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'Minsky Moments' and the Financial History of Pandemics

As a wobbly recovery tries to take hold, was the coronavirus pandemic simply the pinprick on a larger economic bubble?

Updated Dec 11, 2022, 7:30 p.m. Published May 19, 2020, 7:21 p.m.
Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com
Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com

As a wobbly recovery tries to take hold, was the coronavirus pandemic simply the pinprick on a larger economic bubble?

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For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple PodcastsSpotifyPocketcastsGoogle PodcastsCastboxStitcherRadioPublicaIHeartRadio or RSS.

This episode is sponsored by ErisXThe Stellar Development Foundation and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Investment Fundhttps://grayscale.co/coindesk.

Jamie Catherwood works at O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, a quantitative long-equity investment firm. More importantly, however, he is the finance history guy on Twitter. His “Financial History: Sunday Reads” curation pieces and longer form articles on his site Investor Amnesia have become required reading for anyone who wants the historical context for current financial issues.

See also: How Disruption Makes Humanity Stronger, Feat. Emerson Spartz

On this episode of The Breakdown, Jamie and NLW discuss:

  • Financial lessons from previous pandemics, including the 14th century bubonic plague; an 1892 Cholera outbreak in Hamburg, Germany; and, of course, 1918
  • Strange parallels between 1918’s Spanish flu and the current Coronavirus crisis, including an increase in the price of oranges
  • The concept of “Minsky Moments,” a key inflection point in bubbles where over-exuberant markets become unwound extremely quickly

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple PodcastsSpotifyPocketcastsGoogle PodcastsCastboxStitcherRadioPublicaIHeartRadio or RSS.

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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.

알아야 할 것:

  • KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
  • This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
  • Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
  • Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
  • Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

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Bitcoin dips, but quickly recovers as U.S. captures Venezuela's Maduro

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The U.S. overnight launched a military strike against Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and extracting them from the country.

알아야 할 것:

  • The U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife after a brief military operation Saturday morning, according to President Trump.
  • Crypto prices suffered a brief, modest drop on the first reports of the military action, but have since recovered.