The Breakdown

Latest Episodes:

Will there ever be a BTC ETF? / CFTC says ETH a commodity / Binance accepts Alipay/WeChat pay...sorta Oct 10, 2019

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The SEC has denied the most recent bitcoin ETF proposal - this time from Bitwise. Some speculate that there simply will not be an ETF on Chairman Clayton's watch. The CFTC chair meanwhile has said that the CFTC considers ETH a commodity and expects futures and other derivatives products. Finally, Binance's acceptance of Alipay/WeChat pay as a fiat onramp has prompted those companies to reiterate their anti-crypto stance.

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

IRS Forks Up New Tax Guidance / DevCon Debates / Senate Pressures Libra Oct 09, 2019

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The IRS dropped quite the surprise today: their first new tax guidance since 2014. Unfortunately, it seems to indicate that chains forking and airdropping users coins (whether they want them or not) creates a taxable event. Meanwhile, DevCon5 is cruising along in Osaka, complete with Ethereum scaling debates, the imminent launch of Multi-Collateral DAI, and the announcement of a new, open version of Libra (although it's not exactly clear why people are excited about this). Lastly, the real Libra faced some headwinds as US Senators put pressure on Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to follow suit with PayPal and leave the Libra Association.

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

Narrative Watch | The NBA, Hearthstone & Hong Kong - Why Censorship Resistance Matters Oct 09, 2019

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First it was the NBA aggressively distancing itself from comments from Rockets GM Daryl Morey in support of Hong Kong protesters. Then it was Blizzard banning a player from competitive Hearthstone play for making a pro Hong Kong statement live on air. On this Narrative Watch, we dig into the uncomfortable tension between China's role in the globe business world and it's tight control over dissent and critique - and more specifically, why it is a reminder of the need for permissionless, decentralized, censorship resistant alternatives in money and technology.

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

Libra's shaky membership FUD / Crypto In A Congressional Race / Why BTC volume is growing in Hong Kong Oct 02, 2019

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Libra is back in the spotlight after the WSJ published reports that Visa, Mastercard and others are getting cold feet after the chilly reception from regulators around the world. David Marcus took to Twitter to defend the project, while simultaneously creating a narrative line to pickup should those companies abandon the Libra Association. A challenger to Nancy Pelosi is discussing how cryptos can be used to break the power monopolies of big tech, while a new advocacy organization is taking on what they call the CA bitlicense. Finally, volume on LocalBitcoins in Hong Kong is up more than any time since the 2017 boom amidst heightened protests. The question is: who's buying?

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

SEC vs. EOS: Securities! Settlement! Scandal! Oct 01, 2019

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The SEC's $24m settlement with EOS has been all anyone has been able to talk about for the last day or so. In this episode, we look at the four camps of reactions: the "they got off easy"; "you're all commies"; "it's about the consistency"; and the pragmatists. We also discuss the "Crypto Rating Council" and the general state of the SEC's securities law determinations. Insider baseball with big implications for the evolution of the industry.

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

Narrative Watch: Time Preference Transformation - How CT Reacted (Or Didn't) To Last Week's Price Crash Sep 30, 2019

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Last week saw a 20% drop in the price of Bitcoin - much of coming in a short, 30 minute span. What it didn't see was the usual hand wringing and frantic explanations. In fact, most of last week's conversation was about totally different topics: Libra, central bank digital currencies, troubling developments for surveillance and crypto regulation in the UK. On this Narrative Watch, I explore whether this is simply a matter of the strength of fundamentals, or whether a fundamentally different time preference has taken hold.

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

Is bitcoin rogue state money? / The impact of Libra on central banks / Fed repo market injections continue Sep 27, 2019

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News broke of Venezuela exploring whether they could use bitcoin and ether as reserve assets, prompting questions about what the potential impact of widescale adoption of bitcoin as a tool to evade sanctions might be. Libra continues to spur central banks to action. This week, the project saw some support from the UN while the ECB called it a 'wake up call' for governments. Finally, we look at the second week of Fed injections into the overnight repo markets and what it means for bitcoin.

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

What's behind the BTC price crash? / Does WeWork matter for crypto? / Incognito mode for payments Sep 25, 2019

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Bitcoin (and the rest of the markets) absolutely cratered yesterday, with BTC dropping from nearly $10k to under $8k before resetting a bit. Is it Bakkt backlash? Bitmex margin calls? Or a fat load of who the hell knows? Speaking of crashes, Adam Neumann is out as CEO of WeWork, the fall guy in what appears to be the beginning of a larger market reset on technology company valuations. Does that reset have implications for the crypto markets? Finally, a number of new financings including for Fold, a cashback-in-bitcoin app that keeps your data private.

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

Bakkt launch flop or fly? / Kik kicks the bucket, Kin lives on / SEC testifies before Congress Sep 24, 2019

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Much hyped Bakkt has launched, but the volume is...less than massive. What should we think about it? Is it a sign of failure; a sign that there simply isn't demand from institutions; or was this always the likely launch pattern? Meanwhile, in the "whoa" files, messenger app Kik has shuttered to focus all remaining efforts on KIN. Hail mary (or was the ICO the hail mary in the first place)? Finally, the SEC testified in front of Congress about crypto amongst other topics. Hope you're not hungry, because this was a nothingburger.

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

Narrative Watch - Meme Warfare: 'Bitcoin fixes this' vs. 'ETH is money' Sep 23, 2019

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Crypto markets are driven by memes. In point of fact, all markets are driven by memes and narratives, but emergent markets like crypto ratchet it up. In this Narrative Watch, we go meta to look at the state of meme warfare, going deep on two memes of the moment. Discover why 'ETH is money' is an Ethereum community response to a recent bitcoin meme talk and how 'Bitcoin fixes this' is becoming shorthand for the idea of bitcoin as a generational hedge.

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