PODCAST · business
The Bitcoin Layer
by The Bitcoin Layer
The Bitcoin Layer is a premium markets research provider, covering bitcoin through a global macro lens | Research, Analysis, & EducationFeaturing Nik Bhatia, author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Layered Money and USC Marshall School of Business professor.Subscribe to our research publication and YouTube channel to learn about global macroeconomics, bitcoin, Lightning Network, the monetary and financial system, the Federal Reserve, interest rates, and geopolitics. Most importantly, develop a framework for understanding global markets—connect the dots between economic and financial concepts to see the bigger picture. Look no further for your bitcoin and macro education!
Episodes
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The Math Behind $1 Million Bitcoin
In this episode, Nik explains the bitcoin power law and why he believes it points to a million dollar bitcoin in the early 2030s. He walks through bitcoin’s orders of magnitude, four years to go from $1,000 to $10,000 and eight years to reach $100,000, and why the next zero may take a similar...
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Nobody Has Ever Lost Money Holding Bitcoin Six Years
In this episode, Nik explains what he thinks is the easiest way to introduce bitcoin to new investors, which comes down to returns. He compares bitcoin against stocks, bonds, and gold across three, five, seven, and ten year windows, showing where bitcoin trails and where it separates, including…
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Bitcoin Just Lost $82,700
In this episode, Nik covers bitcoin losing the $82,700 level he had been tracking, falling 3% for a second straight day. He explains why he is watching 71 to 74,000 as the next support, why a negative liquidity environment mutes bitcoin's returns, and why the dollar squeeze building through…
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Bitcoin Has A 7x To Catch Gold
In this episode, Nik walks through TBL Pulse and the macro charts he watches every day, starting with why bitcoin is climbing while liquidity drains. He explains why the TBL liquidity index has fallen close to the midline that separates expansion from contraction, why rate of change matters more...
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Bitcoin Doesn’t Care About The Bond Crisis
In this episode, Nik asks how bitcoin is outperforming both gold and the dollar in the middle of a global bond crisis. He covers why rising yields, bond volatility, and a stronger dollar all point to tighter liquidity, then turns to the French German bond spread and why a move of this size has…
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Europe Is About To Print
In this Global Macro Update, Nik covers the blowout in French government bond yields against German bunds and why he sees a sovereign debt crisis developing in France. He explains why a falling euro suggests Europe is defending its bond market rather than its currency, and why he is watching for...
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Bitcoin’s Volatility Is Dying (And That’s Bullish)
In this Global Macro Update, Nik walks through a chart pack of more than 100 charts, starting with the bitcoin gold ratio charging back above 20 while global bond markets remain in meltdown. He shows why bitcoin versus gold has tracked bitcoin versus the dollar for its entire life, why treasuries...
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Central Banks Have Lost Control
In this episode, Nik welcomes back James Van Straten of CoinDesk for a conversation on the global bond meltdown and the fiscal crisis building in the United Kingdom. James explains why he thinks central banks have lost control, walking through the Bank of England's reversal on gilt sales and why...
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The Bear Market Is Over
In this episode, Nik covers bitcoin's move to $87,000 and why breaking $82,700, the post-bear-market high from May, means the bear market that defined 2026 is over. He zooms all the way into one-minute candles to show the short squeeze that took price up more than $1,500 in about 100 seconds, and...
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Healthcare Is Eating 70% Of Federal Tax Revenue
In this episode, Nik welcomes Stu Lackey and Jon Gordon of SOUND HSA for a conversation on the fiscal side of American healthcare. Nik opens with the charts: almost $4 trillion of the just over $5 trillion the government collects in tax revenue now goes to Medicare, Social Security, and other...
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What Happens If The Fed Hikes Tomorrow
In this Global Macro Update, Nik covers the global bond meltdown and what happens to Liquidity if the Fed hikes rates. He starts with bitcoin losing the trend line he had been tracking and slipping from $80,000 back to $76,000, then turns to crude oil above $106 a barrel and why the energy shock,...
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The Bond Meltdown Ends In A Global Money Print
In this Global Macro Update, Nik explains why he believes the current global bond meltdown and liquidity contraction will end in a massive global money print. He walks through the global balance sheet, $600 trillion in real assets, $600 trillion in financialized assets, and $600 trillion of…
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The Most Important Inflation Report Of The Year
In this episode, Nik explains why he thinks this week's inflation data is the most important economic release of the year, with PPI and CPI landing days before the Fed's September 16 decision. He covers why treasury bills lead the Fed and have been pricing hikes since May, how Kevin Warsh ending...
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One Level Decides Bitcoin’s Bull Market
In this episode, Nik covers the strong jobs report and whether it is enough to push the Fed toward a rate hike. He explains why the two-year yield near 4.38% shows the market pricing in hikes more aggressively than at any point since the election, and why he thinks the Treasury and the Fed will...
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Something Just Broke the Bond Market
In this episode, Nik covers the chaos in global government bond markets, with yields rising from the United States to Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. He explains what actually drives bond yields, why inflation is structurally higher in 2026 than in the last fifteen years, and why...
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Bitcoin Just Failed Three Times
In this video, Nik covers the market reaction to Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech, starting with the two-year yield pushing back toward its highs near 4.35% and what that says about the market pricing in rate hikes. He explains why the yield curve flattening from 50 to 37 basis points on the…
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You've Been Drinking Fiat Wine (And You Feel It) with Ben Justman
In this episode, Nik welcomes Ben Justman, founder of Peony Lane Wine in Paonia, Colorado, the highest wine region in North America. Ben explains how he learned winemaking on his father's farm, why high elevation and dry farming shape his Pinot Noir, and why the 73 ingredients American winemakers...
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Global Macro Update: The Real Reason Bitcoin Just Ripped
In this Global Macro Update, Nik covers the financial war he sees playing out across treasuries and currencies, and why bitcoin popped above $67,000 on the back of it. He walks through the trend lines he is watching, and why the zone between $70,000 and $82,000 is the work bitcoin has to do…
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Bitcoin Just Went Vertical (Is The Bear Over?)
In this episode, Nik covers bitcoin's 22% week and a run that took price to just shy of $80,000. He walks through the multi-year trend line connecting the FTX lows to the start of the ETF bull market, why bitcoin generates most of its returns in short concentrated bursts, and the bullish…
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Russia Is Now Legalizing Bitcoin for Trade with Joe Consorti
In this episode, Demian welcomes back Joe Consorti for a conversation on the Clarity Act and what it means for bitcoin. Joe explains the bill's three buckets, how it would separate commodities from securities and put bitcoin under the CFTC, and why he sees that as a win for investor protections...
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Self Custody Is Not Dead with Stacie Waleyko
In this episode, Demian welcomes back Stacie Waleyko, a bitcoin developer with the Bitcoin Dev Project, on the Coldcard entropy vulnerability and the ongoing theft of funds. Stacie explains how hardware wallets are supposed to source randomness, why affected devices fell back to a weaker software...
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Why Jack Mallers Walked Away From Twenty One
In this episode, Nik welcomes Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Strike, for a conversation on his exit from Twenty One. Jack describes the guilt and humility of stepping away from a company whose vision he says did not work, and where Strike sits between an operating company like Coinbase and a...
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Tracing the Stolen Coldcard Bitcoin w/ Galaxy's Alex Thorn
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Alex Thorn of Galaxy Research on the Coldcard key generation vulnerability and the theft that followed. Alex explains how a March 17, 2021 firmware change left the devices silently defaulting to a much weaker random number generator, a bug that went unfound for...
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Coldcard Wallet Hack: What Happened and What to Do Now
In this episode, Nik and TBL's Demian Schatt cover a breaking security situation: a seed-generation vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets that has exposed some bitcoiners to theft, with reports of wallets being swept over the last twenty-four hours. Nik, speaking as a researcher rather than…
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Kevin Warsh Just Blew Up How the Fed Works
In this Global Macro Update, Nik covers today's FOMC decision and Kevin Warsh's press conference, where the new Fed chair reaffirmed the 2% inflation target as a firm goal and made clear he is steering the Fed away from forward guidance. Nik explains why Warsh took credit for the recent rise in...
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The Great Unwinding Wall Street Isn’t Pricing In with Matt Dines
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Matt Dines to lay out his thesis that the global order built after World War Two is being reset. Matt walks through the signals he is watching: the Kuwaiti pipeline deal with Blackstone, KKR, and Brookfield that reroutes energy toward Europe, the US-China rare...
