukherjee’s piece: “”. The argument is that while Western governments debate just how far we can take the idea of money printing without paying a dubious price, for emerging-market governments...
7 min
1663
How a Massive Devaluation of the Egyptian Pound...
Hany Rashwan is the CEO of Amun/21Shares, the creator of a variety of publicly traded crypto products with over $100 million assets under management. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: How he was introduced to by Tim Draper in 2012 How...
29 min
1664
How the World Stopped Producing Enough Money, F...
Emil Kalinowski is the host of “Making Sense/Eurodollar University” collaborations with Jeff Snider. In this illuminating conversation, he and NLW discuss: How the global monetary order changed over the last 50 years The exact moment the...
38 min
1665
Bitcoin Hits $15,000: Here Comes the FOMO
As the U.S. election picture starts to become more clear, bitcoin has smashed through $15,000 – its highest price since 2017’s record-breaking run. Alongside the price action has come a wave of mainstream media coverage. In this special...
9 min
1666
‘Economics Will No Longer Be the Handmaiden of ...
Jim Epstein is the executive editor of Reason TV and podcasts, and the producer of the recent documentary “Cypherpunks Write Code.” In this conversation, he gives NLW a behind the scenes look on the interviews and conversations that went...
45 min
1667
A (Not Quite) Complete History of Money, Feat. ...
Jacob Goldstein is one of the hosts of NPR’s Planet Money. He is also the author of the new book, “.” In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: How China invented paper money and then forgot about it for centuries Why the invention of the...
39 min
1668
Who Is Better for Bitcoin, Trump or Biden?
Today on the Brief: The digital euro is closer than ever Checking in on European COVID-19 lockdowns Economic events this week that aren’t the election Our main discussion: Which U.S. election outcome is better for bitcoin? Poll: After a...
14 min
1669
By the Numbers: More Bitcoin Bulls Than Ever Be...
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW diverts from our normal opinion and long-form essay to pursue Grayscale’s recent investor reports. In its survey of investors, Grayscale found more interest in investing than ever before, with a significant...
16 min
1670
The World Is Never Getting Off Government Stimulus
On this week’s weekly recap, NLW looks at: resilience in the face of a week where many investors went risk off, causing a drop in stocks and gold JPMorgan’s dramatic three-year attitude shift around bitcoin and crypto Iran stockpiling...
10 min
1671
Why Satoshi Chose Halloween to Release the Bitc...
One of the most powerful aspects of bitcoin is its mythology. In this episode, NLW explores the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper and the choices that went into its release date. Whether it was something to do with the...
14 min
1672
Mirage Recovery: What ‘Record’ GDP Growth Tells...
Today on the Brief: FTX launches equities trading Avanti gets Wyoming bank charter France locks down and ECB intimates new stimulus Our main discussion: GDP growth report The Department of Commerce released its Q3 GDP numbers. Touted as...
13 min
1673
The ‘Everything Crash’ Is Coming? Markets Go Ri...
Today on the Brief: Section 230 hearing with social media CEOs in Washington D.C. Bitwise now has more than $100 million AUM Trump website defaced with Monero request Our main discussion: Markets go risk-off. With rising fear of COVID-19...
11 min
1674
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
1675
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