Stay ConnectedFed Watch is a weekly podcast with Bitcoin Magazine’s Podcast Editor CK and Historian/Economist Ansel Lindner of Bitcoinand Markets.com.
Ck and Ansel interview the best analysts, traders, and thinks in both Macro economics and Bitcoin as well as give the audience their takes of important news and press conferences in the macro space.
This is the perfect podcast to learn about and stay on top of Bitcoin, Macro Economics, and the world at large.
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fed-watch-bitcoin-and-macro/id1543640492
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOV5M-T3GcsJAq8QKaf0lg
Bitcoin Magazine: https://bitcoinmagazine.com
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s Fed Watch podcast, Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner speak with Elliot Johnson of Evolve ETFs. Elliot and Evolve launched a bitcoin ETF in Canada in February and we discuss all about that experience. Evolve has many ETF products centered around disruptive technologies. Elliot has a lot of experience launching products like these and working with regulators on financial products, so we took the opportunity to dive deeply into the area of his expertise and get his view on bitcoin and the macroeconomic climate in general. As you can tell, it ended up being a pretty broad conversation.
It is nice to interview industry professionals who are, perhaps we can say, tangential to bitcoin. While Evolve is not technically a bitcoin only company, they have several ETF products in the space. Elliot related how their bitcoin ETF was the first product they tried to launch back in 2017, but the regulators weren’t ready for it back then. They kept trying and now have become one of the three bitcoin ETFs that were launched in Canada in the last month.
Elliot says, though the process took several years, Canada is emerging as a forward thinking financial jurisdiction. They are very comfortable with disruptive new products, and he hopes to maintain the good working relationship with the Ontario Securities Commision in the future.
Next we bring it back to the US and dive deeply into his view on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and their current discount. He chalks it up to the opening up of competition in the space. This is a convincing argument, because the month prior to Canada’s three major bitcoin ETFs launching, the premium on GBTC was 40%. Today, it sits at -10%. Elliot also, obviously, leans toward the ETF structure as being superior to the Trust based structure of GBTC. Open-ended ETFs will remain closer to Net Asset Value (NAV) of the underlying than a close-ended Trust can.
We get into Elliot’s macro vision of what’s going on right now and where bitcoin fits. He is quite keen on bitcoin as digital gold, fulfilling a large need for an alternate storage asset. When asked about where he sees the industry going in the next 5 to 1- years Elliot focuses on the growing respect of the asset class. He also made an interesting point, that in his daily interactions with interested investors of this bitcoin ETF, they tend to be those who do not own bitcoin in any other capacity already. It is not current holders looking to diversify, but it is all new investor demand.
Lastly, we ask for his advice to new investors and his opinion on a healthy bitcoin allocation in a portfolio. Of course, he was very professional and suggested talking to your financial advisor, and he ended on the need for continued work on education in
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fed-watch-bitcoin-and-macro/id1543640492
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOV5M-T3GcsJAq8QKaf0lg
Bitcoin Magazine: https://bitcoinmagazine.com
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s Fed Watch podcast, Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner speak with Michael Lebowitz, a Portfolio Manager for RIA Advisors. This is a change of pace for Fed Watch, reaching out to forward thinking financial advisors, to ask for their industry insight on the Federal Reserve, monetary matters, and bitcoin. Michael has made several appearances on Real Vision and numerous other macro podcasts, and notably appears weekly on RIA’s Youtube channel with business partner Lance Roberts. The latter is where Ansel discovered Michael’s content, and was impressed with the level of insight on monetary questions.
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fed-watch-bitcoin-and-macro/id1543640492
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOV5M-T3GcsJAq8QKaf0lg
Bitcoin Magazine: https://bitcoinmagazine.com
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s Fed Watch podcast, Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner give an update on bitcoin’s price action over the last two weeks, speak about the Tether’s settlement with the NYAG, provide expert commentary on Chairman Powell’s testimony, and dive deeply into how bitcoin fits into the macro landscape.
