The Breakdown

The Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium is sort of like TED for Central Bankers. In the lead-up to this year’s event, the conversation has been totally focused on whether or not Fed Chair Jerome Powell would signal a beginning of tapering of dovish support. NLW breaks down the expectations and Powell’s words to glean a picture of the monetary policy likely to come.  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

First, on the Brief: Bitcoin hash power coming back online A new millionaire testing out crypto An emerging music tokenization platform Bitcoin saw a significant drop in hashrate after China’s mining bans. The network accordingly implemented its largest difficulty adjustment, a parameter to adjust incentives for miningadjust incentives for mining, to date. Has this adjustment worked? In investments, Simon Nixon, one of the winners of the dot-com bubble, has emerged as the newest millionaire to delve into crypto. Last on the Brief, Royal announced a $16 million raise for its music tokenization platform, the aim of which is to give more power to the artists when it comes to royalty rights. In the main discussion: With inflation on the minds of many economists and consumers, the Federal Reserve pushed a “transitory” narrative while pinning the blame on supply chain issues. Looking back at the history of supply chains reveals why COVID-19 broke the global goods network. Are the supply chain issues going to be as transitory as the Fed hopes? Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: MR.Cole_Photographer/Moment/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

First, on the Brief: OnlyFans’ reversal of its decision to ban sexuually explicit content Budweiser’s NFT Twitter profile picture The U.K.’s warnings to Binance Last week, OnlyFans announced it would ban sexually explicit content from its platform, citing three major banks that had refused service because of “reputational risk.” Today, the company suspended the policy change and lauded the community’s rallying support for creators who use the platform. Will larger financial institutions continue to put pressure on OnlyFans or other platforms to make them more “moral”? Budwieser is the latest to follow Visa’s footsteps into the NFT domain. The beer maker announced it bought a rocket ship from NFT artist Tom Sachs’ Rocket Factory. Last on the Brief, specifics of the U.K.’s quarrels with Binance have been released, primarily centered around a lack of supervision capabilities. In the main discussion, NLW addresses a new angle to the infrastructure bill. The Treasury has claimed that it will not target non-brokers, like miners, even if the bill’s language includes them. Can the crypto community trust the Treasury’s statements of goodwill? Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg, modified by CoinDesk.

On this episode of “The Breakdown”: Surveys and reports detailing expected institutional adoption Citigroup to trade on the CME Global perception of crypto, CBDCs NFT and DeFi on the rise Bitcoin news from Michael Saylor, Blockstream and Substack Recent reports from Deloitte and Nickel Digital help set institutional and general public adoption expectations. Of 23 asset managers surveyed by Nickel Digital, more than half expected to increase crypto asset exposure by 2023, and a quarter to increase dramatically. Citigroup is one such investment company toying with BTC as the firm says it will trade bitcoin futures on the CME. From the global perspective, a Politico survey of U.K. adults revealed a distrust and misunderstanding of CBDCs, while in India, retail crypto investment is up with young citizens looking for alternative ways to make money after strict COVID-19 lockdowns. Visa’s CryptoPunk purchase fueled an NFT-buying frenzy, resulting in a daily sales volume record for Punks. DeFi on the whole, however, remains powered by experienced crypto enthusiasts, as the technological barrier to entry remains. Will NFTs bring more of the general population into DeFi?   Bitcoin’s rally above $50,000 this past weekend was bolstered by institutional news: Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy’s latest purchase of BTC, Blockstream’s $210 million Series B funding round and Substack’s implementation of bitcoin as a payment option using the Lightning Network. Who’s next?  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

Late Sunday evening, bitcoin pushed above $50,000 for the first time in three months. Overall BTC is up 46% in the last 30 days. NLW explores arguments that this move has been spot driven and connected to institutions and whales. He also looks at the potential implications of the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole meeting later this week.  In the second part of the show, he looks at the news that has Crypto Twitter on fire: Visa bought a CryptoPunk. The purchase, executed for around $150,000, is being maligned by some as a marketing stunt, while others see it as heralding a new era of institutional purchases of non-fungible tokens. NLW looks at both sides and ultimately argues that neither is exactly correct. Instead, it seems to be about inserting Visa’s business into a new digital market.  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images Entertainment, modified by CoinDesk.

This week, “Long Reads Sunday” returns to its Twitter roots with a reading of two threads from crypto VCs. The first comes from Andreessen Horowitz’ Chris Dixon and the second from Kyle Samani of Multicoin. Together, they paint a picture of the emerging landscape of experiments around non-fungible tokens, creator coins, the metaverse and discuss the idea of time scarcity as a key determinant of value.  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: PM Images/DigitalVision/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

On this edition of “The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at: News that Brian Brooks left Binance.US after a fundraise proved unsuccessful  Why Coinbase is investing $500B in crypto  The Fed’s discussion of stablecoins at last month’s FOMC meeting  Which nations rank atop Chainalysis’ new adoption index  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

The tyranny of payment processors as moral barometers strikes again. On Thursday, Axios revealed that OnlyFans was struggling to raise money from outside investors despite being on track to make more than a billion dollars this year. Later in the afternoon, OnlyFans announced it is eliminating sexually explicit content from its platform.  The internet was agog, given that OnlyFans’s success is almost entirely based on sexually explicit content. In this episode, NLW explores the variety of things going on behind the scenes, connects the dots to Chase Bank’s shutdown of Compass Mining’s accounts and argues that payment processors shouldn’t be in charge of societal decisions about what free people are allowed to do.  Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

First, on the Brief: Banks and bitcoin  Coinbase’s cash reserves Brian Quintenz’s CFTC departure   In the main discussion, NLW addresses decentralized finance’s (DeFi) place in regulations as crypto continues to be on the minds of policymakers. Contention across U.S. regulatory bodies remains as the Federal Reserve’s concern with stablecoins, the Treasury Dept. with the infrastructure bill and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Gary Gensler attempting to create the broadest reach on crypto regulations his organization can manage. In The Wall Street Journal’s recent interview with Gary Gensler, the SEC chair claimed a particular focus on DeFi. He stated that core software developers, promoters and sponsors would be centralizing factors, calling the term DeFi a “misnomer.” How will DeFi’s future unfold as it becomes increasingly important for both investors and regulators? Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: Feodora Chiosea/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by CoinDesk.

On this episode of “The Breakdown:” Corporate dips into decentralized media, starting with Twitter and TikTok Regulatory difficulties continue for Binance Crypto on the minds of Congress and the SEC Big corporations have been seeing crypto not just as a hype machine, but as a technological update opportunity. Twitter, for example, has found a new lead for its decentralized social media group Bluesky. TikTok has similarly dipped into decentralized media as it struck a deal with decentralized music app Audius. Which platforms will take on crypto next? Binance continues to come under regulatory scrutiny with the Netherlands as the latest country to issue a warning to the company. Even after CEO Brian Brooks left the company citing “differences in strategic direction,” Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao claims to continue to search for regulatory-minded people to join the company’s ranks. Regulatory focus continues in the U.S. as well, with members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Congress hosting opposing opinions on how to regulate crypto. The disagreements continued this week, including a statement from the Fed’s Neel Kashkari bashing crypto and a letter from two congressmen requesting clarity from the SEC and CFTC. Will U.S. authorities ultimately come to an agreement on the best path forward? Enjoying this content?   SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=   Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Tidal Wave” by BRASKO. Image credit: Cole Burston/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.