Author: CoinDesk

Breaking down a recent report that has Bitcoin Twitter salivating and skeptical at the same time.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 called “Bitcoin: 21st Century Gold” sent last week to institutional clients. In this episode, NLW breaks down the report, including the macro justification that sets the stage as well as the technical analysis that led to these numbers. Ultimately, he argues that what matters isn’t the report’s predictions, but the fact that its very existence suggests a shifting narrative for institutional buyers.

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A reading of Kenneth Rogoff’s latest piece on the strange reality of the dollar’s global status. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

On this week’s edition of Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads former IMF chief and current Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff’s latest Op-Ed, “The Calm Before the Exchange Rate Storm” in Project Syndicate.

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In an otherwise extremely bullish week, famed investor Ray Dalio reiterated his skepticism of bitcoin and digital assets.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

Ray Dalio FUD:

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. 

This week on The Breakdown:

• Monday | The Biggest Macro Event Since March
• Tuesday | Legendary Investor Stan Druckenmiller Turns Bitcoin Bull
• Wednesday | Discovering Bitcoin Through the #EndSARS Movement, Feat. Yele Bademosi & Akin Sawyerr
• Thursday | Meet the $10B Asset Manager With a 10,000 BTC Treasury, feat. NYDIG’s Robby Gutmann
• Friday | PayPal Rolls Out Crypto for All US Customers

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Crypto Twitter reacts to the announcement and answers the question: Just how big a deal is this? 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 this episode, NLW breaks down the community response to the news, including an interesting discussion of whether the company’s BitLicense requires PayPal to hold 1:1 all the BTC its customers pay for.

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One of the (quietly) largest players in the institutional bitcoin space discusses the changing investor landscape in his first-ever podcast interview.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 bitcoin subsidiary.

In this first-ever podcast conversation, Gutmann discusses: 

• Buying his first bitcoin from Craigslist in 2010
• The personal and professional experiences that drove his team to bitcoin
• Why bitcoin fits the firm's founding principle of financial security for all 
• A set of key trends driving institutional investors and fiduciaries/asset managers into the bitcoin space 
• Why the coming year is poised for even more aggressive expansion of the investor market for bitcoin

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When the Nigerian government shut down protestors’ bank accounts, bitcoin and crypto became a way around. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 firmly fixed on a growing movement in Nigeria. With the hashtag #EndSARS, the movement was, on the one hand, about addressing police brutality. On the other hand, as our guests discuss, it was a broader awakening and a demand for generational economic opportunity. At one point, even Twitter founder Jack Dorsey called for people to donate bitcoin to help the movement. 

In this conversation, Yele and Akin discuss:

• The state of the economy in Nigeria leading into the protests
• Generational differences in political action 
• Why the #EndSARS protests exploded into action in October
• Why the movement turned to bitcoin to avoid bank confiscation 
• How crypto can play a role in a brighter future

Find our guests online:

Yele Bademosi - twitter.com/YeleBademosi

Akin Sawyerr - twitter.com/AkinSawyerr

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The billionaire investor made his pro-bitcoin comments on an appearance on CNBC.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 told CNBC that he could imagine inflation of 5%–10%. Yesterday, he returned to the network to discuss why bitcoin had captured his attention as a potential hedge.

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According to the bright minds of FinTwit, the biggest event isn’t the U.S. presidential election but today’s Pfizer vaccine update.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 and DJIA hit new all-time highs after Pfizer announced its experimental vaccine had prevented COVID-19 in 90% of patients. Travel stocks soared, work from home stocks suffered and safe havens fell. In this episode, NLW explores the shifting market sentiment, as well as what it means for bitcoin.

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While MMT may be the de facto policy of rich Western governments, applying it to developing economies could be disastrous. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

Today’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of Andy Mukherjee’s piece: “Why Emerging Markets Are Wary of a Modern Monetary Fix”.

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 there simply isn’t the same capacity to print their way out of problems.

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Hany Rashwan, CEO of Amun/21Shares, explains how the proverbial bitcoin lightbulb went off when his native Egypt’s currency devalued in 2016. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

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 bitcoin by Tim Draper in 2012
• How the Egyptian revolution and challenges that followed influenced his thinking 
• How a 48% overnight devaluation of the Egyptian pound created the “aha” moment around bitcoin
• How bitcoin could become the global reserve currency 

Find our guest online:

Twitter: twitter.com/hany

Website: 21shares.com

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