On today’s Breakdown, NLW unpacks the Senate’s confirmation of Trump adviser Stephen Moran to the Fed and the fierce debate over central bank independence ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. He then dives into Coinbase’s exploration of a native token for its Base network, what it could mean for decentralization, shareholder dynamics, and tokenization. Plus, Robinhood announces a new retail venture fund aimed at opening private markets to everyday investors.
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10:45
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10:45
Checking In On Last Week’s Crypto IPOs
Gemini and Figure Markets both raised significant cash in their IPOs last week, but their subdued trading debuts highlighted a cooler speculative environment compared to Circle’s explosive June listing. NLW unpacks what these IPOs signal about crypto market appetite, Bitcoin’s September sluggishness ahead of the Fed’s rate decision, and why gold and equities could set the stage for Bitcoin’s next move. The episode also covers Tether’s launch of USAT, a U.S. domestic market stablecoin, and the evolving battle for stablecoin dominance, plus the growing but increasingly muddled wave of corporate crypto treasury companies.
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This week’s Friday Five dives into the accelerating cryptoization of finance. SEC Chair Paul Atkins signaled a new era of pro-innovation policy, extending beyond crypto to AI and agentic trading. Senate Democrats introduced their own market structure framework, opening the door to bipartisan progress. Meanwhile, NASDAQ seeks approval for tokenized securities, and BlackRock is moving to tokenize ETFs, underscoring the tokenization race among financial giants. We also cover Gemini’s IPO debut on NASDAQ and what it signals about investor appetite, plus the Fed’s looming rate cuts as weak jobs data clashes with sticky inflation.
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19:12
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19:12
SEC Chair: "Crypto’s Time Has Come"
SEC Chair Paul Atkins says the Gensler era of regulation by enforcement is over, as the agency launches Project Crypto to bring clarity and push capital markets on chain. From tokenization and super apps to a wave of new partnerships and IPOs, crypto’s next phase looks set to be fundamentally American.
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8:51
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8:51
Senate Democrats Unveil Competing Crypto Market Structure Bill
Senate Democrats have introduced their own framework for crypto market structure, setting up negotiations with Republicans and potentially clearing the way for bipartisan legislation. The proposal gives the CFTC new powers, pushes for exchange registration under the Bank Secrecy Act, flags DeFi for potential oversight, and seeks to ban stablecoin interest. It also takes political aim at Trump-era crypto projects and calls for stronger ethics rules. With both parties now at the table, the next few months could finally bring real progress on U.S. digital asset legislation, even as TradFi and crypto players race ahead with their own market structure experiments.
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A daily analysis of macroeconomics, bitcoin, geopolitics and big picture power shifts, hosted by Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw. The Breakdown is part of Blockworks.
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