CoinDesk Podcast Network

Latest Episodes:

The Blockspace Pod: Wall Street Just Gave Your Bitcoin Bonds A (BBB) Triple B Rating Feb 21, 2026

Show notes

We just had a historic 14% difficulty adjustment, weather-driven hash rate curtailments, and the groundbreaking Bitcoin-backed bond from Ledn.

Get your tickets to OPNEXT 2026 before prices increase! Join us on April 16 in NYC for technical discussions, investor talks, and intimate conversation with the brightest minds in Bitcoin.

Matt from CoinShares, Kaan from Luxor, and Jay from Lygos join us to talk about the massive 14.7% Bitcoin difficulty adjustment and the impact of the recent Arctic blast on North American miners. We dive deep into Luxor's 21-month mining analysis, showing why hedging has outperformed spot mining since the 2024 halving. Finally, we discuss Ledn's historic Triple B-rated Bitcoin-backed bond and how institutional investors are beginning to view Bitcoin as high-quality collateral compared to traditional assets.

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Notes:

• Bitcoin difficulty spikes +14.73

• Hashprice drops to all-time low of $30/PH/day.

• ERCOT uneconomic hours rose over 900%.

• Ledn bond rated Triple B- by S&P Global.

• Hedging outperformed spot mining in 2025

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

02:56 Bombshell difficulty adjustment!!!

20:08 Ledn's $188M Bitcoin-Backed Bond Securitization

31:03 Nakamoto acquires Bitcoin Conference & UTXO Mgmt

38:24 Datacenter cry corner/culture corner

👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner!

CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK) is a market-leading data center developer with a proven track record of success. We own a portfolio of power, land, and data centers across the United States powered by globally competitive energy prices. Sitting at the intersection of Bitcoin, energy, operational excellence and capital stewardship, we optimize our infrastructure to deliver superior returns to our shareholders. Monetizing low-cost, high reliability energy by producing a global emerging critical resource – compute – positions us to prosper in an ever-changing world.

Anthony Scaramucci & The Wizard of Soho: Inside the New Age of On-Chain Leverage | Markets Outlook Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

Anthony Scaramucci and Joy Pathak discuss how decentralized exchanges and 24/7 liquidity are revolutionizing market transparency and risk management, positioning crypto as a more resilient alternative to traditional finance.

Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, and The Wizard of Soho, Joy Pathak joined CoinDesk Live from Consensus Hong Kong. Pathak, a former bond trader who once managed a $40 billion portfolio at CalPERS, explains why leverage didn't die after the recent market crash—it simply moved into a new, more transparent era. He breaks down how the rise of decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid and Aevo has handed institutional-grade tools to retail traders, creating an environment where every multi-billion dollar position is visible to the entire world in real-time.

Scaramucci argues that while some Wall Street "fuddy-duddies" fear volatility, crypto’s 24/7 liquidity actually makes it a safer market than traditional finance. By comparing the ability to hedge an exogenous risk on a Sunday night to the "trapped" nature of closed bond markets, Scaramucci and Pathak illustrate why the "horseless carriage" of blockchain is destined to outrun legacy systems.

This episode was hosted live by Jennifer Sanasie and Will Foxley at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, presented by Hex Trust.

How Hex Trust is Bringing Multi-Chain Utility to the XRP Ledger Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Hex Trust CPO Giorgia Pellizzari explores Bitcoin’s evolution into a yield-bearing asset, the strategic launch of wrapped XRP, and the path to scaling RWA tokenization.

Giorgia Pellizzari, Chief Product Officer at Hex Trust joined CoinDesk Live at Consensus Hong Kong to provide a deep dive into the institutional shifts defining the digital asset landscape. Looking back at 2025 as the "Year of bitcoin," she explains how the launch of new primitives like the Babylon protocol transformed bitcoin from a "lazy asset" into a productive, yield-bearing instrument for institutions.

The conversation highlights Hex Trust's issuance of wrapped XRP (wXRP). Pellizzari details how this regulated 1:1 backed asset is bridging the gap between the XRP Ledger and high-velocity DeFi ecosystems like Solana, Ethereum, and Optimism.

Pellizzari also offers a look at the future of Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, citing the DTCC’s move to tokenize hundreds of billions of dollars as a massive structural catalyst. She argues that while infrastructure is ready, the missing piece remains secondary market liquidity and regulatory comfort.

