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Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt are joined by Vasil Dimov to discuss Newsletter #409.News● Draft BIP for testnet5 (0:31) Releases and release candidates● LND 0.21.0-beta (17:25) ● Core Lightning 26.06.1 (20:19) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #35410 (21:28) ● Bitcoin Core #34779 (38:00) ● Bitcoin Core #32150 (41:36) ● LDK #4647 (45:14) ● BTCPay Server #7218 (51:34) ● BIPs #2186 (53:07)
Steve Sosnick on the ratchet effect in equities, the AI bandwidth parallel, Kevin Warsh's impossible first week, and why crypto is the unsexy trade right now. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Equities are near all-time highs, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge just hit a multi-year peak, Iran ceasefire talks are producing a familiar ratchet effect in markets, and Bitcoin is quietly underperforming tech stocks on a nine-month volatility low. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, joins Steve Ehrlich to map what's actually driving these unique market dynamics. They cover the two vulnerabilities that could change things, the uncomfortable parallel between today's AI capex and the 1999 bandwidth buildout, what $120 billion in money market inflows says about where retail cash is actually sitting, the challenge Kevin Warsh faces walking into an already-skeptical FOMC, and why crypto is currently losing the competition for momentum-chasing money to AI stocks, upcoming IPOs, and even a memory chip ETF. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guest: Steve Sosnick — Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Steve Sosnick on the ratchet effect in equities, the AI bandwidth parallel, Kevin Warsh's impossible first week, and why crypto is the unsexy trade right now. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Equities are near all-time highs, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge just hit a multi-year peak, Iran ceasefire talks are producing a familiar ratchet effect in markets, and Bitcoin is quietly underperforming tech stocks on a nine-month volatility low. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, joins Steve Ehrlich to map what's actually driving these unique market dynamics. They cover the two vulnerabilities that could change things, the uncomfortable parallel between today's AI capex and the 1999 bandwidth buildout, what $120 billion in money market inflows says about where retail cash is actually sitting, the challenge Kevin Warsh faces walking into an already-skeptical FOMC, and why crypto is currently losing the competition for momentum-chasing money to AI stocks, upcoming IPOs, and even a memory chip ETF. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guest: Sam Enzer - Partner and CahillNXT Co-Chair at Cahill Gordon & Reindel Timestamps
Strategy sold BTC. Can its preferred dividend stack survive without Bitcoin growing at least 11.5% year? Plus, they cover Jamie Dimon calling Brian Armstrong “full of shit.” --- Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022 — 32 BTC to cover preferred stock dividends. Ram, Austin, and Chris discuss whether that small sale signals a deeper structural tension between equity holders, preferred holders, and Bitcoin itself. They also covered the news that Anthropic filed for an IPO at a valuation approaching $1 trillion. The hosts lay out the bull and bear cases and ask whether retail investors can realistically get a 10x out of a company already priced like a finished product. Unpacking a spicier moment, they also discussed the moment when JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon called Coinbase's Brian Armstrong “full of shit” on live TV over the Clarity Act. Ram says crypto's window of peak political power is closing fast, while Austin gives crypto lobbyists a great idea for how to turn the banks' stablecoin yield crusade against them. Hosts: Austin Campbell — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt are joined by Chandra Pratap to discuss Newsletter #407.News● Core Lightning assertion DoS disclosure (0:47) ● Bitcoin Core developer meeting transcripts (14:34) Releases and release candidates● Eclair v0.14.0 (20:30) ● Core Lightning 26.06rc2 (23:01) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #33966 (24:14) ● Bitcoin Core #34917 (28:04) ● Bitcoin Core #35017 (30:52) ● BIPs #1944 (35:25) ● BIPs #2108 (36:14) ● Eclair #3192 (39:28) ● LDK #4584 (40:28) ● LDK #4628 (41:27) ● LND #10552 (43:35) ● LND #10820 (48:52)
Strategy sold BTC. Can its preferred dividend stack survive without Bitcoin growing at least 11.5% year? Plus, they cover Jamie Dimon calling Brian Armstrong “full of shit.” --- Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022 — 32 BTC to cover preferred stock dividends. Ram, Austin, and Chris discuss whether that small sale signals a deeper structural tension between equity holders, preferred holders, and Bitcoin itself. They also covered the news that Anthropic filed for an IPO at a valuation approaching $1 trillion. The hosts lay out the bull and bear cases and ask whether retail investors can realistically get a 10x out of a company already priced like a finished product. Unpacking a spicier moment, they also discussed the moment when JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon called Coinbase's Brian Armstrong “full of shit” on live TV over the Clarity Act. Ram says crypto's window of peak political power is closing fast, while Austin gives crypto lobbyists a great idea for how to turn the banks' stablecoin yield crusade against them. Hosts: Austin Campbell — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Timestamps
Citadel and SIFMA lobbied to slow tokenized equity rules. Arjun Sethi calls it 'corporate plumbing.' Chris Perkins calls it a bond future moment. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Kraken has spent $2.75 billion on acquisitions in the past year, and co-CEO Arjun Sethi says the point is not a bigger exchange. The goal is a 24/7 global operating system for capital markets: spot, derivatives, payments, tokenized equities, and custody under one regulatory stack. Sethi makes the case for each move, from REAP's tripling revenue in emerging markets to Bitnomial's CFTC trifecta, and says what will actually drive Kraken's next three years is not trading volume. The conversation then turns to the SEC's paused innovation exemption for tokenized equities, why Citadel and SIFMA showed up to lobby against it, and whether direct listings on crypto rails could eventually replace Wall Street's IPO machine. The episode closes on a question nobody saw coming: what Pope Leo's first encyclical on AI and finance has to do with the Bitcoin white paper. Hosts: Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Guest: Arjun Sethi - Co-CEO of Kraken / Payward and Chairman of Tribe Capital Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Citadel and SIFMA lobbied to slow tokenized equity rules. Arjun Sethi calls it 'corporate plumbing.' Chris Perkins calls it a bond future moment. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Kraken has spent $2.75 billion on acquisitions in the past year, and co-CEO Arjun Sethi says the point is not a bigger exchange. The goal is a 24/7 global operating system for capital markets: spot, derivatives, payments, tokenized equities, and custody under one regulatory stack. Sethi makes the case for each move, from REAP's tripling revenue in emerging markets to Bitnomial's CFTC trifecta, and says what will actually drive Kraken's next three years is not trading volume. The conversation then turns to the SEC's paused innovation exemption for tokenized equities, why Citadel and SIFMA showed up to lobby against it, and whether direct listings on crypto rails could eventually replace Wall Street's IPO machine. The episode closes on a question nobody saw coming: what Pope Leo's first encyclical on AI and finance has to do with the Bitcoin white paper. Hosts: Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Guest: Arjun Sethi - Co-CEO of Kraken / Payward and Chairman of Tribe Capital Timestamps