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The $45,000 Bitcoin Everyone Fears Is Getting Less Likely
In this episode, Nik walks through the latest bitcoin research from Johan Bergman, head of bitcoin research at The Bitcoin Layer, using the charts inside TBL Pulse. He explains Johan's state grid, which plots bitcoin on valuation and trend, and why the framework currently places bitcoin in...
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Global Macro Update: The Dollar Shortage Pushing Asia Towards Crisis
In this Global Macro Update, Nik returns from teaching his summer bitcoin and AI course at USC to a market waking up after the World Cup lull. He makes the case for a global dollar shortage behind the dollar's continued strength, with stress surfacing across Asia: India's push to pull in overseas...
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Michael Saylor Sold the Bitcoin Bottom
In this episode, Nik welcomes CoinDesk analyst James Van Straten to discuss why he believes bitcoin's bear market may be nearing its end. James walks through ETF flows that have held firm despite months of outflows, the rotation of capital out of AI and semiconductor names like NVIDIA, and where...
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This is the Most Bitcoin I Have Ever Bought
In this global macro update, Nik asks whether bitcoin has finally bottomed after tagging 58k and reclaiming 60,000. He walks through the bullish divergences forming on bitcoin's daily and weekly charts, why a grinding-higher dollar has been weighing on liquidity and bitcoin all year, and why he…
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I Built a $1 Million System in 11 Days With No Coding with Peter McCormack
In this episode, Nik welcomes Peter McCormack, host of the Peter McCormack Show, for a conversation on how he is using AI in his own business. Peter, who has no coding background, walks through the full podcast-management system he built with Claude in 11 days, work he says would once have taken…
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Inside SpaceX's $60 Billion Bet on Cursor with Charlie Hu
In this episode, Nik welcomes Charlie Hu, founder of Coco AI and a bitcoiner since 2012, for a wide-ranging conversation on where AI is heading. Charlie shares takeaways from the Super AI conference in Singapore, walks through SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition of Cursor and what it signals about…
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What Bitcoin Twitter Is Signaling About the Market Bottom w/ Michael Sullivan
In this episode, Nik welcomes Michael Sullivan, a bitcoin researcher who analyzes market sentiment through language. Michael explains how he runs natural language models across thousands of tweets, cohorting bitcoiners into newer retail accounts versus longer-term holders, to measure moods like...
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I Woke Up Homeless With $75 When the Banks Took Everything | with Tony Yazbek
In this episode, Nik welcomes Tony Yazbek, co-founder of The Bitcoin Way, for a conversation on why owning bitcoin yourself is the whole point. Tony argues that bitcoin is money rather than an investment, and that anything wrapped in legacy finance, from ETFs to exchange balances, is not the same...
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The Iran War and the Fight for Energy Dominance with Tanvi Ratna
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Tanvi Ratna, geoeconomic strategist and Fox News columnist, for a conversation on why the Iran conflict is far bigger than the Middle East. Tanvi lays out her thesis that Iran is the node in a global re-architecture of the world order, and walks through how the...
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SpaceX Goes Public Tomorrow: Inside the $45 Billion Data Center with John Tinsman
In this episode, Nik welcomes John Tinsman, founder and portfolio manager at AOT Invest, for a conversation on why the AI buildout looks like a revolution rather than a bubble. The Bitcoin Layer and its guests do not provide investment advice.
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AI Is Breaking the Power Grid, and Bitcoin Is the Fix
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Daniel Batten, bitcoin researcher and longtime voice on bitcoin's role in energy, for a conversation on the collision between AI, the power grid, and bitcoin mining. The Bitcoin Layer and its guests do not provide investment advice.
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The Bitcoin Power Law Points to $300,000 w/ Dr. Stephen Perrenod
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Dr. Stephen Perrenod, astrophysicist and member of the Scientific Bitcoin Institute, for a conversation on the mathematics behind bitcoin's price. The Bitcoin Layer and its guests do not provide investment advice.
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AI May Be the Biggest Bull Case for Bitcoin | Joe Consorti
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Joe Consorti, a TBL veteran who helped build The Bitcoin Layer in its early days, for a conversation on bitcoin, AI, and the next phase of markets. Joe explains why bitcoin has lagged equities, why the four-year cycle may be breaking, and why AI could become one...
