The Breakdown

Bonds. Dollars. Bitcoin. Gold. That's what some are saying pay attention to at the beginning of a global currency crisis? On this week's LRS Top 5, we also look at: news from Binance US about its listing criteria and prospective token listings; KIK's aggressive response to the SEC lawsuit; Trump Administration proposals to police social media for censorship, and more. Produced in partnership with BlockTV.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Travis Kling joins for today's 3@3 to explore how bitcoin might move from a risk asset to a safe haven. This isn't just about narrative, it's about how bets from one group trigger another group, which confirms models, and so on, creating a self fulfilling prophecy. You don't want to miss this. Also today, we look at Binance US's new asset listing framework and 30 prospects. And we ask that all important question: does crypto need a reality TV show?  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

You've heard of the PayPal Mafia, but what about the Magic the Gathering Mafia? Both SkyWeaver and Gods Unchained have serious ex-Wizards of the Coast talent in their ranks. Does this mean blockchain gaming can succeed? Also in the realm of mass adoption, Robinhood was just approved to bring its stock and crypto-buying experience to the UK. Finally, Messari takes a critical look at the FUD from earlier this week that North Korea had hacked $2B from exchanges and financial institutions.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

Katherine Wu joins us as a guest to discuss her full annotation of the 117 page clap back from KIK against the SEC. What's bluster? What's business as usual for lawsuits like this? What are the actual implications for the rest of the industry? We also discuss the Binance KYC hack - what's real, what's FUD, and what we still don't know. Finally, we look at Ryan Zurrer (ex-Polychain, Web3) and his new DAO. Combined with Moloch, Metacartel and Aragon, is 2019 the year of the DAO?  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

First Trump threatened tariffs. Then China devalued the Yuan. Then Trump declared China to be currency manipulators. Then stonks went down while orange coin went up. Then everyone asked: "is Bitcoin the new safe haven asset?" For the last two days, this has been the conversation. It is a culmination of months of convergence between the Bitcoin hedge narrative and the global macro paradigm shift narrative. This special edition of 3@3 goes deep on what happened and why it matters.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

A key theme from last week's Senate Banking Committee hearing was the sense that, like it or not, cryptocurrency was an inevitable force. On this top 5 summary of Long Reads Sunday, we look at that plus how the global macro narrative is converging with Bitcoin, why the internet hasn't evolved in a way that is free and open (and how that could change) and why digital privacy is the political issue of our time.  Watch: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The Q2 crypto data reports are in, so on this special edition we’re breaking down the most interesting trends. We cover: asset performance; network activity in Bitcoin and Ethereum; the “non-correlated” narrative in Bitcoin and BTC’s relative narrative strength; the state of dapps and DeFi; IEO and exchange token performance; the impact of regulatory action; the decline of VC activity; the rise of competitive smart contract platforms; and finally end on a new emerging narrative: halving skepticism! Thanks to CoinMetrics, Circle Research and Delphi Digital for all their great work.    Video: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

It was the two year anniversary of UASF (and the BCH chain split from BTC), which marked a significant moment in the history of Bitcoin. In short, the culmination of the block size war demonstrated the relative power of the distributed network of individuals running nodes over huge mining and exchange interests. In this 3@3, we look at that, as well as a new struggle around dev funding in Zcash as well as some recent examples of crypto in the wild.  Note: the video clip is from Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser's To The Moon, and features Vortex.  Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

The Fed cut interest rates today for the first time in Bitcoin's life. This move is interesting directly because lower rates lead to more money in the markets. It's interesting symbolically as it represents a major narrative evolution where financial markets are actively discussing Bitcoin and not the other way around. We also look at IEO performance a few months into the phenomenon and do a quick roundup of funding and M&A action - it's all infrastructure and base layer protocols.  Watch the original at https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto

In their second hearing in 2 weeks, the Senate Banking Committee invited 3 panelists to discuss the current state of and recommendations for crypto and digital asset regulation. In this recap, I look at three key points: 1) the shadow of Libra and Big Tech; 2) calling BS on "bank the unbanked"; 3) the sense of inevitability.  Watch the video version: https://www.youtube.com/nathanielwhittemorecrypto