Kevin Warsh wants a smaller Fed balance sheet and fewer dot plots. Noelle Acheson says the bond market won't let him have either. Here's what she expects instead. --- Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Bond yields are climbing globally while stock markets push higher on AI optimism — and Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, argues the divergence is not a contradiction but a warning. In her read, inflation was building before the Hormuz crisis, the BLISS trade has permanently replaced the TACO trade as the structural put under markets, and Kevin Warsh is walking into a Fed that the bond market controls more than he does. She also flags a contrarian indicator nobody is talking about: the gap between the cap-weighted S&P 500 and the equal-weight index is widening at a pace last seen in 1999. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview - https://x.com/Steven_Ehrlich Guest: Noelle Acheson | Author, Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Mike Schmidt are joined by Fabian Jahr to discuss Newsletter #405.News● Bitcoin Core script interpreter remote crash disclosure (22:00) ● BIP proposal for UTXO set sharing over P2P network (0:42) Releases and release candidates● Core Lightning 26.06rc1 (34:58) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #35209 (36:44) ● BIPs #2116 (38:20) ● BIPs #2141 (44:13) ● Core Lightning #9116 (48:35) ● Core Lightning #9110 (50:27) ● LDK #4598 (52:10) ● LDK #4528 (53:30) ● LND #10612 (54:37) ● BTCPay Server #7354 (57:12) ● BDK #2195 (58:10) ● Bitcoin Inquisition #100 (1:00:00) ● BINANAs #20 (1:02:42)
USDC became Hyperliquid's stablecoin infrastructure, and the 30-year broke 5% for the first time since 2008. Austin, Ram, Chris, and Gordon Liao of Circle work through who wins. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Coinbase and Circle have moved into Hyperliquid, installing USDC as its aligned quote asset and taking over treasury and technical deployment. For Gordon Liao, Circle's Chief Economist and Head of Research, that is a liquidity supernova. For Chris Perkins, it is the moment every TVL-trapping platform was always going to arrive at. Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act has cleared the Senate Banking Committee on a bipartisan vote, but the ethics question — whether Democrats will vote for a bill that leaves Trump's family holdings untouched — remains unresolved. And as Kevin Warsh is confirmed as Fed chair, the 30-year yield breaks 5% for the first time since 2008. Hosts: Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Guest: Gordon Liao | Master of Coin, Circle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The repo market is $16 trillion globally and most people have never heard of it — until the plumbing breaks. Craig Burchell of FalconX and Matteo Pandolfi of Pareto explain how it works and why bringing it on-chain is the next big unlock for DeFi. --- Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- The repo market is $16 trillion globally and it is, as Craig Burchell puts it, the oil that makes everything go. It is also almost entirely absent from on-chain finance — and that gap is creating real problems for RWA liquidity, stablecoin swap desks, and DeFi protocols trying to manage redemption queues. Steve Ehrlich sits down with Craig Burchell, head of lending at FalconX, and Matteo Pandolfi, CEO of on-chain credit infrastructure provider Pareto, to map exactly how repo works, what broke in 2019, why it translates extremely well into onchain finance. Matteo puts a $1 trillion figure on where on-chain repo gets in five years. Craig gives you one reason it gets there and one very honest reason it might not. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview - https://x.com/Steven_Ehrlich Guest: Craig Burchell — Head of Lending, FalconX; previously Head of Lending at Membrane Finance. @_CraigBirchall Matteo Pandolfi — CEO & Co-Founder, Pareto (on-chain credit infrastructure). @pan_teo_ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ram says the entire market is now one giant AI trade. Chris argues the boom is backed by real fundamentals. Austin asks: is AI creating value for the right companies? --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained. Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Circle just made history as the first publicly traded company to run a token presale, raising $222 million from BlackRock, Apollo, ICE, and a16z at a $3 billion valuation — and the stock went up. At the same time, Coinbase reported a $394 million loss, cut 700 jobs, and suffered a five-hour outage. Ram, Austin, and Chris work through what's really happening: whether Circle's Arc is the institutional payment rail the industry has been waiting for or a financial engineering play, whether Coinbase's troubles are cyclical or structural, and whether the AI-driven market rally is a bubble forming or a fundamental shift that makes the dotcom comparison wrong. Hosts: Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt are joined by Daniela Brozzoni, Naiyoma, and Thomas Voegtlin to discuss Newsletter #404.News● Possible solutions to node fingerprinting (1:14) ● Public fraud proof for just-in-time channels (19:21) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #33796 (37:11) ● Bitcoin Core #21283 (39:30)● BIPs #2150 (45:30) ● Eclair #3144 (52:30) ● Eclair #2887 (54:00) ● LDK #4592 (55:27) ● LND #9153 (56:52) ● Rust Bitcoin #5835 (58:02) ● BOLTs #995 (58:56) ● BOLTs #1228 (1:01:40) ● BOLTs #1327 (1:03:28)
Missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent jumps 5%. Bitcoin breaks through $80. The Bits + Bips crew reads the geopolitical tape — and explains why crypto is shrugging it off. --- Thank you to our sponsor! Coinbase One — coinbase.com/unchained Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- Iranian cruise missiles struck commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Brent jumped 5%, and Bitcoin broke through $80 — all in the same day. The Bits + Bips crew unpacks what the escalation means for crypto and macro positioning, why Ram stays bullish, and whether Paul Tudor Jones is right that Bitcoin is now the best inflation hedge. They also break down the Clarity Act's yield compromise — with Circle up 16% — and why Austin argues banks may have handed asset managers a structural win. Finally, a U.S. court filing targeting Arbitrum's frozen North Korean funds raises a bigger question: can you serve legal papers on code, and what does that mean for DAO governance? Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins break it all down. Hosts: Austin Campbell (@austincampbell) — Founder, Zero Knowledge Consulting; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gustavo Flores Echaiz and Brandon Black are joined by Olaoluwa Osuntokun to discuss Newsletter #403.News● Binary fuse filters as an alternative to BIP158's GCS (19:05) Changing consensus● Post-quantum HD wallets with fallback SPHINCS keys (31:07) ● Discussion of a post-quantum output type (34:42) ● Proposal to embed post-quantum keys in tapscript without consensus changes (38:03) ● BIP54 demonstration of slow blocks on signet (43:28) ● Post-quantum BIP86 recovery using zk-STARK proofs of BIP32 seeds (1:05) Releases and release candidates● Core Lightning 26.04.1 (48:16) ● BTCPay Server 2.3.8 (50:15) ● BTCPay Server 2.3.9 (51:52) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #33671 (52:39) ● Bitcoin Core #34885 (58:01) ● Bitcoin Core #33920 (59:57) ● Bitcoin Core #34911 (1:02:00) ● BIPs #1548 (1:04:47) ● HWI #831 (1:08:17) ● BDK #2188 (1:09:11) ● BDK #2115 (1:10:14)
