How the Fed Fans the Flame – The Best of The Breakdown June 2020
Guests from the crypto investor Ari Paul to Harvard prof Dr. Vikram Mansharamani discuss bitcoin, the economy and social unrest.

Guests from the crypto investor Ari Paul to Harvard prof Dr. Vikram Mansharamani discuss bitcoin, the economy and social unrest.
For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS.
This episode is sponsored by Bitstamp and Ciphertrace.
June 2020 will go down in the history books as an extremely chaotic and confusing period.
See also: Macro Investors Sound Off! Featuring Ari Paul, Spencer Bogart and David Nage
In this “Best of the Month” retrospective, we look at some of the best guest conversations from The Breakdown, including:
- Human Rights Foundation CSO Alex Gladstein on the importance of cash for privacy
- DigiChina Editor-in-Chief Graham Webster on China’s decade-long turn away from liberalism
- Alhambra Investments lead researcher Jeff Snider on why the Federal Reserve’s power is a myth
- Popular Front founder Jake Hanrahan on the media’s veneer of objectivity
- Castle Island Ventures’ Nic Carter on why people should have rights to their social media profiles
- The Crypto Dog on mining bitcoin in 2011
- Independent macro analyst Jesse Felder on the Fed’s role in increasing inequality
- BlockTower Capital’s Ari Paul on how people lose faith in central banks
- “Think For Yourself” author Dr. Vikram Mansharamani on the recipe for inflation
- Independent oil and trading expert Tracy Shuchart on how easy money enabled the shale revolution
- Adamant Capital’s Tuur Demeester on historical analogies for seething discontent
For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS.
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BlackRock's digital assets head: Leverage-driven volatility threatens bitcoin’s narrative

Rampant speculation on crypto derivatives platforms is fueling volatility and risking bitcoin’s image as a stable hedge, says BlackRock’s digital assets chief.
What to know:
- BlackRock digital-assets chief Robert Mitchnick warned that heavy use of leverage in bitcoin derivatives is undermining the cryptocurrency’s appeal as a stable institutional portfolio hedge.
- Mitchnick said bitcoin’s fundamentals as a scarce, decentralized monetary asset remain strong, but its trading increasingly resembles a "levered NASDAQ," raising the bar for conservative investors to adopt it.
- He argued that exchange-traded funds like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF are not the main source of volatility, pointing instead to perpetual futures platforms.












