The Breakdown

There is a shared sense that the world has shifted. Now begins the messy work of figuring out what it means for the future we’re headed into.  This live episode of The Breakdown podcast with NLW features four conversations about how the future is shifting before our very eyes.  How We Game and Entertain Now - featuring Kathleen Breitman, co-founder of Tezos and founder of blockchain game studio Coase How We Identity Now - featuring Muneeb Ali, CEO of Blockstack  How We Bank Now - featuring Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Avanti Financial Group  How We Event Now - featuring CoinDesk’s Joon Ian Wong

Jones' letter lays out his bitcoin and macro thesis.  Last week, investing legend Paul Tudor Jones rocked the world of crypto and traditional markets with his full throated entrance into the bitcoin market via his latest letter to Tudor BVI investors.  While the headlines (and the quick price bump on the back of FOMO buying) were great, the story is even more interesting than the soundbyte.  In this episode, NLW breaks down Paul Tudor Jones complete case for bitcoin, looking at:    The context and previous attitudes towards bitcoin of both authors of the letter The “Great Monetary Inflation” thesis driving a focus on stores of value How money supply growth compared to real economic output growth hasn’t been this out of sync since inflationary periods in the 1970s and 1980s The “Inflation Race” - a list of 8 potential inflation hedges The four categories by which a store of value can be judged: purchasing power, trustworthiness, liquidity, portability A ranked look at bitcoin, gold, fiat, and financial assets in the context of those four categories. 

The week's complete show run in one convenient file.  Monday | Why Buffett’s Bearishness Should End V-Shaped Recovery Talk Tuesday | Why Crypto Matters for Financial Inclusion, Feat. Celo's Marek Olszewski Wednesday | Surveying the Carnage: How Real Estate, Travel and Music Are Faring During the Crisis Thursday | 9 Reasons Why Bitcoin Has Never Been Stronger Going Into A Halving Friday | The Rise Of The Dollar Killers, Feat. Niall Ferguson & More [Money Reimagined - Part 2]

Libra, the Euro, China's DCEP.  Do any of these currencies have a chance at displacing the dollar in the global order? Or is it possible - as Niall Ferguson suggestions on this episode - that we're poised to shift back to a multipollar, multi-currency world? The second in our four-part documentary micro-series on the battle for the future of money.  Also featuring Michael Casey, Matthew Graham, Katherine Wu, Peter Zeihan, Luke Gromen and more.  Music by DJ J-Scrilla "Faith In My Money (Money Printer Go Brrr)" from the new “Sound Money” album.    

The bitcoin halving is just a few days away and the growing excitement is palpable. On this episode of The Breakdown, NLW argues that the excitement is also legitimate, and looks at nine reasons why bitcoin has never been stronger going into one of its every-four-year issuance reductions: Price Hash rate Mining competition Accessibility and Services  Infrastructure Institutional awareness and participation Narrative relevance Perceived and real resilience  Lindy effects  Oh, and let’s not forget. Paul Tudor Jones just disclosed that he is invested in bitcoin and sees it as a hedge against ‘great monetary inflation’

The second order effects of the COVID-19 crisis are here, and they’re painful. In this episode, NLW looks at how COVID is impacting three industries: Travel and tourism 100m lost jobs expected globally  $2.7 in lost GDP  Airbnb lays of 25% of employees  Music & Concerts From a record $12.2B concert year to a loss of $9B Expectations of concert prohibition lasting up to two years Industry organizing to be included in relief  Real Estate Commercial real estate expecting 2.5% default rate for 5+ years  Negotiations around sales-based payment instead of traditional rent  Residential sees cratering demand but home prices remain up year over year

Around the world, an estimated 1.7 billion people remain unbanked and lacking access to high quality financial services.  Some projects see cryptocurrency as an answer. In this episode of The Breakdown, NLW speaks with Celo co-founder Marek Olszewski about: How Celo was designed differently to address financial inclusion as a primary use case  The problems with centralized approaches to mobile money like m-pesa  Why true financial inclusions solutions must be permissionless  Why technology design isn’t enough and projects that seek to gain adoption require ground up go to market strategies The impact of Libra’s launch on the “bank the unbanked” narrative  How the COVID-19 crisis has changed the narrative around and demand for stabelcoins globally

One month after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Warren Buffett wrote an Op-Ed saying that he was buying stocks. Yet during the Coronavirus crisis, he is sitting firmly on the sidelines.  On Saturday night, the “Oracle of Omaha” spoke for 4.5 hours in the first ever virtual version of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting - an event which some have called the “Woodstock of Capitalism.” On this episode, NLW examines some of the key topics of the presentation, including:  Why Berkshire sold their entire $6.5B stake in the airline industry Why they were sitting on $137B in cash  Why they haven’t made any investments  How the Fed gave companies better terms than they were willing to It was hard not to watch the presentation and conclude that Buffett feels that there are simply too many unknowns in the world going forward to feel comfortable doing much in the market right now. 

The week's episodes in one long run.  Monday | Bitcoin vs. QE Infinity: The 4 Archetypes Of The Halving Debate Tuesday | The Mass Surveillance Machine, Feat. Maya Zehavi Wednesday | When Currencies Fail: A Primer on the Crisis in Lebanon Thursday | From Corrupt To Broken: An Insider’s Analysis Of The Fed, feat. Danielle DiMartino Booth Friday | Why The Dollar Has Never Been Stronger Or More Set Up To Fail [Money Reimagined Pt. 1]

The first of a 4-part docu-style series on the battle for the future of money. In this first episode of Money Reimagined, we look at: Why US markets took so long to react How the stock market became a political utility Why, even before the crisis, “increasingly exotic forms of quantitative easing” were inevitable Why the bailouts have some investors accusing our entire market of being cronyism rather than capitalism  What unlimited money printing means for the US dollar.  Featuring insight from Matthew Graham, Caitlin Long, Scott Melker, Kevin Kelly, Ben Hunt, Luke Gromen, Travis Kling, Mark Yusko, Anthony Pompliano, Jared Dillian, Dave Portnoy, Michael Casey, Preston Pysh, Peter Zeihan Music by DJ J-Scrilla "Faith In My Money (Money Printer Go Brrr)" from the “Sound Money” album.