The Breakdown

Latest Episodes:

“Stacking Sats” vs. “ETH is Money” - The Memes That Shaped 2019 Dec 18, 2019

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From “digital gold” to “stacking sats” to “ETH is money,” 2019 was a year of narrative battlegrounds and meme warfare. And when every narrative is competing for scarce resources and attention, things are sure to get contentious. This special episode breaks down Ryan Selkis’ recent list of top ten crypto narratives and adds a few more worthy of note. Does “The Revolution Need Rules?” Is “Dissident Tech” the newest important area of focus.

Productizing bitcoin maximalism and the emergent of "digital assets not blockchain" Dec 17, 2019

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More crypto businesses are transitioning to or choosing to focus exclusively on bitcoin only from the beginning, in some ways representing a productization of bitcoin maximalism. In China, however, the government is cracking down fiercly on resurgent crypto businesses that have taking President Xi’s positive comments about blockchain as an excuse to operate more openly. Interestingly, the attitude of many US financial firms seems to be shifting from a version of “blockchain not crypto” to “digital assets not blockchain” as they begin to adapt to demand from customers.

Authoritarian Airdrops, Derivative Competitions, and Lightning at the Point of Sale Dec 16, 2019

Show notes

If 2019 saw bitcoin come together around the digital gold/digital SoV narrative, is 2020 poised for a resurgence of the idea of payments utility, thanks to Lightning powered applications? One beta test of a LN point-of-sale app suggests maybe.

Derivatives continue to grow as an area of focus for both retail and institutional traders, with CoinFLEX bringing in some new talent to expand its derivative competitions and institution-focused ErisX sending notice that futures trading would begin tomorrow.

Finally, Venezuela’s President Maduro has announced that public employees and pensioners will be given a holiday bonus of half a petro. Sincere effort or another example of how digital currencies can be a tool of control?

The ECB Gets In On Stablecoins, 2017 Token Projects Resurface & Twitter Debates: Is Crypto For Criminals? Dec 13, 2019

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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s comments on stable coins flew around crypto Twitter yesterday, as she said projects in the space indicated clear demand (even while slighting bitcoin in the same statement). Meanwhile, two once hugely hyped projects - Orchid and Filecoin - have both resurfaced. What might this mean for the narrative of tokens going into 2020? Lastly, in her end of year piece for CoinDesk, Jill Carlson triggered an avalanche of commentary by arguing that crypto isn’t supposed to be mainstream, because its primary use case is to for censored transactions.

Regulatory smackdown, DeFi on Bitcoin, and Jack Dorsey’s protocol dreams Dec 12, 2019

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The last few days have seen significant regulatory action, from SEC charging Shopin’s CEO with fraud over a $42m ICO to a major coordinated federal action against a $722m crypto Ponzi scheme. Over in the world of decentralized finance, meanwhile, a new project aims to show DeFi isn’t just for Ethereum. Finally, Twitter is launching a Square Crypto-like skunkworks to support or create an open social media protocol. This and more on The Breakdown.

Narrative Watch: The Tokenization Saga Continues Nov 20, 2019

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Three stories about tokenization today: ShapeShift launching FOX (an exchange token); BlockTV launching a token for media contributions; Satoshi's Treasure helping Tezos distribute tokens through games. That's enough to get me curious and thinking about tokens in a historical context: the promise, the problems, and the latest.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Multi-Collateral DAI goes live / Not so privacy coins / Crypto fundraising & M&A Nov 19, 2019

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After a huge amount of work, MakerDAO's multi-collateral DAI is live. Only one new token (Brave's BAT) is in the ecosystem, but it heralds the beginning of a new era. In the world of privacy coins, the MimbleWimble protocol is pushing back against a theoretical attack that some say invalidate its privacy features. Finally, Gemini makes its first acquisition.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Why did Satoshi choose Halloween to publish the bitcoin whitepaper? Oct 31, 2019

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11 years ago today, on Halloween 2008, Satoshi shared the bitcoin whitepaper for the first time. The question is: why choose that date? Satoshi was extremely intentional, so it seems unlikely to be random. In this, we explore multiple explanations, including historical analogy to the Protestant Reformation as well as symbolic connection to Samhain/All Saints Day. Ultimately, we conclude that what matters is the fact that the myth-making enabled by Satoshi's departure from the scene is one of the most remarkable and unique attributes of bitcoin.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Bitmain power struggle / Russian crypto intrigue / Don't call it a QE Oct 31, 2019

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Today was a quick news briefing:

Bitmain power struggles as Jihan Wu pulls a coup to return
China bans anti-blockchain sentiment
Russian crypto intrigue that could confirm the US' worst fears
Coinlist raises $10m from Jack Dorsey (among others)
The latest Fed action

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Mass Adoption - But Of What? And At What Cost? Oct 30, 2019

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Times, how they've changed. The surge in bitcoin price and the explosion of China into blockchain has heads spinning. Some argue that we should be celebrating mass adoption of any type. In this audio op-ed, however, I argue that there are two key questions. First is - adoption of what? What is the connection between open, permissionless money networks and an immutable record of a political loyalty pledge? Second, what is the cost of adoption, in moral terms? As the industry ascends, these are key questions to ask now.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto