The Breakdown

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: NLW looks at the business of geopolitical competition, including: TikTok, Oracle and the new politics of deal making in the “new Cold War” “Mulan” controversy around Uyghurs and Hong Kong police support The real motivation for China’s digital currency

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 Dutch Disease” - a peculiar set of consequences resulting from the role of the U.S. dollar in the world. This week’s reading is “How to Diagnose Your Own Dutch Disease” from the Financial Times.

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, U.S. economic policy towards China is likely to get more aggressive The surveillance state gets stronger as Amazon appoints a former NSA head to its board of directors The SUSHI saga and why there’s no capitalism more savage than the competition in open source networks

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 Where bitcoin might fit in this larger framework Find our guest online: Twitter: @TaviCosta Instagram: @TaviCostaMacro Website: https://www.crescat.net

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 discussion: interest rates and the undermining of American resilience. In this discussion, NLW looks at a number of artifacts of the low interest rate world, including: Increasing cost of child care Declining share of total net worth held by bottom 50% New startups using lottery tactics to incentivize savers

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 digital currencies Our main discussion: Stan Druckenmiller speaks! NLW breaks down the famed investor’s interview with CNBC today, including: The merging of the Fed and the Treasury Mania in financial assets A growing fear of future inflation Why the next three to five years are going to be extremely difficult

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 weeks, bitcoin has pulled back from $12,400 to around $10,000. This dip has happened alongside a broader retracement in equities, led by falling tech stocks. While some have levied correlation to equities as a failure of bitcoin, NLW argues this critique misunderstands the narrative that has driven accumulation from new holders over the last six months.

On this special Labor Day edition of The Breakdown, NLW is doing a reading of Nic Carter’s most recent essay “The Crypto-Dollar Surge and the American Opportunity.” 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 emerging world of global crypto monies.

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 “A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse.” In it, he argues the impact of the revolutionary period of the 1960s was much more profound than popular opinion has it, and that the age of revolution is far from complete.

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 Tesla stock split game: Does this just mean it’s for n00bs and rubes? The VIX shows November nervousness Can you hear it? As stocks slide, the money printer is revving again

Inspired by Michael Batnik’s “All Wrapped In One,” 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 economy of 1929 The social movements of the 1960s The stock market of 1987 The speculation of 1999 The housing market of 2006

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 numbers behind DeFi’s recent run up What “degen” means in this context Why degen is in part a reaction to previous bitcoiner critiques of Ethereum Why degen is (in even bigger part) a reaction to a no-yield, artificially low interest world

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 firm. In this conversation, we discuss: Chairman Powell’s speech and whether this is a true policy departure The evolving relationship between the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department What it would mean to get China to start “footing the bill” The gold narrative Why stock price gains are unlikely to keep U.S. citizens satisfied with the economy for long Find our guest online:Website: fftt-llc.comTwitter: @LukeGromen

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 targeting. This episode featured commentary from: Tony Greer - Author, Morning Navigator Keith McCullough - CEO, Hedgeye Chris McCann - General Partner, Race Capital Adam Tooze - Chair of History, Columbia University George Selgin - Director at the Cato Institute Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives Hugh Hendry - Legend

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 go Fed denies asset bubble; intimates it wouldn’t care about asset bubbles if full unemployment comes with it Bezos at $200,000,000,000 Percentage of stocks traded by individuals reaches all time high of 20% Robinhood leads in FTX complaints Buffett’s Japan trading firm bet

This week’s episode of Long Reads Sunday is a reading of the latest essay 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 those assets have, or are starting to have, value in their safe haven function, while bitcoin is on the rise.

On The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap, NLW looks at the shifting sands of the global economy. He says Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole this week was an argument that an era that began in the 1970s is now closing. At the same time, he argues Powell did very little to provide a vision for what comes next. Instead, it is the alternative economic philosophies – Modern Monetary Theory on the one side, bitcoin on the other – that are attracting people for a different vision of the future.