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BREAKING: CME Launches Compute Futures, The New Oil
The CME just launched compute futures, with CEO Terry Duffy calling compute "the new oil of the 21st century." In this video, Nik argues this is the dominant force in markets right now, and it's exactly what he laid out in yesterday's Substack post, The Token Layer. The Bitcoin Layer and its…
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Global Macro Update: Is Japan Breaking the Bond Market?
In this Global Macro Update, Nik argues a global bond crisis is brewing and it starts outside the United States. Japanese yields are driving the worldwide sell-off, with German and UK bonds close behind, while inflation expectations roar back on the oil shock from the war in Iran. Nik walks…
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UAE QUITS OPEC: The Offshore Dollar Era Is Changing with Matt Dines
Nik welcomes Matt Dines, CIO of Build Asset Management, back to The Bitcoin Layer to unpack the UAE leaving OPEC and what it signals about a broader dollar system remake. Dines ties the UAE's pivot toward direct Fed swap lines to the Bank of Japan holding rates, the un-inversion of the 3-month /...
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The Money Printer Is Back On with Lyn Alden
Nik welcomes back Lyn Alden for a wide-ranging conversation on AI's economic impact, the repricing of software stocks, and why the deficit only goes one direction. The Bitcoin Layer and its guests do not provide investment advice.
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The Everything Bubble Is Over: Michael Howell’s Warning for 2026
Nik welcomes back Michael Howell of CrossBorder Capital for an urgent breakdown of the global liquidity cycle. Michael explains why the cyclical top is in, how oil, the MOVE index, and the dollar have dealt a 20% blow to global liquidity, and why the everything bubble is over. They cover the $45...
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RISE of the American Empire with Brent Johnson
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Brent Johnson of Santiago Capital for a wide-ranging global macro conversation. Brent breaks down the dollar's behavior during geopolitical crises, the deglobalization thesis and fracturing supply chains, and his Rise of the American Empire framework drawing...
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The AI-Pentagon War That Every Bitcoiner Needs to Understand
In this episode, Nik welcomes back Yaël Ossowski, Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, to break down the escalating standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon. They examine how Claude was reportedly used in the Venezuela raid, why Anthropic is drawing a hard line against warrantless...
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Claude Eclipses Trump as the Most Important Force in Global Macro
In this episode, Nik breaks down why Anthropic's Claude has displaced Donald Trump as the single most important force driving global macro and financial markets, walking through the system-level evidence including IBM dropping 12% on a single AI headline, Block cutting 40% of its workforce,...
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Individual Ownership Peaked in 2024 and What Comes Next for Bitcoin
In this episode, Nik sits down with Sam Baker, Research at River, to break down River's second annual Bitcoin adoption report, covering how institutional ownership, registered investment advisors, sovereign holdings, and small business adoption all accelerated in 2025 despite price weakness. Sam...
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The Liquidity Signal That Called Bitcoin's Drop Is Still Red
In this episode, Nik walks through our TBL proprietary liquidity index, explaining why the red signal flagged in late December and confirmed in January preceded Bitcoin's sharp decline below $70,000. He breaks down the four inputs driving the current liquidity contraction, with focus on dollar...
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Global Macro Update: Inflation Cools, Bond Yields Drop, & Bitcoin Reacts
In this episode, Nik breaks down Bitcoin’s bounce following a softer-than-expected CPI print and falling Treasury yields, analyzing the rollover in the 200-day moving average, the latest negative mining difficulty adjustment, and what shifting liquidity conditions mean for risk assets. He…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Bitcoin Layer is a premium markets research provider, covering bitcoin through a global macro lens | Research, Analysis, & EducationFeaturing Nik Bhatia, author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Layered Money and USC Marshall School of Business professor.Subscribe to our research publication and YouTube channel to learn about global macroeconomics, bitcoin, Lightning Network, the monetary and financial system, the Federal Reserve, interest rates, and geopolitics. Most importantly, develop a framework for understanding global markets—connect the dots between economic and financial concepts to see the bigger picture. Look no further for your bitcoin and macro education!
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The Bitcoin Layer currently has 306 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Bitcoin Layer about?
The Bitcoin Layer is a premium markets research provider, covering bitcoin through a global macro lens | Research, Analysis, & EducationFeaturing Nik Bhatia, author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Layered Money and USC Marshall School of Business professor.Subscribe to our research publication and...
How often does The Bitcoin Layer release new episodes?
The Bitcoin Layer publishes regularly with 306 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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