Bitcoin’s price action has been quite volatile, but bitcoiners are used to that. After breaking out of January’s consolidation it rose 50% to threaten the round $60,000 level before pulling back and consolidating. There is some apprehension about this pull back, because many people were ready for price to go up and never come down again. Of course, there will be periods of gains followed by times of consolidation. Nothing to get concerned with at this point.
Tether also had some very bullish news this week on Tuesday morning when it was announced that they settled with the NY Attorney General to pay an $18 million fine. But what exactly they are paying the fine for must be implied. Despite claims by the NYAG of wrongdoing, no convincing evidence was produced to justify pursuing the case further. This new appears to be quite bullish for the bitcoin industry as Tether provides a significant portion of liquidity on the fiat side of trades.
Next the co-hosts breakdown some of Chairman Powell’s testimony given to the Senate on Tuesday. At the time of recording, the proceedings were just ending and the tweets about Powell’s bitcoin and “digital dollar” comments were already starting to fly. Ultimately, there was nothing new on this front from the Fed’s chief, he reiterated previous comments using very similar rhetoric, with the sole exception of adding that a digital dollar was a “high priority.”
The basic position of the Fed on a digital dollar remains cautious. They are working with partners like the University of Texas and MIT on research initiatives but they take their role as provider of the reserve currency very seriously. They will not move quickly on a digital dollar. As comparison, the ECB is on the forefront of this movement for different reasons, but even they are admittedly still 4 years away. If there is to be a digital dollar, separate from the market provided digital dollars already very successful like Tether, it will be at least 5-8 years away.
Powell also spoke on inflation. Much information can be gathered by a careful listening to his word choices. He says we may see prices picking up as the economy reopens. But that is not a strong statement, it is one made from a academic framework, not real world data. He also says the Fed has the tools to keep inflation under control. But no mention of tools to keep deflation under control, which is the primary atmosphere we are dealing with at this time. Last
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fed-watch-bitcoin-and-macro/id1543640492
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOV5M-T3GcsJAq8QKaf0lg
Bitcoin Magazine: https://bitcoinmagazine.com
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s Fed Watch podcast, Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner give an update on central bank news in relation to bitcoin. This is the only podcast that tackles this intersection of macro and bitcoin, from a realistic and skeptical point of view. The cracks in the legacy financial system are fairly evident at this point, but it is not going to be a quick and easy transition to what is next. Bitcoin’s niche is growing and muscling into the territory of the legacy system. But it will happen in phases, without a centralized plan. This podcast examines that point friction.
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s Fed Watch podcast, Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner interview Nik Bhatia, author of Layered Money - From Gold and Dollars to Bitcoin and Central Bank Digital Currencies. Nik has a diverse background from a US Treasuries trading desk of a large institutional asset manager to being an Adjunct Professor teaching finance and economics at the University of Southern California.
The interview starts off with some high level background of Nik, specifically how his experience enabled him to understand Bitcoin early on. In these first few minutes we get a glimpse at just how wide ranging this conversation will be.
In Layered Money, Nik describes the history of money from the year 1250 to the present day as a series of developments adding complexity to the monetary system. We ask him if he views money as an evolutionary process and to step us through that idea. We drill down on this topic, which is of course central to this thesis on money, that money is defined as a whole of all the layers, and how they work together. Layers can be reused in a new money, but the current US dollar based financial system would not be the same if the layers were different.
The part of the interview that will probably be most familiar to Fed Watch listeners is the part on the Eurodollar system and how that interfaces with the domestic US dollar system. Layered Money gives a new framework by which to view this complicated relationship. It is not straightforward and we dig into the inflation versus deflation debate from Nik’s perspective.
Last, but definitely not least, we discuss Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). Nik has a nuanced understanding of this emerging technology and its ramifications on the Layered Money framework. It is interesting that one of the questions we address is simply, “Do the central bankers know that CBDCs are threatening to remake the entire system?”
Overall, another great episode for your listening pleasure. Nik Bhatia is very knowledgeable about all the topics we commonly talk about on Fed Watch. This is one you don’t want to miss!
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In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s “Fed Watch,” Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner discuss the recent events around WallStreetBets (WSB) and Gamestop from a macro perspective. We spend some time setting up the history and what transpired, before diving into the meanings and implications of what happened. We try to answer the questions, “what is the goal of WSB, and were they successful?”
