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
1651
Ponzi scam selling, Hong Kong protest bank runs...
Why number go down? That's all anyone was asking as BTC plunged below $10k, a line that, according to Hodlonaut, we'd never cross again. Was it Ponzi scam selling in China or something less sinister? Either way, there was a bit of snark about a safe...
17 min
1652
The SEC's ICO cleanup / China's convenient surv...
What is dead may yet still die. At least, that seems to be the case as the SEC goes one by one through its list of unregistered securities offerings and outright scams. This week it was one unregistered SAFT settlement and one emergency lawsuit...
14 min
1653
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.13 | Argentina economic tu...
After surprise election results, the Argentine economy tumbled. The stock market fell 48%, and the peso fell some 25-30% against USD. What is the role of crypto in this type of economic black swan event, if any? I asked MakerDAO's Mariano Conti, an...
23 min
1654
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.12 | Impending currency cr...
Bonds. Dollars. Bitcoin. Gold. That's what some are saying pay attention to at the beginning of a global currency crisis? On this week's LRS Top 5, we also look at: news from Binance US about its listing criteria and prospective token listings; KIK's...
20 min
1655
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.9 | Travis Kling on how BT...
Travis Kling joins for today's 3@3 to explore how bitcoin might move from a risk asset to a safe haven. This isn't just about narrative, it's about how bets from one group trigger another group, which confirms models, and so on, creating a self...
18 min
1656
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.8 | Gaming, Mass Adoption ...
You've heard of the PayPal Mafia, but what about the Magic the Gathering Mafia? Both SkyWeaver and Gods Unchained have serious ex-Wizards of the Coast talent in their ranks. Does this mean blockchain gaming can succeed? Also in the realm of mass...
12 min
1657
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.7 | Katherine Wu on KIK vs...
Katherine Wu joins us as a guest to discuss her full annotation of the 117 page clap back from KIK against the SEC. What's bluster? What's business as usual for lawsuits like this? What are the actual implications for the rest of the industry? We also...
16 min
1658
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.6 | China, Stonks and Safe...
First Trump threatened tariffs. Then China devalued the Yuan. Then Trump declared China to be currency manipulators. Then stonks went down while orange coin went up. Then everyone asked: "is Bitcoin the new safe haven asset?" For the last two days,...
12 min
1659
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.5 | Protests & privacy / G...
A key theme from last week's Senate Banking Committee hearing was the sense that, like it or not, cryptocurrency was an inevitable force. On this top 5 summary of Long Reads Sunday, we look at that plus how the global macro narrative is converging...
19 min
1660
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.2 | Q2 Crypto Data Extrava...
The Q2 crypto data reports are in, so on this special edition we’re breaking down the most interesting trends. We cover: asset performance; network activity in Bitcoin and Ethereum; the “non-correlated” narrative in Bitcoin and BTC’s relative...
20 min
1661
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 8.1 | UASF at 2 & power in c...
It was the two year anniversary of UASF (and the BCH chain split from BTC), which marked a significant moment in the history of Bitcoin. In short, the culmination of the block size war demonstrated the relative power of the distributed network of...
15 min
1662
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.31 | What Fed rate cuts me...
The Fed cut interest rates today for the first time in Bitcoin's life. This move is interesting directly because lower rates lead to more money in the markets. It's interesting symbolically as it represents a major narrative evolution where financial...
13 min
1663
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.30 | Recap of Senate Banki...
In their second hearing in 2 weeks, the Senate Banking Committee invited 3 panelists to discuss the current state of and recommendations for crypto and digital asset regulation. In this recap, I look at three key points: 1) the shadow of Libra and Big...
13 min
1664
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.29 | Lightning Network vs....
Weekly countdown of the 5 most important essays and threads from the week before on Long Reads Sunday. This week featuring Lightning Network vs the encroaching surveillance state; a US Congressman's response to Circle leaving the US; a hot take on the...
19 min
1665
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.24 | Encryption Backdoors ...
The US Attorney General has reignited a debate about encryption backdoors for law enforcement. Libra has a long way to go, with a recent poll finding it significantly less trustworthy to Americans than Bitcoin. And finally, a regulatory roundup...
13 min
1666
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.23 | Trontroversy! // Ethe...
Justin Sun canceled his lunch with Warren Buffett this week, claiming kidney stones. Reports today, however, suggested that he was compelled not to leave China by border authorities due to investigations. But then he showed up in SF? So basically,...
15 min
1667
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.22 | The "Libra Goes To Wa...
From 5 to 1, counting down the most important threads, essays and content from last week. Featuring the key setup questions for the Libra hearings; a case study of Cuba on whether a project like Libra could make a difference to the "unbanked"; the...
28 min
1668
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.19 | BitMEX vs. CFTC / Bit...
The CFTC's investigation of BitMEX is the latest in string of screws tightening on global exchanges touching US customers. In an interesting twist, a lawsuit leads to a Chinese court determining that Bitcoin is a protected legal property. Ycash has...
12 min
1669
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.18 | Libra Aftermath - G7,...
Libra was a hotbutton issue at the G7 meetings - maybe the one thing they agreed on. Meanwhile, the project made news in China as Facebook's David Marcus revealed explicitly that it saw Alipay and Wechat as competitors. Meanwhile, the crypto community...
12 min
1670
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.17 | Libra Hearings Day 2 ...
On Day 2 of Libra hearings, Facebook's David Marcus testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee. And boy oh boy, it could not have been more different than yesterday. Today was massively more substantive, thoughtful, and holy crap was...
21 min
1671
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.16 | Libra Hearing Day 1 R...
Libra's David Marcus testified before a relatively hostile Senate Banking Committee today. In today's  we go over: 1) Facebook's trust problem; 2) the most important topics and themes of the questioning; 3) what it all means for Bitcoin. ...
17 min
1672
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.15 | Long Reads Sunday #55...
Every Sunday, I put together a list of the top tweets, threads and essays shaping the crypto conversation. On Monday, I countdown my five favorites with BlockTV. Monday's Crypto Daily  is the audio recording version.  For those who want to...
21 min
1673
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.12 | Special Edition: Trum...
A very Trump-y special edition! On this episode, we look at 1) what happened with Trump’s Bitcoin/Libra tweet; 2) the crypto community’s response; 3) the surprisingly with it mainstream media response; and 4) what it means going forward and why we...
25 min
1674
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.11 | Comply or Die Token S...
On this episode, we discuss: 1) Reg A+ compliant token sales from Blockstack and YouNow and why it's becoming comply or die; 2) Turkey planning a central bank digital currency and how the crypto market is trifurcating; 3) IDEO's new crypto startup...
13 min
1675
Crypto Daily 3@3 - 7.10 | Alt Season Dreams & N...
We discuss: 1) the chatter around a potential alt season and what makes things different this time around; 2) new financing that shows where crypto investors heads are at (hint: infrastructure not apps); 3) the latest salvos between Libra and...
13 min