CoinDesk Podcast Network

Latest Episodes:

BREAKDOWN: Is Being the ‘Saudi Arabia of Money’ Good for America? Sep 13, 2020

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A reading of “How to Diagnose Your Own Dutch Disease,” a look at the problems of America’s dollar trade.

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

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.

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BREAKDOWN: The Raw, Savage Capitalism of Open-Source Protocols Sep 12, 2020

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Recapping the biggest stories of the week, including Joe Biden’s China plan, a market holding pattern and, of course, the strange competitive saga of SUSHI.

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

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

This week on The Breakdown:

Monday | Sorry, Governments, We’re Entering the Era of Private Money

Tuesday | Why Bitcoin Investors Aren’t Worried About This Price Pullback

Wednesday |‘Absolute Raging Mania’: Famed Investor Druckenmiller Thinks 10% Inflation Is Possible

Thursday | How Monetary Policy Undermined American Resilience

Friday | ‘As Toppy as It Gets’: Metals, Bitcoin and Fiat’s Race to the Bottom, Feat. Tavi Costa

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RESEARCH: A Day in the Life of an Ethereum 2.0 Validator Sep 12, 2020

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With Ethereum 2.0's much anticipated move to Proof-of-Stake getting closer, CoinDesk Research Analyst Christine Kim spoke with Ben Edgington and Vijay Michalik on what would-be validators need to know.

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

“There are indeed responsibilities that come with [Ethereum 2.0 staking]. You can’t just stake and leave it. You need to run what we call a client or a validator software.”

That’s Ben Edgington, the product owner of Teku at ethereum venture capital studio Consensys. Teku is one of five software clients currently being battle-tested on the official Ethereum 2.0 test network, Medalla.

These clients will connect users to the highly anticipated proof-of-stake blockchain aimed at significantly boosting Ethereum transaction speeds and throughput. Ethereum 2.0 clients like Teku will also enable users to earn rewards as validators on the new network.

Similar to the role of miners on the current Ethereum blockchain, validators on Ethereum 2.0 will be responsible for processing transactions and creating new blocks. What that looks like in practice, according to Edgington, is keeping client software up and running 24/7 on a dedicated computer device.

As for which of the five clients to run, Vijay Michalik, a strategist for the engineering team behind Teku, explained the technical differences between them all were minor. However, their main distinction between clients in the eyes of Michalik comes down to long-term development vision.

“For Status [the Ethereum messaging company], the Nimbus client is focused on trying to build a client for a low-footprint system. So they’re building for embedded systems such as mobile devices and potential IoT [Internet of Things] in the future,” said Michalik. “At the ConsenSys protocol engineering, we’re trying to lean into our specialization which is building the enterprise grade [Ethereum 2.0 client].”

For more information about Ethereum 2.0, you can download the free research report featuring additional developer commentary about the upgrade on the CoinDesk Research Hub.

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BREAKDOWN: ‘As Toppy as It Gets’ – Metals, Bitcoin and Fiat’s Race to the Bottom, Feat. Tavi Costa Sep 11, 2020

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The Crescat Capital portfolio manager gives his take on the flashing macro warning signals and why it is an explosive moment for gold, silver and (potentially) bitcoin.

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

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

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BREAKDOWN: How Monetary Policy Undermined American Resilience Sep 10, 2020

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A legacy of artificially low interest rates is not just the death of savings, but a forced buying into the perpetual growth machine of financial asset prices.

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

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

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BREAKDOWN: 'Absolute Raging Mania' – Famed Investor Druckenmiller Thinks 10% Inflation Is Possible Sep 09, 2020

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The Hedge Fund legend says in a new interview the Federal Reserve’s policies have created a massive asset bubble while making both inflation and deflation more likely.

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

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

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BREAKDOWN: Why Bitcoin Investors Aren’t Worried About This Price Pullback Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

Critiques of correlation between bitcoin and equities miss the fact that bitcoin adoption within traditional markets has been driven by a fiat collapse concern.

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

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.

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BREAKDOWN: Sorry, Governments, We’re Entering the Era of Private Money Sep 07, 2020

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Whether the U.S. government likes it or not, the world is demanding crypto-dollars and the private market is ready to supply them.

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

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.

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BREAKDOWN: A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse Sep 06, 2020

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A reading on revolutions from the late great David Graeber.

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

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.

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BREAKDOWN: Is Tesla a Stock for Suckers? Sep 05, 2020

Show notes

The markets kicked off the week with a 5-1 Tesla stock split rally and ended with major questions about tech company valuations.

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

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

This week on The Breakdown:

Monday | US Stock Market Cap to GDP Ratio Reaches 190%, Eclipsing Dot-Com Bubble High

Tuesday | Financial Postmodernism and the Great Inflation Debate

Wednesday |Let Them Eat Equities! The Economic Chickens Come Home to Roost, Feat. Luke Gromen

Thursday | DeFi Degens Are Crypto’s Suicide Squad

Friday | 8 Historical Analogies That Help Explain the Madness of 2020

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