A prediction market trades on outcomes. An information market trades on knowledge. Fielding makes the case for the latter. --- Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips, since the show will migrate there in a few weeks. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. ---- What if the biggest constraint on AI is not compute or data, but trust? Ben Fielding, CEO and co-founder of Gensys, spent years as a machine learning researcher before concluding that decentralized hardware was the only path to true scale, and that blockchain was the only technology that could make machines trust each other without human intermediaries. With the launch of Delphi, Gensys's onchain information market built on an OP stack L2, Fielding puts his theory to the test while making the case that prediction markets have been asking the wrong question all along, and that the long tail of markets no one has thought to create yet is where the real opportunity lies. Host: Steve Ehrlich, Head of Research at SharpLink and Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview - https://x.com/Steven_Ehrlich Guest: Ben Fielding, CEO & Co-Founder, Gensys @BenFielding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Gustavo Flores Echaiz are joined by Toby Sharp to discuss Newsletter #402.News● Hornet Node's declarative executable specification of Bitcoin consensus rules (1:02) ● Onion message jamming in the Lightning Network (23:22) Selected Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange● Why did BIP342 replace CHECKMULTISIG with a new opcode, instead of just removing FindAndDelete from it? (40:58) ● Does SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT commit to the tapleaf hash or the full taproot merkle path? (43:28) ● What does the BIP86 tweak guarantee in a MuSig2 Lightning channel, beyond address format? (45:23) Releases and release candidates● Bitcoin Core 31.0 (47:10) ● Core Lightning 26.04 (54:26) ● LND 0.21.0-beta.rc1 (56:35) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #33477 (57:55) ● Bitcoin Core #35006 (1:02:21) ● BIPs #1895 (1:04:31) ● BIPs #2142 (1:12:47) ● LDK #4555 (1:14:28) ● LND #10713 (1:16:23) ● LND #10754 (1:18:14)
Luke Leasure and Shaunda Devens of Blockworks Research explain how three compounding failures, Kelp's one-of-one bridge signer, Layer Zero's permissive default settings, and Aave's failure to flag it as a collateral risk, set up the conditions for the exploit. Shaunda Devens then breaks down the monolithic pool design that concentrated risk, showing how 98% of rsETH collateral was backing a single leverage looping strategy. This clip is from a longer conversation on the Kelp rsETH hack and its implications for DeFi. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/hJ9X_btsvD0 We go live every Thursday at 12:00 PM ET — subscribe to catch it live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt are joined by Remix7531 and Luis Schwab to discuss Newsletter #401.News● Discussion of using nested MuSig2 in the Lightning Network (34:05) ● Formal verification of secp256k1 modular scalar multiplication (01:10) Changes to services and client software● Coldcard 6.5.0 adds MuSig2 and miniscript (40:56) ● Frigate 1.4.0 released (41:46) ● Bitcoin Backbone updates (47:10) ● Utreexod 0.5 released (16:18) ● Floresta 0.9.0 released (19:41) Releases and release candidates● Bitcoin Core 31.0rc4 (48:01) ● Core Lightning 26.04rc3 (49:00) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #34401 (50:01) ● Bitcoin Core #35032 (51:51) ● Core Lightning #9021 (55:33) ● Core Lightning #9046 (56:53) ● LDK #4515 (58:25) ● LDK #4558 (59:51) ● LND #9985 (1:01:53) ● BTCPay Server #7250 (1:04:07) ● BIPs #2089 (1:07:28)
Bitcoin's spot-led rally looks healthy on the surface. But derivatives say conviction is thin. Josh Lim from FalconX on what the market structure is actually telling you right now. --- Thank you to our sponsors! MultiChain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create $50B+ in enterprise value for 80+ clients over the past 4 years. They're the partner to help navigate markets. Build real traction today at multichainadv.com As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained. --- Bitcoin is trading near $75,000, but the market structure around it tells a more complicated story. Implied volatility has collapsed to sub-50, funding rates are negative, and the options market is dominated by sellers, not buyers. Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners are liquidating holdings to fund the transition to high-performance compute, generating a persistent offer just as breakeven retail holders look for an exit. FalconX Global Co-Head of Markets Josh Lim joins Steve Ehrlich to map exactly what is keeping Bitcoin range-bound, where the rotation into ETH and alts is actually coming from, and what signals in derivatives and on-chain data would indicate the market is ready to move. They also get into whether the Clarity Act changes the long-term structure of the altcoin market, how Hyperliquid is being used for institutional RWA arbitrage, and what the quantum threat means not for cryptography, but for trading Bitcoin. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: Josh Lim — Global Co-Head of Markets, FalconX. Repeat guest; previously covered market structure and institutional crypto flows on Bits + Bips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The US Naval blockade is live, markets are holding, and Ram thinks the bottom is in. Austin and Chris are not so sure. --- Thank you to our sponsors: Citrea As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD. You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security. Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained. Etherfi Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card! Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. Nexo Nexo is a premier digital wealth platform offering: ● crypto yield up to 15% (based on stated annual interest rates) ● crypto-backed credit lines from 1.9% ● a wide range of digital assets. Join today and get 30-day access to exclusive rates. Join Nexo. ---- The day the US Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went live, peace talks had just collapsed in Islamabad and markets were holding. Ram, Austin, and Chris work through the tactical logic behind CENTCOM's move, why regional powers are standing down, and how long Iran can sustain the economic pressure. Then: Anthropic previewed a model called Mythos, cybersecurity stocks fell, and the question of whether AI security risk is real or manufactured now has real money behind it. Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial borrowed $75 million against its own governance token on a platform co-founded by its own advisor, Justin Sun is accusing the team of treating investors as a personal ATM, and the stablecoin bill clock is ticking. Which sectors are most dislocated? What would it take to bring the next wave of investors into crypto? And is this actually a market bottom? Hosts: Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why ETH outperformed Bitcoin this past week, what's really behind the prediction market activity during the Iran situation, and what comes next for institutional crypto adoption. --- Thank you to our sponsors! Ether.fi — 15% cash back on food and rideshare apps, 3% on everything else, borrow at 4% or less Citrea — Trust minimized BTC, native stablecoin CT-USD, Bitcoin capital markets --- A tenuous Iran ceasefire sent oil prices tumbling this past week, and crypto responded before any other asset class. Bitcoin climbed to around $72K, Ethereum outperformed with 6.7 to 7% gains in 48 hours, and billions poured back into ETFs after months of withdrawals. But amid the rally, uncomfortable questions are surfacing: who profited from suspicious prediction market bets placed just before the ceasefire announcement? Are Middle Eastern governments and corporations now using Bitcoin as actual settlement infrastructure? And if the Clarity Act passes without allowing yield-bearing stablecoins, has the banking lobby won? Kavita Gupta, founder and general partner at Delta Blockchain Fund, sits down with Steven Ehrlich to work through a week of whipsawing markets, fragile geopolitics, and structural shifts that could define where crypto goes from here. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: Kavita Gupta, Founder & General Partner at Delta Blockchain Fund Links: Ceasefire, Markets & Institutional Flows: Crypto Markets Rebound After Iran-Israel Ceasefire Deal (Unchained) Bitcoin ETFs Record $5 Billion in Daily Volume as Inflows Top $870 Million (Unchained) Crypto Adoption in MENA 2025: Crisis, Adaptation, and Growth (Chainalysis) Prediction Markets & Insider Trading: DEX in the City: Why Prediction Market 'Insider Trading' Isn't Illegal — Yet (Unchained) DEX in the City: How Prediction Markets Pose a National Security Risk (Unchained) Trading Volumes on Prediction Markets Will Drop After the November Election. Will New Market Entrants Still Attract Users? (Unchained) DOJ and CFTC Drop Investigations Into Polymarket: Report (Unchained) Clarity Act & Stablecoin Regulation: Bessent Presses Senate on Clarity Act, Labels Resistant Crypto Leaders 'Nihilists' (Unchained) Circle Stock Plunges 20% as Clarity Act Draft Threatens Stablecoin Yield (Unchained) Treasury Secretary Bessent Presses Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (The Hill) Bessent Ramps Up Pressure on Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (CoinTelegraph) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt are joined by Julian Moik to discuss Newsletter #400.Bitcoin Core PR Review Club● Testing Bitcoin Core 31.0 Release Candidates (29:00) Notable code and documentation changes● Bitcoin Core #33908 (31:56) ● Eclair #3283 (37:06) ● LDK #4529 (38:12) ● LDK #4494 (39:55) ● LND #10666 (45:31) ● BIPs #2099 (46:40) ● BIPs #2118 (1:15) ● BIPs #2134 (51:08)
Is Adam Back Satoshi Nakamoto? The New York Times thinks so.FEATURING:Ben Arc (https://x.com/arcbtc)Daniel Cawrey (https://x.com/danielcawrey)Jesse Cervantes (https://x.com/dr_orangepill)Christian Rootzol (https://x.com/rootzol)Thomas Hunt (https://www.twitter.com/madbitcoins)THIS WEEK:My Quest to Solve Bitcoin's Great Mysteryhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/business/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto-identity-adam-back.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.5_s8.hTKeCkV97kow&smid=tw-shareSource: New York TimesI'm not satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list which led to hashcash and other ideas.https://twitter.com/adam3us/status/2041811857732768148?s=46Source: Twitter | @adam3usWCN Spotlight - Adam Backhttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPj3KCksGbSY48tVhe2OFKe2gRdm3Do87&si=-gVVCztm7TYBegrpSource: Youtube | World Crypto NetworkIran Wants Bitcoin Payments From Oil Ships Seeking Hormuz Passage: FThttps://decrypt.co/363641/iran-bitcoin-payments-oil-ships-seeking-hormuz-passageSource: DecryptNew Proposal Claims Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Without a Forkhttps://thequantuminsider.com/2026/04/10/quantum-safe-bitcoin-fork/Source: The Quantum InsiderADAM BACK: “Blockstream has 20 person applied cryptography/security team working on the quantum issue basically full time, you can see that from the pace of R&D output, implementations, BIPs. https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom/status/2039851495915405654?s=46Source: Twitter | @bitcoinnewscomBitcoin Surges Past $72,000 as U.S. Inflation Misses Wall Street Forecastshttps://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/bitcoin-surges-past-72-000-124037943.htmlSource: YahooBitcoin (BTC) Surges Past $72K Following Netanyahu's Lebanon Ceasefire Announcementhttps://blockonomi.com/bitcoin-btc-surges-past-72k-following-netanyahus-lebanon-ceasefire-announcement/Source: Block Onomi
A nation state hacked a startup and won. The hosts debate who's liable, what's fixable, and what isn't. --- Thank you to our sponsors: Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea, launched its mainnet, expanding Bitcoin's utility to privacy, lending, BTC yields, and more. Citrea enables: cBTC: The first trust-minimized Bitcoin on a fully programmable platform. ctUSD: A native stablecoin for Bitcoin, allowing for unified liquidity. Bitcoin Capital Markets bringing demand, and utility to the Bitcoin Network. Explore the Citrea Ecosystem. Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card!Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. ---- North Korea just pulled off the largest DeFi hack of 2026, draining $285 million from Drift protocol in 12 minutes through a six-month social engineering campaign that included face-to-face meetings at industry conferences. Circle had a six-hour window to freeze $232 million in USDC moving through its own bridge and didn't act. Meanwhile, Iran's IRGC is reportedly collecting crypto tolls at the Strait of Hormuz in USDT via Tron, and the token market is cracking under the weight of 750,000 issuances since 2020 with the median token down 80% from peak. Ram, Austin, and Chris confront the liability question for stablecoin issuers, whether DeFi's security model can survive nation-state attackers, why Chris is calling for licensed "neoprivateers" to recover stolen funds, and what Franklin Templeton's acquisition of 250 Digital signals about where institutional capital is headed. Hosts: Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, President of CoinFund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When do oil prices force a ceasefire? Why is crypto holding firm while equities crack? And does Canton or Ethereum win the institutional race? --- Thank you to our sponsor: Nexo — the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your digital assets, borrow against them without selling, and trade a wide range of cryptocurrencies all in one place. Now available in the US with 30 days of exclusive privileges for new clients. Get started at nexo.com/unchained. ---- Bond market tightening has become the invisible hand constraining every policy decision, from Iran talks to stimulus spending. With Brent crude at $107 and the 10-year yield climbing, asset prices face a cascade of headwinds: inflationary supply shocks, tightening financial conditions, and no clear off-ramp for a conflict that the IRGC shows no appetite to negotiate. Yet within crypto, a sharper debate is emerging: does institutional adoption demand Canton's permissioned structure, or can Ethereum survive with real-world assets on a permissionless layer? Austin, Ram, and Chris dig into the structural fault lines that the macro backdrop is now exposing, and why market-timing in a conflict where you don't know who the endgame negotiator is may be the wrong frame entirely. Hosts: Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, President of CoinFund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oil above $100, Qatar's LNG infrastructure in ruins, and a 150-year-old grid buckling under AI-era demand: Sean Murray breaks down why energy has an L1 problem and how Fuse is building the crypto-native fix. --- Multichain Advisors is an emerging technology growth firm that has helped create over $50 billion in enterprise value for 80+ clients. Services include TGE support, go-to-market strategy, BD, partnerships, capital markets advisory, PR, media placements, and KOL activations. Visit https://www.multichainadv.com/ --- A $5 billion UK energy company built by Revolut alumni is about to launch a new token, and they already have an SEC no-action letter to back it up. But the real story starts with the grid itself. European gas prices are running 50-70% above normal. Multi-billion dollar LNG facilities damaged in recent attacks could take years to repair. And a power grid designed 150 years ago is buckling under AI data centers, EVs, and renewables it was never built to handle. Sean Murray, Fuse Energy's crypto lead, joins Steven Ehrlich to lay out why an estimated $70 billion in clean energy has been wasted because the grid can't move it, why that congestion problem mirrors crypto's own L1 scalability crisis, and how coordinating millions of smart home devices through a token-incentivized network could fix it. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: Sean Murray, Head of Special Projects & Crypto Lead, Fuse Energy — Previously part of the Revolut early team; now leading Fuse's crypto strategy and DePIN network launch for a vertically integrated energy company doing ~$500 million in annual revenue across the UK and Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Trump pulled off a five-day ceasefire nobody expected. Ram calls it the greatest TACO of his career. --- Thank you to our sponsor: Nexo — the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your digital assets, borrow against them without selling, and trade a wide range of cryptocurrencies all in one place. Now available in the US with 30 days of exclusive privileges for new clients. Get started at nexo.com/unchained. ---- Trump announced a five-day pause on strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure just hours before his own 48-hour ultimatum expired. Oil crashed below $90. Bitcoin surged from $68,200 to above $71,000. Ram called it the greatest TACO of Trump's career and said the Trump put is officially here. Meanwhile the Fed held rates steady but the dot plot revealed a historically wide internal split: seven members want zero cuts in 2026 while five want 50 basis points or more. Powell warned inflation isn't coming down as hoped with projections now at 2.7% for headline. And in tech, Elon Musk unveiled a $25 billion chip fab that Ram says is pure fiction while Bezos raised $100 billion to buy manufacturing companies and transform them with AI. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bitcoin dropped under $69K even as the SEC and CFTC create more clarity for crypto, and agentic commerce looks like it will reshape the sector. --- Thank you to our sponsor, MultiChain Advisors --- Bitcoin dropped under $69K after the Fed, ECB, and Bank of England all held rates steady this week, while Australia hiked. Kaiko's Laurens Fraussen joins to explain what's actually happening beneath the surface, from collapsing liquidity to a quiet geographic shift in who's buying. He also makes the case that agentic commerce could reshape how crypto payments work entirely and we break down why the market mostly shrugged at the latest crypto guidance from the SEC and CFTC. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guest: Laurens Fraussen, Research Analyst at Kaiko Links: Bitcoin, Markets, and the Iran Conflict Bitcoin Holding at $70,000 as Iran War Stokes Inflation Concerns — Bloomberg These 3 Charts Show Bitcoin's War-Linked Selloff Keeps Shrinking as Iran Conflict Worsens — CoinDesk What Bitcoin's Falling Hash Rate Might Mean for Prices — CoinDesk What's Next for Bitcoin Price Amid Iran War and Oil Prices Surge — DL News Central bank rate decisions Fed Interest Rate Decision March 2026: Holds Rates Steady — CNBC Fed Meeting Recap: Powell Says Inflation Isn't Coming Down as Much as ‘Hoped' — CNBC Bank Rate Maintained at 3.75%, March 2026 — Bank of England ECB, BOE, Swiss National Bank, Riksbank Interest Rate Decisions — CNBC ECB Holds Rates, Predicts 2.6% Inflation for 2026 — Central Banking SEC/CFTC Interpretive Guidance SEC Clarifies the Application of Federal Securities Laws to Crypto Assets — SEC.gov Joint Interpretation From the SEC and CFTC on Certain Types of Crypto Assets — Free Writings & Perspectives SEC Names Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and 13 More Crypto Assets Digital Commodities — FinTech Weekly Agentic Commerce and Payments Stripe-Led Payments Blockchain Tempo Goes Live With AI Agent Protocol — CoinDesk Stripe and Paradigm's Tempo Mainnet Goes Live for Machine Payments — Crypto.news Coinbase-Backed AI Payments Protocol Wants to Fix Micropayments but Demand Is Just Not There Yet — CoinDesk Google Agentic Payments Protocol + x402: Agents Can Now Actually Pay Each Other — Coinbase Google Debuts ‘Universal' Protocol for Agentic Commerce — PYMNTS Coinbase and Cloudflare Will Launch the x402 Foundation — Coinbase World Launches AgentKit With Coinbase-Backed x402 to Verify Human Identity Behind AI Agents — CoinDesk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Confab, Max sits down with veteran journalists Rod Palmer and Richard “Dick” Greaser to take the pulse of Bitcoin culture after a year away from the fray. They dive into the surge of intra-community debates (from node client wars to “paper Bitcoin” angst), why pleb politics resemble bread-and-circuses, and how Maxi Madness—now running in parallel on Nostr and X—has evolved into a spirited, democratic spectacle that both celebrates and sharpens the culture.Max, Rod and Dick also explore the uneasy overlap of AI and Bitcoin: from “AI glaze” addiction and identity crises to why creativity and fun are strategic advantages, culminating in the debut of a powerful Maxi Madness anthem collaboration with singer Noah Grumman. Beyond the headlines, we talk cultural drift, keeping conviction amid price fatigue, and why playfulness, music, and building matter as much as technical progress. If you've felt the scene get too serious, this conversation is a reminder to have fun, create, and participate—because eternal glory awaits in Maxi Madness and beyond.Maxi Madness brackets and voting on X (Bitcoin Bugle) and Nostr (Primal), the bracket pick'em challenge, and prediction markets via PreX (Bitcoin-only).MAXI MADNESS SUPER LINK: https://maximadness.carrd.co/BUGLE NEWS WEBSITE: https://bugle.newsHELP GET SAMOURAI A PARDONSIGN THE PETITION ----> https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools DONATE TO THE FAMILIES ----> https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonneSUPPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ---> https://billandkeonne.org/VALUE FOR VALUEThanks for listening you Ungovernable Misfits, we appreciate your continued support and hope you enjoy the shows.You can support this episode using your time, talent or treasure.TIME:- create fountain clips for the show- create a meetup- help boost the signal on social mediaTALENT:- create ungovernable misfit inspired art, animation or music- design or implement some software that can make the podcast better- use whatever talents you have to make a contribution to the show!TREASURE:- BOOST IT OR STREAM SATS on the Podcasting 2.0 apps @ https://podcastapps.com- DONATE via Monero @ https://xmrchat.com/ugmf- BUY SOME STICKERS @ https://www.ungovernablemisfits.com/shop/FOUNDATIONhttps://foundation.xyz/ungovernableFoundation builds Bitcoin-centric tools that empower you to reclaim your digital sovereignty.As a sovereign computing company, Foundation is the antithesis of today's tech conglomerates. Returning to cypherpunk principles, they build open source technology that “can't be evil”.Thank you Foundation Devices for sponsoring the show!Use code: Ungovernable for $10 off of your purchaseCAKE WALLEThttps://cakewallet.comCake Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial wallet available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux.Features:- Built-in Exchange: Swap easily between Bitcoin and Monero.- User-Friendly: Simple interface for all users.Monero Users:- Batch Transactions: Send multiple payments at once.- Faster Syncing: Optimized syncing via specified restore heights- Proxy Support: Enhance privacy with proxy node options.Bitcoin Users:- Coin Control: Manage your transactions effectively.- Silent Payments: Static bitcoin addresses- Batch Transactions: Streamline your payment process.Thank you Cake Wallet for sponsoring the show!MYNYMBOXhttps://mynymbox.ioYour go-to for anonymous server hosting solutions, featuring: virtual private & dedicated servers, domain registration and DNS parking. We don't require any of your personal information, and you can purchase using Bitcoin, Lightning, Monero and many other cryptos.Explore benefits such as No KYC, complete privacy & security, and human support.(00:00:00) INTRO(00:01:02) BOOSTS(00:02:13) THANK YOU FOUNDATION(00:03:00) THANK YOU CAKE WALLET(00:04:01) THANK YOU MYNYMBOX(00:05:31) What's the Scoop?(00:19:35) Saylor, Paper BTC & The Cyber Hornets(00:22:53) BIPs and Circuses(00:29:08) Maxi Madness 2026(00:49:52) AI Glazing(00:57:28) Maxi Madness Anthem(01:01:06) Building Culture in the First Turning