This episode was hosted live by Jennifer Sanasie and Will Foxley at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, presented by Hex Trust.

Joe Lubin on Turning MetaMask into a Self-Sovereign Neobank Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

At Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Joseph Lubin detailed MetaMask’s evolution into a "personal neobank," a user-centric platform merging DeFi and traditional finance through features like tokenized equities via Ondo Finance, prediction markets, and debit cards.

Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin joined CoinDesk Live from Consensus Hong Kong to discuss the evolution of Metamask. Lubin explained how MetaMask is transitioning from a wallet into a "personal” neobank—a fully featured financial services platform that users own and control directly from their devices. He detailed the integration of institutional-grade features, including tokenized equities through Ondo Finance, prediction markets, and debit cards, all aimed at bridging the gap between decentralized finance and the traditional financial world.

This episode was hosted live by Jennifer Sanasie and Bonnie Chang at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, presented by Hex Trust.

The Blockspace Pod: The Shortest Bear Market Ever w/ Matt Hougan of Bitwise Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, breaks down why we’re still in a crypto winter, the truth about central bank gold buying, and why Bitcoin’s revenue problem doesn’t matter… yet. We dive into the Kevin Warsh Fed era, quantum risks, and the rise of AI agents.

Get your tickets to OPNEXT 2026 before prices increase! Join us on April 16 in NYC for technical discussions, investor talks, and intimate conversation with the brightest minds in Bitcoin.

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, joins us to talk about the current state of the crypto winter and when the bottom is finally in. We explore the digital gold narrative, explaining why central bank buying—not debasement—drove gold’s recent surge. Matt details the institutional vs. retail divide, the impact of Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, and the looming debate over Bitcoin’s security budget. Plus, we tackle the quantum discount and how AI agents could 1000x on-chain activity.

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Notes:

* Altcoins like Sui and Aptos fell 70%+ in 2025.

* Institutions might end the winter by Q2 2026.

* BTC volatility capped at 50-60% drawdowns.

* Gold price surge driven by central bank buys.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

03:22 Is it still "crypto winter"?

04:34 Why January?

06:36 Market segments

08:31 Gold

10:54 Central banks & Bitcoin

12:56 Causes of the crash

14:52 Kevin Warsh

16:58 Fed hawks become doves

17:34 Quantum... oh so scary!

19:59 Bitcoin Core

21:44 Revenue

24:37 Beyond "digital gold" narrative

26:44 AI

👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner!

Charles Hoskinson and Ding X on Predict.Fun, Privacy and Building in Public Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

Charles Hoskinson and former-anonymous PancakeSwap founder Ding X discuss the shift from pseudonymous building to public leadership and the launch of Predict.fun's yield-bearing NFT prediction markets.

In this interview from CoinDesk Live at Consensus Hong Kong, Input Output Founder and CEO, and Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson sits down with Ding X, the former-anonymous founder of PancakeSwap, to discuss the intersection of DeFi, NFTs, and the future of prediction markets. Ding, who recently went public after a decade of building in the shadows, shares the reality of transitioning from a pseudonymous whale to a public-facing CEO. The two dive into why the NFT ecosystem shifted toward meme coins and how Ding’s new project, Predict.fun, is re-architecting prediction markets by turning wagers into yield-bearing NFTs.

This episode was hosted live by Jennifer Sanasie and Sam Ewen at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, presented by Hex Trust.

Why 10x Research Sees a Bitcoin Drop to $50,000 This Summer | Markets Outlook Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

As the crypto markets teeter on the edge, 10x Research founder, Markus Thielen, joined Consensus Live at Consensus Hong Kong to deliver a sobering reality check on bitcoin’s trajectory. Thielen explains why the recent volatility isn't just a temporary dip but the potential start of a deeper trend driven by institutional redemptions and a massive liquidity gap. He breaks down the technical "liquidity trap" that caught traders off guard following the 2024 election and explains how negative option gamma forced market makers into a selling frenzy.

This episode was hosted live by Sam Ewen and Will Foxley at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, presented by Hex Trust.

The Blockspace Pod: Big Oil Wants Dollars, Not Bitcoin w/ Chris Alfano Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Chris Alfano, CEO of 360 Energy, joins the podcast to discuss how Bitcoin mining is solving oil and gas problems. Learn about the reality of hash price aversion among energy giants, the move toward pipeline-scale mining, and why off-grid power is the ultimate goal for sustainable operations.

Get your tickets to OPNEXT 2026 before prices increase! Join us on April 16 in NYC for technical discussions, investor talks, and intimate conversation with the brightest minds in Bitcoin.

Chris Alfano, CEO of 360 Energy, joins us to talk about the integration of Bitcoin mining and oil & gas. We discuss the recent investment from Halliburton and what it signals for the industry. Chris explains why major oil companies prefer giving away waste gas for free over taking hash price exposure, the technical challenges of dirty fuel gas, and the shift from individual wellheads to large-scale pipeline deployments.

Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com

Notes:

* Hash price hit all-time low of $29/PH/day.

* China ban cut 80% of global hash rate.

* 5 of last 6 difficulty adjustments negative.

* AI infrastructure costs $10-$15M per megawatt.

* Bitcoin price dropped to $65,000 level.

* Sub-50 MW sites are the new frontier.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

03:22 AI boom & China mining ban

08:30 What edge do miners have over hyperscalers?

13:23 Energy production limits

21:23 Small scale HPC

24:23 Batteries

35:46 Secondary effects

36:51 Pleb miners

39:55 IS US mining doomed?

45:57 Powershell vs Neocloud

👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner!

The Blockspace Pod: Bitdeer's Clarington Lawsuit, $IREN's MSCI Index Listing, and Bitcoin's Quantum Step Feb 14, 2026

Show notes

Colin and Charlie break down the latest Bitcoin news, from the massive $16k price drawdown and capitulation theories to Bitdeer’s legal woes in Ohio and IREN joining the MSCI index. Plus, a deep dive into "quantum resistance" and the historic shift in mining difficulty.

Colin and Charlie join us to talk about a wild week in Bitcoin. We dive into the $16,000 price "puke" and whether we've hit a local bottom, explore Bitdeer's legal snag at their Ohio AI flagship site, and discuss IREN's inclusion in the MSCI USA index. We also break down the historic six-out-of-seven negative difficulty adjustments—the first since 2011—and tackle the "ontology of time" and quantum resistance.

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Notes:

* Bitcoin lost $16,000 within 12 hours last week.

* BTC saw a historic 21% daily price drawdown.

* Bitdeer's Ohio site has 570MW allocated.

* 6 of last 7 difficulty adjustments were negative.

* IREN to join MSCI USA index on March 2nd.

* Bitcoin hash price recovered to roughly $35/PH.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

04:01 BTC number go down!

10:10 Difficulty Update by Luxor

12:32 Bitdeer lawsuit

18:39 Cleanspark Ad

19:08 IREN added to MSCI USA Index

22:33 The MARA-Exaion plot thickens

29:14 BIP 360 merged

37:49 OP_NEXT Ad

39:21 Cry corner: No one understands anything about anything

👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner!

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The Blockspace Pod: What Bitcoin Miners Need to do to Survive w/ Tom Masiero Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Cathedra’s Tom Masiero joins us to breakdown how the bitcoin mining AI-shift echoes China’s 2021 bitcoin mining ban.

Get your tickets to OPNEXT 2026 before prices increase! Join us on April 16 in NYC for technical discussions, investor talks, and intimate conversation with the brightest minds in Bitcoin.

Welcome back to The Blockspace Podcast! Today, Tom Masiero, Head of Strategy at Cathedra joins us to talk about the structural shifts pushing bitcoin miners toward AI and HPC services. We explore why this migration mirrors the 2021 China mining ban, the hidden opportunities for smaller operators, and why Bitcoiners understand the "power game" better than traditional data centers. Tom breaks down the reality of infrastructure costs, the current state of hash price, and how the "cockroach" mentality of miners is paving the way for the future of global compute.

Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com

Notes:

* Hash price hit all-time low of $29/PH/day.

* China ban cut 80% of global hash rate.

* 5 of last 6 difficulty adjustments negative.

* AI infrastructure costs $10-$15M per megawatt.

* Bitcoin price dropped to $65,000 level.

* Sub-50 MW sites are the new frontier.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

03:22 AI boom & China mining ban

08:30 What edge do miners have over hyperscalers?