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fed-watch-bitcoin-and-macro/id1543640492
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOV5M-T3GcsJAq8QKaf0lg
Bitcoin Magazine: https://bitcoinmagazine.com
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. It will be separate from Bitcoin Magazine. Exclusively on the new feed, starting on the next interview with the great Max Kaiser. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
Fed Watch is back with an interview of the great Max Kaiser. This one starts off getting to know Max’s background prior to bitcoin. In true Max Kaiser form, that leads to the very big picture cosmic placing of bitcoin into human evolution and civilization defining technology. That is where we like to end our episodes, but Max beat us to the punch.
We spend the rest of the show trying to drill down from that very broad civilizational brush, down to specific macro topics. Max can cover a lot of ground in a 2-3 minute response to a question, things we touch on along the way are the metaphysical revolution of bitcoin, inflation versus deflation, Max’s 3 D’s (deglobalization, dedollarization, and depopulation), China, China versus the US, and of course, more about how bitcoin fits into the future.
This is a very thought provoking episode. It will give you food for thought even to the most hardcore bitcoin experts out there. And beginners will be left with the impression that bitcoin is more than a simple piece of software, it is human changing technology.
Thanks for listening. Make sure to visit our Sponsor stacks2.com and find our new RSS feed!
Do not forget to subscribe to the new Fed Watch: Bitcoin and Macro new feed. It will be separate from Bitcoin Magazine. Exclusively on the new feed, starting on the next interview with the great Max Kaiser. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s “Fed Watch,” Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner discuss the broad macroeconomic atmosphere in which bitcoin finds itself.
We touch on bitcoin mining, price, the dollar, commodities, and the economy in general. In our bitcoin mining commentary, we focus on the behavior of hash rate over the last few months and the unique market for mining rigs. This is an important aspect of the bitcoin market that largely not understood even by hardcore bitcoiners.
Next, we have a fascinating discussion about social media, community building, and gaming. The Bitcoin & Markets podcast community has built a valuable community on discord and have slowly moved away from Twitter. Smaller communities where you can build relationships instead of followings may be the future trend.
We wrap up the episode talking about macro trends and bitcoin price. That, and so much more is on this episode. Don’t miss it. This was another great episode to keep you current on central bank issues. Full show notes available: (link back to bitcoin magazine).
Do not forget to subscribe to Fed Watch’s new RSS feed, so you don’t miss any of our great guest insights in the future. Thanks for listening.
Make sure to visit our Sponsor stacks2.com and find our new RSS feed!
Find “Fed Watch”’s new RSS feed: Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine’s “Fed Watch,” Christian Keroles and Ansel Lindner look back at the events of the last few weeks and put them into a macro perspective. They also give us an optimistic vision of the next year that only the Bitcoin Space can offer.
Topics covered
We are in dark times, but it is darkest before dawn. Bitcoin is a steady guiding light in this troubled time, and though things might get slightly worse from a political perspective over the next year, history and bitcoin show us the future is still very bright.
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Find Fed Watch’s new RSS feed. Search for “Fed Watch - Bitcoin and Macro” on your podcast app.
In this episode, Christian and Ansel discuss the monetary policy of the three major central banks, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan. They step through the crisis, from the central banks’ position upon entering 2020, through the panic months of March and April, to how they all ended the year in a holding pattern.
The Fed gets blamed for unleashing a flood of liquidity and money printing on the world, but in fact, they were probably the most reserved out of the major central banks. If anyone should suffer inflation of their currency it is the Bank of Japan. Their central bank balance sheet alone is now 126% of their countries GDP, and the ECB’s balance sheet is over 55% of the Eurozone GDP. The Fed looks the tamest of the three in this respect, coming in at only 34%. If QE is money printing, we should expect inflation in these smaller currencies first, but what do we see? They are stuck in deflation and heading for another crash.
Lastly, Christian and Ansel sum up what they think about this year in regards to central banks and bitcoin.
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Links
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/reviewing-2020s-central-bank-policies
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