The Breakdown Newsletter

Insiders have the best information — markets should be willing to pay for it

A main character of the dotcom boom is suddenly a main character of the AI one

In bonds, stablecoins and billionaires, a reminder of what makes crypto special

If the president breaks the Fed, he’ll own the budget problems

Tempo might ultimately test what people will pay for decentralization

Where TradFi needs bankers and lawyers, DeFi just needs a function call

If AI is a replacement for humans, wouldn’t companies fire the expensive ones first?

In markets, overconfidence is both feature and bug

For DATs, getting to the stock market first may mean owning a business no one wants

A business that gives away 75% of what it raises isn’t selling equity — it’s selling a product

Elder fraud, hard money myths, and tokens that refuse to stay dead

The ECB’s Stablecoin Defense Initiative™ seems doomed to fail

A stock by any other name — even “token” — is still a security

Uber raised fares. Disney ignored costs. Linux gave everything away. Which model should Ethereum follow?

Bubbles are how markets create the future

Crypto finds fundamentals, Chanos books profits and prediction markets make trouble

Stripe and Circle are betting the plumbing of payments is ripe for disruption

Gold is proof that belief sustained over millennia creates real value; crypto is hoping to take a shortcut

Every transformational technology begins with utopian hopes, and then runs into the world as it is

If fear moves markets, there could be more all-time highs to come

Airlines defend their rewards moat, Binance courts favor over breakfast, DAT fees pile up and systematic thinking

An SEC commissioner walks into a cypherpunk meetup…

Peter Thiel’s $5 billion Roth IRA walked so token IRAs could run

Uniswap’s DUNA plan might blaze a new trail for decentralized governance