The Breakdown

Latest Episodes:

Narrative Watch: The New China Narrative, 2019 Edition Oct 28, 2019

Show notes

China has had an ongoing role in the crypto narrative. For much of the history of the industry, it was about control of mining. Now, something new is happening. As the crypto industry gets caught up in the larger battles to shape the future of the economic order, digital currency is center spotlight and China is racing into a leadership position. Last week's comments on blockchain from China's President Xi Jinping were like a starting gun. So what's the China narrative now?

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

Bitcoin Soars on China President Xi's Blockchain Comments Oct 26, 2019

Show notes

On Wednesday, Zuckerberg responded to the largely hostile US Congress by reminding them that, if the US didn't proactively assert leadership around digital currencies, then China would be more than willing to fill the gap. As if they coordinated it, China's President Xi then made his first formal comments ever about blockchain, asserting that China needed to take a leadership role. Bitcoin soared 15% (although whether related or not isn't clear) and crypto Twitter debated: was this an indication of how far behind the US is getting; an affirmation that blockchain can be a tool of surveillance and control; or both?

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMKxYhVC2lJat7iB9Gec5kw/videos

Repo Market Madness & Bitcoin Macro / CT Reacts To Libra Hearings / LabCFTC Oct 25, 2019

Show notes

Most of the world outside crypto twitter that saw a clip of Mark Zuckerberg's testimony would have no idea that it was, theoretically about Libra. On CT, basically everyone bemoaned the clear lack of giving-a-crap that pretty much any Congressperson had for the actual issue at hand. Elsewhere on CT, however, I announced Bitcoin Macro, a new pop-up podcast I produced for CoinDesk and two of the three first guests - Caitlin Long and Travis Kling - discuss the repo markets. Finally, a quick news rundown including a new BTC futures options product from Bakkt and a new standing blockchain office from the CFTC.

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

SPECIAL EDITION: An Opinionated Recap Of Zuckerberg's Libra Testimony Before Congress Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress today, nominally about Libra but actually about a lot of things. In this (opinionated) recap of the testimony, we look at:

What was different vs. the same in FB's narrative
What was different vs. the same in Congress' questions
The negotiation factors moving forward
Highlights
Predictions

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

Narrative Watch: 3 Key Battlelines of the Digital Currency Wars Oct 22, 2019

Show notes

The digital currency wars are getting hotter and hotter, but they're not one dimensional. This narrative watch looks at three key battlelines:

Nations vs. Private companies - who gets to make digital currencies?
Nations vs. Nations (specifically China) - competition to get their faster and better
Pegged vs. Basket vs. Fractional Reserve - the actual composition of the asset matters - as we see from pressure on Facebook to make Libra a 1:1 peg USD instead of a basket

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

Poloniex leaves Circle & the USA / Binance 125x leverage / BIS says BTC failed & stabelcoins a threat Oct 18, 2019

Show notes

Circle is spinning out Poloniex and the exchange's new honors want to build away from the US. Is this more evidence of the "companies leaving US" narrative or just competitive pressure? Speaking of exchanges, Binance hit $1B in cumulative profit this week and announced 125x leverage because reasons. Finally, the big boss of the financial system Bank of International Settlements released a paper effectively calling bitcoin a failure but identifying private stablecoins like Libra as a threat.

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

Subscribe via email: https://nlw.substack.com/

Does Bitcoin Institutionalization Threaten Cypherpunk Values? Oct 17, 2019

Show notes

Chainalysis recently helped law enforcement take down a child porn ring by tracking btc addresses. This kicked off a huge conversation about how essential is it to the value proposition of bitcoin for it to be able to used for things that are against the rules - whether we like them or not. The firestorm of debate it kicked up really came down to one key question: how will institutionalization impact bitcoin? Can institutionally safe and friendly bitcoin co-exist with anti-establishment, rule breaking bitcoin?

Is FinCEN going after Telegram around money laundering? / The new, lighter Libra Association Oct 15, 2019

Show notes

The fallout continues from the crazy last week in Libra, as the Association moves forward without any of its payment partners, all of whom have withdrawn at this point. Still the Association is now officially live and has a board of 5 members, only one of whom is from Facebook's Calibra subsidy. Over in the other major social network that wants its own crypto, BlockTV today reported that Telegram isn't just beset by the SEC but is dealing with a FinCEN inquiry around money laundering.

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

Narrative Watch: Regulators Get Rowdy (aka Why You Might Owe Money On BSV) Oct 14, 2019

Show notes

Last week was apparently "government says get rekt" week in crypto. The SEC kicked things off by disapproving a bitcoin ETF proposal from Bitwise and closed things out by taking emergency action against Telegram's $1.7B ICO. In between, the IRS dropped its first crypto guidance in 5 years, indicating that forked tokens could create a tax liability, whether you want them or not. What's more, two Senators sent threatening letters to the CEOs of Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard who, along with eBay, dropped out of the Libra Association by the end of the week. The one bright spot was the CFTC saying that ETH is a commodity.

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

BREAKING: Is The Libra Dream Dead? Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, eBay leave Libra Oct 11, 2019

Show notes

The title says it all. Visa, Mastercard, eBay, and Stripe have joined PayPal in leaving the Libra Association. Is this the death knell for the project? Will the rest of the organizations follow suit and leave? Or does this provide a chance to Libra to shift the narrative and arise like a phoenix? Let's dig in.

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

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