Today on the Brief: Skepticism around Powell’s inflation prognostications The Tesla Stock Split Game China’s COVID-19 vaccine maker presses countries for early adoption Our main discussion: The Anxiety Index We live in an economy organized around consumption and perpetual growth. In that context, factors that cause consumers to be fearful, reduce spending, increase savings, move less and generally slow down can wreak havoc. In this episode, NLW discusses four factors shaping and driving consumer anxiety, including: COVID-19 related concerns, both health and economic Monetary policy questions U.S.-China tensions Election insecurity

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke Thursday at the annual Jackson Hole conference convened by the Kansas City Fed, which was virtual this year due to COVID-19. In the highly anticipated speech, Powell laid out a number of key changes to how the Fed approaches unemployment and inflation. In this recap, NLW looks at how people reacted to the speech. On the one hand, there is disagreement between those who anticipate out of control inflation and those who think the Fed’s track record on achieving even modest inflation is abysmal. On the other, almost everyone seems to think the Fed appears run down, out of tools and increasingly looking to support from Congress.

Today on the Brief The SEC changes accredited investor rules Fintech and crypto investor Ribbit Capital starts $350 million SPAC Previewing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech Our main conversation is with Ruben Galindo, CEO and co-founder of Airtm. Airtm is a global dollar account that lets users anywhere access U.S. dollars, powered by cryptocurrency infrastructure and a P2P network. The company is currently working with Juan Guaido’s opposition government in Venezeula to attempt to distribute $18 million in funds the U.S. seized from the Maduro dictatorship. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: How Airtm works outside of the traditional banking system Why people around the world are hungry for access to dollars What the Health Heroes campaign is trying to achieve How Guaido and Airtm are trying to work around the Maduro government’s attempt to suppress them Find our guest online:Website: airtm.comTwitter: @theairtm

Today’s episode of The Breakdown is an extended edition of the Brief. NLW discusses: The “COVID-19 vaccine trade” on Wall Street kicks markets higher The latest on TikTok vs. the U.S. and what it means for the U.S.-China relationship More companies move reserves from cash to bitcoin The final topic today looks at news that some large money market funds are shifting fees from users and taking the financial hit themselves. This creates a dynamic where only the largest companies can survive long term, and reflects a key unintended consequence of low interest rates.

Our guest today is Adam Tooze. Adam holds the Shelby Cullom Davis Chair of History at Columbia University and serves as director of its European Institute. He is known for his books “The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order” and “Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.” In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: Historical analogies for our present moment Federal Reserve policy and independence How much we should fear debt and inflation post-coronavirus How the economic and political crisis of 2020 has changed or reinforced the trajectory of the U.S., China and Europe Why there is no such thing as the post-American era Find our guest online: Website: Adamtooze.com Twitter: @adam_tooze

On today’s edition of The Breakdown’s Long Reads Sunday, our selections have to do with one of the hottest topics in central banking: yield curve control. “What Is Yield Curve Control?” The first piece is from the St. Louis Federal Reserve and is a primer on YCC, including past U.S. implementations as well as versions from Japan and Australia. “Market Jitters Show How Much Fed Medicine Matters” Our second piece is an op-ed about how dramatically markets reacted to this small detail from the Federal Open Market Committee minutes, and what it suggests for their desires involving YCC.

Today on The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap: People aren’t buying “the Great American Recovery” Let’s stop considering the economy as one thing Dave Portnoy doesn’t care about your principles DeFi is the Wild West and saved only by the fact that no normie understands what the hell is going on Bitcoin is being compared to the dollar not stocks and that’s serious progress

The “three-body problem” is a physics issue that deals with unpredictable futures. In a recent essay, John Mauldin argues the economy is actually experiencing an “eight-body problem.” On today’s episode, NLW explores each of those dimensions shaping the challenge we face, including: Central bank intervention The destruction of the service industry The implosion of global trade In the end, he argues that in a world ruled by chaos, fighting to control the narrative might be the only rational move. Read Ben Hunt’s essay “The Three-Body Problem”

Today on the Brief: Markets react to FOMC notes Taiwan blocks China streaming services Initial jobless claims back on the rise Our main discussion is a look at the politicians on both sides of the aisle who are pro-digital currencies and, especially, pro-bitcoin. Featuring: Rep. Thomas Massie Governor Jared Polis Andrew Yang Rep. Ted Budd Rep. Trey Hollingsworth Rep. Darren Soto Rep. Stacey Plaskett Rep. Tom Emmer Senate Candidate Cynthia Lummis Rep. Warren Davidson Rep. Patrick McHenry

Today, NLW debuts a new format: “10 Takes in 10(ish) Minutes.” In this analysis, he looks at 10 takes surrounding the S&P 500’s return to positive territory on the year, including: Great American comeback Market disconnect and widening inequality Don’t fight the Fed To the Stoolies go the spoils Stock splits and SPACs It’s Tech vs. everything else Cantillon insiders FTW A new era of global liquidity? You’d have done better with gold You’d have done a lot a lot better with bitcoin

Today on the Brief: Everyone turns bullish as S&P 500 nears all-time highs Emerging market currencies are floundering Bitcoin holding sentiment highest in two years Our main conversation features Race Capital’s Chris McCann. Chris was previously the founder of Startup Digest, building it to 1 million subscriptions long before email newsletters were a thing. He spent four years building the community program at Greylock before launching his own venture firm. In this conversation, Chris and NLW discuss: The relationship between monetary policy and startup finance What changes in startup financing have followed COVID-19 What the emerging fintech stack looks like, outside of crypto Find our guest online: Website: Race Capital Twitter: @mccannatron

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 inevitably lead to inflationary pressures. On the other, critics of that point of view point to significant counterveiling forces such as the 10% unemployment rate and growing savings rate among consumers. So who is right? What are the specific narratives trying to say? What is the evidence and data actually telling us? And how are real people experiencing inflation today?

Earlier this week, the Winklevoss brothers introduced Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy to bitcoin. 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 asteroids. While much meme fun was had, on this week’s Long Reads Sunday NLW has chosen a selection that looks at how fiat beat out gold and how gold beat out silver to provide some – ahem – more immediately relevant lessons on how to explain the benefits of bitcoin. Read:Projection and ThrownessPart III — Bitcoin’s 10x Advantage Over Gold Might Not Lie Where You Think By David Lawant

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 unrest and increased state involvement in economies and citizens’ lives. On the other, insane financial engineering experiments are seeing three-quarters of a billion dollars in value locked up within hours before a bug sees it all go away. In the middle, agents of chaos like new bitcoiner (and LINK-holder) Dave Portnoy. This is going to get weirder before it gets more normal.

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 and Apple/Google. NLW looks at: Why Fortnite got kicked off the Apple and Google app stores Why Epic Games is suing in response Why this was all very clearly planned by Epic Games Why Apple and Google should be nervous about anti-trust Why this is about a much bigger future than just a single game

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, bitcoin smashed all the way below $4,000. In the five months since, bitcoin has risen 200%. It has attracted the devotion of leading hedge funders such as Paul Tudor Jones II and more recently has become the reserve asset of choice of at least one publicly listed company. In this conversation, Preston and NLW discuss: The significance of halving coinciding with central bank printing The inevitability of negative interest rates Why it’s the dollar, not the stock market, that is inversely correlated with the price of bitcoin Why Preston believes in the stock-to-flow model Who pays the price for inevitable currency debasement Why we’re dramatically underestimating the precedent set by MicroStrategy’s $250,000,000 cash-for-bitcoin reserve switch Why MicroStrategy will be worth 10 times what it is today a year from now Find out guest online:Website: theinvestorspodcast.com Twitter: @PrestonPysh

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 #SupplyGate really about NLW breaks down: The historical narratives bitcoiners and ether advocates hold relative to one another The history of dominant narratives in crypto over the last three years Why the next bull market is poised for a twin narrative combining bitcoin as a hedge against fiat debasement and DeFi as a money-making sandbox What happened with #SupplyGate Why #SupplyGate is as much about narrative competition as it is about the supply of ether

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 former hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry. After a few years of focusing on a “volatility at the end of the world trade” in property development in St. Barth’s, the constant contrarian Hugh Hendry has returned to the macro world in a big way. In this conversation, Hugh and NLW discuss: Why Hugh left macro, and why he came back How he lost three years being angry at the Fed How he came to be bullish on equities in 2012 How money managers become trapped by narratives Why the Fed should actually be less, not more, conservative Why we need someone like Joe Rogan as Fed chair Find out guest online: Website: hughhendryofficial.com Twitter: @hendry_hugh

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 look at the latest skirmishes between the United States and China, including: U.S. sanctions on Hong Kong leaders including Carrie Lam Retaliatory Chinese sanctions on U.S. politicians The arrest of a pro-democracy Hong Kong media tycoon Arrest warrants issued for six foreign Hong Kong democracy advocates President Trump signs executive orders targeting TikTok and WeChat Twitter enters the race to buy TikTok before the Executive Order ban takes effect Impact on banks, the Hong Kong stock market and Huawei

On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads three pieces: Public Markets Don’t Matter Like They Used To - 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. Two Reasons Crypto’s Bull Market Is Coming - Anil Lulla on CoinDesk The next bull market isn’t just about the bitcoin-dollar devaluation narrative but about decentralized finance providing a solid place to redeploy existing crypto capital. The Business Behind Marshmello - Kevin Lee on Twitter The unlikely story of the world’s second-highest paid DJ, including a bet on anonymity, a viral billboard making fun of Instagram influencers, and a cultural cooking channel on YouTube.

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 protocols New growth in small holder addresses Demand from emerging market p2p markets It’s just possible this new bull market isn’t just starting to be seen in narratives, but is also showing up in numbers.

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 bitcoin revenue National debt as a percentage of GDP Fall of the Turkish lira Price of coffee, sugar and cocoa Housing in auto demand Anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S.

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 Monetary and Financial Alternatives as well as Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Georgia. In this eye-opening conversation, he and NLW go deep on the history, present and future of central banks, including: Why the Scottish and Canadian banking systems in the 19th century that central banks aren’t a prerequisite for stability Why the USA’s “free banking” system wasn’t free at all Why the instability in the late 19th century US banking system was caused by regulation, not the lack of a Fed Why the Fed’s first decades were a disaster Why the Fed gets more power when it underperforms The problems with the Fed’s response to 2008 What lessons the Fed could have but didn’t learn between the Great Financial Crisis and COVID-19 Find our guest online Website: Alt-M.org Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin

Today on the Brief: Robinhood doubles quarterly trading revenue Square did $875 billion in bitcoin 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 McCullough. Before building Hedgeye into a “no-excuses provider of real-time investment research and a premier online financial media company,” Keith worked at hedge funds including Carlyle Blue Wave Partners hedge fund, Magnetar Capital, Falconhenge Partners and Dawson Herman Capital Management. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: Hedgeye’s “Full Cycle Investing” approach and GIP (Growth, Inflation, Policy) methodology How the economy was in a period of slowing growth and slowing inflation before COVID-19 How we’ve moved into a stagflation period in response to the money printing prompted by the crisis Why bitcoin, gold, emerging market stocks and commodities are likely to thrive in this environment Why most narratives are BS Why the “Old Wall” media distracts rather than educates Check out our guest online: Website: Hedgeye.com Twitter: @KeithMcCullough

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 bitcoin Our main conversation is with Bobby Goodlatte. Bobby is the founder of Form Capital, a new seed investment firm that focuses on supporting portfolio companies with value-add design. Bobby was an early employee at Facebook and has been an active angel investor since 2012, with investments that include Coinbase. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: The early days of Facebook Why angel investors don’t like new angel investors to get involved How Silicon Valley reflects larger questions of equity valuations How social media has changed over the last decade Why politics is now “downstream from algorithms” Why there are still possibilities to build new social networks Why today’s social networks could make different decisions that would be better for the world. Find our guest online: Website: Form Capital Twitter: @rsg

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 shown through in Breakdown conversations in July: the disparity between the stock market and the real economy and a growing unwillingness of people to accept their place in the order. This show features clips from: George Gammon - @GeorgeGammon Daniel Lacalle - @dlacalle_IA George Goncalves - @bondstrategist Sahil Bloom - @SahilBloom Tyrone Ross - @TR401 Tony Greer - @TgMacro Jill Carlson - @jillruthcarlson Michael Krieger - @LibertyBlitz Sergey Nazarov - @SergeyNazarov

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 space. Are they buying into the revolution, or are they trying to capture value while fitting the disruption into a box that maintains the current power structure they lead? Those are the key questions explored by Meltem Demirors in her new essay “Unintended Architecture.” The piece is our selection for this week’s “Long Reads Sunday.”

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 Federal Reserve signaling that fiscal stimulus needs to do more The beginning of the battles on fiscal stimulus The introduction of the “not safe to vote” narrative The Big Tech vs. The World fight The beginning of coronavirus lawsuits Back to school Jobless claims getting worse Kodak and reshoring

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 discuss: The Federal Reserve’s role in increasing inequality How the Robinhood crowd differs from the 1999 bubble Why high-frequency traders might be the real villains when it comes to the retail bubble Why gold is surging even though the dollar remains fundamentally sound How to navigate the disparity between markets and the real economy Why real estate is doing well even as the economy is floundering Find our guest online: Website: tgmacro.com Twitter: @TgMacro

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 strategist George Goncalves. We discuss: How the bond market watches Federal Reserve meetings What, if anything, was new about this week’s FOMC meeting What it means that the bond market and equities market tell different stories Why the bond market has been telling a long-term story of slowing growth Whether institutional investors are actually moving away from government debt and into gold Why Judy Shelton should have a place on the Federal Reserve Find our guest online: Twitter: @bondstrategist

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 Nazarov’s answer when asked to describe the true disruption of decentralized finance to a traditional finance audience. On this episode of The Breakdown, Sergey and NLW discuss: Brand-based contracts vs. math-based contracts The history of smart contracts What it means to build an “abstraction layer” for “universally connected smart contracts” Key moments in the history of smart contract infrastructure Where smart contracts and DeFi are in terms of analogies to the early internet Why Sergey believes traditional finance will inevitably shift to a math-based contract model Find our guest online: Website: Chainlink Twitter: @SergeyNazarov

It was a beautiful Monday. Bitcoin 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 it happened. In this episode, NLW explains eight of those interpretations, including: Banks stacking due to changes in custody rules Money printer go brrr Stock to flow model Robinhood traders piling in DeFi gain recycling Buyers exceeding sellers “Perfect storm” Dollar crash, negative real interest rates and the search for a new reserve currency Ultimately, NLW argues that it is this last factor driving up not only bitcoin but gold and silver.

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- and third-tier private equity shops to win fees to a legitimate alternative to initial public offerings. In 2020, SPACs have made up roughly 40% of the IPO market. Recently, chatter around SPACs reached a fever pitch with the listing of Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings - the largest-ever SPAC. In this episode, NLW breaks down: What a SPAC is Standard SPAC terms Why the traditional IPO process has generated growing discontent, especially from Silicon Valley The benefits of SPACs for companies and investors The downsides of SPACs for companies and investors A number of reasons explaining why SPAC popularity is surging now How Robinhood retail traders are creating an important bridge buyer for SPACs Why Ackman’s Tontine Holdings SPAC could change how we think about SPACs in the future Are SPACs a bubble? Cited resources: SPAC Man Begins - Alex Danco SPACs as a Call Option on Hype - Bryne Hobart SPACs: the most ludicrous bubble we’ll ever see… why not $IAC? - Yet Another Value Blog Return of the SPAC - John Street Capital