Ram is bearish on equities, oil is keeping the Fed frozen, and Bitcoin is holding up anyway. The hosts debate whether crypto has bottomed or whether worse is still ahead. --- Thanks to our sponsor, Nexo! ---- Three weeks into the Iran conflict, oil is keeping inflation elevated, rate cuts are getting pushed out, and hedge funds are being forced to sell good names just to reduce exposure. So why is Bitcoin holding up? Ram sees a market on the right shoulder of a bubble, with industrials like Caterpillar at 35x earnings and no real capitulation yet in equities or private credit. Chris is watching trading desks pick up the “short-gold, long-Bitcoin” trade, and sees Ethereum's fundamentals quietly strengthening. Austin wants to know what happens to DeFi the day a major stablecoin gets compromised on a censorship-resistant chain with no network-level controls. And all three are asking the same question investors need answered now: does the Iran conflict end fast enough to stop oil from triggering a true inflationary regime, or is a harder correction still ahead? Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For the first time in a geopolitical crisis, bitcoin held its ground while safe havens faltered. But can it keep holding if the VIX moves from yellow to red? --- Bits + Bips is spreading its wings Starting soon, new episodes will only be published on our brand‑new feeds. What you need to do: Click the links below. YouTube Apple Spotify X Smash Follow or Subscribe.
A U.S. Army Major-General on what markets got wrong about Iran, whether the Strait was ever really at risk, and what the new U.S. strike doctrine signals to China. --- Bits + Bips is spreading its wings Starting soon, new episodes will only be published on our brand‑new feeds. Here's what you need to do: Click the links below. YouTube Apple Spotify X Smash Follow or Subscribe.
US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader and initially rattled markets. But does the subsequent market calm reflect genuine resilience or a dangerous underpricing of what comes next? --- Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at nexo.com/unchained Bits + Bips is spreading its wings Starting soon, new episodes will only be published on our brand‑new feeds. Here's what you need to do: Click the links below. YouTube Apple Spotify X Smash Follow or Subscribe.
A major war broke out in the Middle East, but Bitcoin didn't break. One veteran investor says that price action reveals something important about where crypto stands today. --- Bits + Bips is spreading its wings Starting soon, new episodes will only be published on our brand‑new feeds. What you need to do: Click the links below. YouTube Apple Spotify X Smash Follow or Subscribe.
It's already March, and we are quickly approaching Spring Break season when different school districts have those breaks scattered over the next 4-6 weeks. Seeing a flare-up in behavior problems is not unusual during this time. There are highly severe sensory and emotional dysregulations happening with many students, and our goal should not be punishment. We need to appropriately address these behaviors that might be outside of the student's control, especially those that are a result of a disability. Join us for today's discussion about Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs).Show Highlights:The first step in an FBA is to collect data to define and describe the behaviors.Sensory overload, avoidance, and seeking attention are common challenges that cause dysregulated behaviors.Unmet needs have to be understood and met before behaviors can be regulated; this is where a BIP comes in.A BIP can be helpful when “the behavior is affecting a student's learning or the learning of others.”Autistic students may use masking behaviors at school and explode later.How FBAs compare to the former Functional Analysis AssessmentDefining behavior in assessments should follow the ABC format: antecedent, behavior, and consequence.We must teach both preventive and reactive coping skills.The BIP should be checked and thoroughly evaluated after 30-60 days.Amanda's advice to parents about getting the most out of a BIPVickie's advice to teachers about implementing a BIPResources:Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.Thank you for listening!Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday. If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show. Connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, and Email.
A former Clinton and Biden foreign policy advisor saw it before it happened. Now the question is what investors do next. Hours after this episode was recorded, the United States and Israel launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in what analysts are calling the most significant U.S.-Iran escalation in decades. Charles Myers, Founder and CEO of Signum Global Advisors and a former senior foreign policy advisor to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, had just sat down with Steven Ehrlich to discuss the geopolitical landscape and what it means for investors. What he said about Iran during that conversation is now raising serious questions about what comes next, and the investment implications are far from settled. In this episode, Myers also addresses whether the "sell America" trade is overdone, where oil is heading, the future of AI funding, and whether Bitcoin can actually function as a safe haven when the world is on fire. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich, Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guests: Charles Myers, Founder and CEO, Signum Global Advisors Links: Iran strike / military action: US strikes Iran — https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-attack-02-28-26-hnk-intl US-Iran nuclear talks — https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/us-iran-nuclear-talks-trump-military-buildup-attack-missiles-rcna260764 Largest US military buildup in the Middle East since the early 2000s — https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/02/26/us-military-assembles-largest-force-of-warships-aircraft-in-middle-east-in-decades/ Oil markets: Oil prices surge after Iran strike — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/28/iran-us-attack-oil-market-economy.html Trump's energy strategy: targeting oil in the low $50s — https://www.axios.com/2026/02/28/us-iran-attack-energy-oil-prices Sell America / US safe haven: Global investors question US safe haven status — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/28/markets-brace-for-impact-following-us-military-strikes-against-iran.html The “Sell America” trade, explained — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-02/sell-america-trade-why-investors-are-questioning-us-assets Venezuela / Monroe Doctrine: Maduro government and the US oil deal — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/05/maduro-overthrow-could-pave-the-way-for-us-oil-companies-to-recover-venezuela-assets.html The return of the Monroe Doctrine under Trump — https://www.cfr.org/articles/oil-power-and-the-climate-stakes-of-the-u-s-move-in-venezuela OpenAI / AI: OpenAI raises $110 billion — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/27/open-ai-funding-round-amazon.html Stargate: OpenAI and SoftBank's AI moonshot — https://openai.com/index/announcing-the-stargate-project/ Prediction Markets: Polymarket Iran strike odds — https://polymarket.com Insider trading on Polymarket: the Maduro bet — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_strikes_in_Venezuela Stablecoins / GENIUS Act: The GENIUS Act and stablecoin regulation — https://www.gibsondunn.com/the-genius-act-a-new-era-of-stablecoin-regulation/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
DATs may be collapsing, AI agents may be overhyped, but Omid Malekan thinks the strongest case for crypto has nothing to do with either. Thank you to our sponsors: Fuse: The Energy Network Bitcoin is below $63,000, digital asset treasuries are under pressure, and the debate over whether crypto markets are bottoming or breaking down is splitting the hosts. Ram is skeptical of institutional demand when he looks at the 13F data from institutions filing SEC reports. Chris is on the phone with institutions all day and is bullish. Omid Malekan, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, comes in with a longer lens: he admits he contributed to the DAT hype cycle, has doubts about agentic commerce that remind him of the metaverse in 2021, and thinks the strongest argument for crypto is not a product or a token but a fact about how nation-states treat their own citizens. The conversation also covers tokenized bank deposits, the SEC's updated broker-dealer guidance on stablecoins, and what it means that the Supreme Court just struck down Trump's tariffs. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Omid Malekan, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School Links: Unchained: Bitcoin Slips Below $63,000 as Fear Deepens Bitcoin Dips Below $65,000 as Tariff Uncertainty Weighs on Risk White House Talks Make Progress on Stablecoin Yields but No Deal Yet SEC Quietly Eases Capital Rules for Stablecoins SCOTUS: Supreme Court strikes down tariffs Citrini: THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Mag 7 have committed over $700 billion to AI infrastructure, but the companies building the models may never capture the value. Thank you to our sponsors: Adaptive Security Fuse: The Energy Network The BLS just quietly revised away 862,000 jobs, and real-time inflation trackers now peg price growth below 1%, less than half of what official figures report. If the Fed is steering monetary policy with stale data, investors need to ask what else the models are getting wrong. At the same time, the Mag 7 have committed more than $700 billion to AI infrastructure, with Anthropic alone projecting $1 trillion in revenue within five years. Is that conviction or the early stages of a debt cycle nobody is pricing? And then there is the institutional side of crypto: BlackRock's BUIDL fund just landed on Uniswap with $2.4 billion in assets, Apollo acquired $90 million in Morpho tokens, and AI agents are already settling micropayments in stablecoins. Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Christopher Perkins sit down with Truflation's CEO Stefan Rust to ask whether the numbers we trust are telling us the truth. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Stefan Rust, Founder and CEO of Truflation Links: Unchained: BlackRock Just Chose Uniswap. The Market Didn't Care. Here's Why. Apollo Moves Into DeFi Lending With Morpho Token Deal UNI Spikes on BlackRock DeFi Move, Then Gives It All Back Macro: NBC: U.S. had almost no job growth in 2025 PBS: Inflation measure falls to nearly five-year low as gas prices fall and housing costs cool Crowdfund Insider: Secretary Of The Treasury Scott Bessent Calls Out Truflation's Inflation Numbers At Senate Banking Hearing AI CapEx: Amazon, Google And Others Are Pouring $700 Billion Into AI CapEx, Top Analyst Explains Why This Makes It 'Hard' To Bet Against Nvidia CIO: Data center capex to hit $1.7 trillion by 2030 due to AI boom Reuters: OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As miners approach historical stress zones, Bitcoin's correlation with tech stocks is hitting at the worst possible moment. Enter AI. Thank you to our sponsor Crypto Tax Girl! Public mining companies are once again approaching breakeven territory, a zone that in prior cycles preceded forced selling and capitulation. But unlike past downturns, balance sheets today are cleaner, leverage is lower, and many operators are pivoting toward AI data center hosting as a structural offramp. At the same time, Bitcoin has been trading alongside frontier technology stocks. That correlation is resurfacing at precisely the wrong moment, as growth equities face renewed pressure. If growth portfolios were the marginal buyers during the rally, they may now be the marginal sellers. In this episode, Steven Ehrlich speaks first with John Todaro about miner economics, hash rate dynamics, and whether another round of selling could emerge if Bitcoin remains near breakeven levels. Then Zach Pandl joins to examine Bitcoin's correlation with tech stocks, the mechanics behind recent gold volatility, and why the next phase for crypto may be driven by differentiation rather than broad beta. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich, Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guests: Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale John Todaro, Managing Director, Crypto & HPC/AI Equity Research at Needham & Company Links: Bitcoin Miner Danger Zone Major Bitcoin Miners Face Shutdown Risk If BTC Falls Below $70,000 Miner Pivot to AI America's Biggest Bitcoin Miners Are Pivoting to AI The Tech Selloff Wall Street's Anything-But-Tech Trade Shakes Up US Stock Market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Figure is giving away $25,000 in USDC. Deposit into Democratized Prime, earn ~9% APY hourly—and every $1 you keep in for 25 days is 1 entry. Enter here --- Bitcoin slid toward $60,000 on Feb. 5 in a brutal, cross-asset selloff that hit gold, equities, and crypto alike. With leverage unwinding and basis trades breaking, long-time bitcoin holders are distributing to institutional buyers who, by 13F data, are mostly underwater. The mood across digital assets is bleak. Against that backdrop, Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures argues that key Bitcoin narratives have quietly failed—and warns that developers' inaction on quantum risk could open the door to institutional control. If devs don't act, Carter says ETF giants like BlackRock will. The panel then widens the lens: declaring the token-centric VC model dead, debating whether AI now rivals the industrial revolution, and stress-testing it all across topics ranging from Solana vs. Hyperliquid to Japan's political shift and MrBeast's fintech play. --- If you want your crypto taxes done carefully — not guessed — Crypto Tax Girl is offering $100 off one-on-one crypto tax services. Their team focuses solely on crypto and has been helping investors navigate tax season since 2017. Save $100 here Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Nic Carter, Founding Partner at Castle Island Ventures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crypto markets are under severe pressure, with Bitcoin sliding into one of the most oversold conditions in its history and Ethereum following closely behind. In this episode of Bits + Bips, Steve Ehrlich sits down with Fairlead Strategies founder Katie Stockton to walk through what the charts are actually signaling amid the selloff. They discuss why oversold does not automatically mean a bottom, how technicians look for downside exhaustion, and what needs to change before confidence returns for Bitcoin and ETH. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich, Host, Bits + Bips Guests: Katie Stockton, Founder and Managing Partner, Fairlead Strategies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. --- If you want expert help with crypto taxes — without guessing or DIY spreadsheets — Crypto Tax Girl is offering $100 off their crypto tax services for Unchained listeners. They provide personalized support for everything from complex transactions to full tax returns. Get $100 off --- In this episode of Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell and Chris Perkins sit down with Cosmo Jiang to unpack what gold's volatility shock revealed about market structure, why onchain venues like Hyperliquid are increasingly where price discovery happens, and how digital asset treasuries are being blamed for stress they did not create. The conversation also turns to Kevin Warsh's nomination as Fed chair and why it represents a deeper shift in institutional power, not just personnel. Hosts: Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Cosmo Jiang, General Partner at Pantera Capital Links: Crypto at a Crossroads: Winter Fatigue Meets the Risk of Lower Lows Weekend Drama Rekindles Debate Over What Really Caused the October 10 Crash Crypto's Weekend Washout Tests Conviction After a Brutal Week Bitcoin Sinks as Markets Price In a More Hawkish Fed Why HYPE Is Up While Every Other Crypto, Including Bitcoin, Is Down Hyperliquid Prepares Prediction-Style Markets With HIP-4 Upgrade Hyperliquid Sees Record Trading as Commodities Drive New Interest Crypto Market Structure Bill Clears Senate Committee — But the Hard Part Is Still Ahead Silver and gold extend losses after last week's historic plunge Gold Volatility Tops Bitcoin in Wildest Price Swings Since 2008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crypto has stalled, but markets haven't. As volatility migrates and narratives shift, retail traders are moving fast into exciting, but risky frontiers. We break down where attention is going next, how professionals are adapting, and why this cycle feels different from the last. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Host: Bits + Bips: The Interview Guest: Evgeny Gaevoy, Founder and CEO, Wintermute Links: Adams' NYC Memecoin Crashes After Debut, Sparking Outcry Memecoins Were Hot a Year Ago. Many Have Crashed Over 90% Crypto Traders Flee to Prediction Bets After Crash Prediction Markets to Get New Federal Rules, CFTC Chair Says Three Reasons for the Record Rise in Gold Prices, and One Why They Are Falling Gold Falls as Investors Take Profits After Record High Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crypto taxes stressing you out? You don't have to figure it out alone. We've partnered with Crypto Tax Girl, a crypto-focused tax firm that's been helping investors since 2017, to give readers $100 off personalized, one-on-one crypto tax help. Their team can handle everything from transaction calculations to full tax returns — but pre-April 15 spots are limited, so don't wait! Grab $100 off here In this episode of Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, Chris Perkins, and guest Charles Edwards debate what “realpolitik” means for markets, why gold is leading, and whether Bitcoin is lagging for a reason that is not just sentiment. They also argue over a counterintuitive claim gaining traction on desks: that rate cuts can be bad for risk assets in a high-debt world, and that the biggest adoption blocker for Bitcoin may be a known unknown, the quantum threat, whether it is imminent or simply believed enough to cap upside. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guests: Charles Edwards, Founder & CIO at Capriole Investments Links: Why Gold Rose and Bitcoin Tumbled on Japan Bond Turmoil Should You Buy Gold or Bitcoin? Here's How to Think About It Bitcoin Stumbles as Global Tensions Push Investors Toward Safe Havens Bitcoin Rebounds After Trump's Truth Social Post Eases Tariff Fears Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gold is hitting new highs. Bitcoin is struggling to keep up. And once again, the “digital gold” narrative is being put to the test.On today's episode of Bits + Bips: The Interview, host Steve Ehrlich sits down with Steve Sosnick, Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers, to break down why bitcoin still trades like a risk asset, why gold keeps winning in moments of market stress, and what crypto must prove to close the credibility gap. From rising bond yields to geopolitics and Fed independence, this conversation cuts through the noise to explain what's really driving markets right now. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guests: Steve Sosnick, Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers Links: Should You Buy Gold or Bitcoin? Here's How to Think About It Bitcoin Rebounds After Trump's Truth Social Post Eases Tariff Fears Crypto Slides on Tariff Fears as Gold Breaks Above $4,850 Why Gold Rose and Bitcoin Tumbled on Japan Bond Turmoil Supreme Court casts doubt on Trump's power to fire Fed official without proper review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode is brought to you by Uniswap! Are you a builder who needs to add on-chain trading to your product? The Uniswap Trading API from Uniswap Labs offers plug-and-play access to some of the deepest liquidity in crypto It's on-chain execution at an enterprise level. More liquidity. Less complexity. Visit hub.uniswap.org to learn more. Is Bitcoin losing its “digital gold” narrative just as geopolitics heat up? The Bits + Bips crew debates what markets still aren't pricing in. In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins are joined by David Duong, Global Head of Research at Coinbase, to unpack a volatile mix of crypto regulation, geopolitics, and shifting market structure. The group digs into why the latest market structure bill is starting to crack, why investors may be underpricing regulatory clarity, and what it means that Bitcoin is failing to behave like digital gold just as global risk rises. They also explore whether the U.S. and Europe are still true allies, why Wall Street's move toward 24/7 onchain markets matters more than most realize, and how internet capital markets could reshape who gets access to capital in the next decade. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guests: David Duong, Global Head of Research at Coinbase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thank you to our sponsor, Walrus! Walrus is where the world's data becomes reliable, valuable, and governable. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Crypto legislation is stalled. And pressure on the Federal Reserve is intensifying. So why are Bitcoin and the broader crypto market holding strong? In this episode of Bits + Bips: The Interview, Steve Ehrlich sits down with Zach Pandl, Director of Research at Grayscale Investments, to unpack what's been driving markets since 2026 began, from Washington's regulatory battles to global instability and the Fed's fight to maintain independence. They break down where U.S. crypto policy stands, why Wall Street isn't waiting for Congress, and how macro forces like inflation, debt, and geopolitics are shaping crypto's next move. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich Guests: Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale Links: Robinhood CEO warns Congress delay is hurting Americans - TheStreet Crypto: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency news, advice, analysis and more Senate Banking Committee postpones vote on crypto market structure legislation amid industry pushback Crypto bill delay 'may ultimately be constructive' for final product, Benchmark says Trump attacks on Jerome Powell testing Fed's independence Why the Federal Reserve has historically been independent of the White House Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thank you to our sponsor, Uniswap! If trust in central banks erodes, what replaces it? This week's Bits + Bips connects AI, energy, inflation, and Bitcoin. In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins are joined by Daniel Ives, one of Wall Street's most closely followed technology analysts, to break down how AI is colliding with macroeconomics. They debate whether AI will ultimately be inflationary or deflationary, why energy may become the binding constraint on technological growth, and how rising productivity could force the Federal Reserve into uncomfortable trade-offs. The conversation also covers pressure on central bank independence, the fragility of trust in fiat systems, and why Bitcoin increasingly enters the conversation when that trust erodes. Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia Austin Campbell Christopher Perkins Guests: Daniel Ives, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wedbush Links: Bitcoin Briefly Pops to $92K on Powell DOJ News, Then Retreats Tether Freezes $182 Million in USDT on Tron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices