PODCAST · business
The Breakdown
by Blockworks
The Breakdown dives into the deepest topics in crypto, blockchain, and the macro forces shaping markets and power structures. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into clear, grounded analysis — separating signal from noise across crypto, finance, and geopolitics. Hosted by David Canellis, The Breakdown features explainers, interviews, and conversations with the people building, regulating, and challenging the financial system. A Blockworks podcast. Subscribe to The Breakdown newsletter: https://the-breakdown.carrd.co/
Episodes
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Venice Is Now a Crypto-AI Unicorn — But Its Token Tanked 50%
VVV is down 50% on news that should be good for Venice. David unpacks why — covering the token vs. equity distinction, Dragonfly's reasoning, and what the onchain data says about how many people are actually using Venice's paid features right now. FOLLOW THE SHOW › David — https://x.com/dcanellis…
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2 Groups Now Control Ethereum's Future. Here's What They Want.
David sits down with Paul Dylan-Ennis — lecturer at University College Dublin and member of the Ethereum Foundation’s Silviculture Society — to map the split between the EF and the newly-formed ETH Labs. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:41) EF Silviculture Society (03:28) Full Cypherpunk (14:15)...
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Binance Needs A Friend in The European Union
Binance is out of the EU as of July 1 after its MICA license application in Greece was rejected. David runs through who is and isn't licensed under MICA, checks Blockworks Research for Binance's actual spot market share (~33%), and looks at whether the outflow data suggests real damage. Then: the...
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How Strategy Insiders Insulated Themselves From the Crash
FOLLOW THE SHOW › David — https://x.com/dcanellis › The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW › The Breakdown Newsletter — https://blockworks.com/newsletter/the-breakdown DISCLAIMER As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the…
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Searching for the Ethereum Foundation's Remaining Cash
FOLLOW THE SHOW › David — https://x.com/dcanellis › The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW › The Breakdown Newsletter — https://blockworks.com/newsletter/the-breakdown DISCLAIMER As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the…
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Is Strategy Really the Next Terra Luna?
Strategy’s STRC is still trading below its $100 target and has drawn comparisons to Terra Luna. David walks through how Terra Luna actually imploded, why Strategy's flywheel is meaningfully different, and the real problem he sees underneath it all. Enjoy! FOLLOW THE SHOW › David —...
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The History of Standard Chartered Megabullish Price Predictions
Standard Chartered just put a $100 price target on Uniswap by 2030 — a 40× move from current levels. David walks through the call, the tokenization thesis underpinning it, and how Standard Chartered's past calls on Bitcoin, ETH, XRP, BNB and AVAX have actually played out. FOLLOW THE SHOW › David…
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The US Just Made the Case for Open-Source AI
Anthropic released Fable V — a wrapper around its Mythos model with strict guardrails. Within 24 hours, the White House forced it offline over a jailbreak that exposed Mythos's full cyber capabilities. David walks through David Sack’s thread, the export control, and why this is the strongest case...
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Blockworks Acquires Messari
In this special episode, Blockworks announces its acquisition of Messari and unpacks what it means for crypto’s next phase. Michael and Jason explore why Messari’s breadth of data, APIs, and research complement Blockworks’ deep on-chain analytics, investor relations, and disclosure products. They...
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SpaceX Just Became the Most Valuable Post-IPO Company Ever
It's SpaceX IPO day, and it’s on track to be the most valuable post-IPO company in history — $1.77T, surpassing Saudi Aramco. David walks through the numbers, the pre-IPO trade on Hyperliquid, and why the edge wore off months ago. Plus: Nakamoto selling Bitcoin while Tom Lee's BitMine keeps...
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BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Is $13 Billion Underwater
BlackRock's IBIT is sitting about $13 billion underwater on its Bitcoin holdings. Every ETH ETF is in the red. David walks through which funds bought the top, which took profit, and what happens to crypto if ETF holders finally crack. Plus: a preview of DAS Asia and DAS London, and the SpaceX...
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Inside Pump.fun's New Bounty Platform
Pump.fun just rolled out Pump.fun Go — a bounty platform that pays you crypto for filming yourself doing… well, whatever. David on why this might actually matter for the next retail cycle. Plus: the coins quietly pumping through the bear, and the stablecoin chart suggesting we're still months…
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Brutal Zcash Bug Sat Hidden for 4 Years
A critical bug in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool could have minted unlimited counterfeit ZEC — and it sat there for 4 years. The price has lost ~47% in three days. David walks through what happened, why ZK trust keeps mattering, and what it means for holders. Plus: Polymarket's UMA ruling that...
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Crypto Still Sees Massive Returns On Par With Stocks
Everyone's saying crypto has been left behind by the stock market. David digs into the numbers — VVV outperformed SanDisk YTD, Hyperliquid beat NVIDIA and AMD, Stellar beat NVIDIA. The market is selecting winners. Plus: $4B of Bitcoin ETF outflows in 13 days (it's not as bad as it looks), and...
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Dimon & Democrats Ready for War Over CLARITY
A centrist Democratic group is spending six figures to brand the CLARITY Act as "Trump's crypto grifto." Jamie Dimon is on the same side. David walks through what's actually happening and why crypto might need a Plan B. Plus: the SpaceX pre-IPO perp that flash crashed 45% on Hyperliquid, and...
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When Bitcoin’s Bear Market Might End
David maps the current Bitcoin bear market against every prior one — where we are, how much longer it could run, and where the bottom could land. FOLLOW THE SHOW › David — https://x.com/dcanellis › The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW › The Breakdown Newsletter —...
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A Google Engineer Made $1.2M Insider Trading on Polymarket
A Google engineer allegedly profited $1.2 million on Polymarket betting that d4vd would be Google's most-searched person of 2025 — using Google's own internal data. Plus: Blockworks' new Token Transparency Alliance, and an OpenZeppelin co-founder telling friends and family to exit DeFi.…
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Is This $250M AI Company Fake?
Polsia (AI Slop spelled backwards) just announced a $30M raise at a $250M valuation with one human employee. David thinks it's less a company, more performance art. Plus: Uber, Microsoft and NVIDIA all admit AI compute is too expensive, and Tether is launching what looks like a CBDC with the...
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Hyperliquid Hits ATH, XRP ETF Flows, and a $1B Pitch to Save Ethereum | The Breakdown
It's Bitcoin Pizza Day, and David runs through three Friday stories: Hyperliquid breaking all-time high (and why the buyback isn't really the driver), the XRP wallet and ETF flow narrative vs. what the data actually says, and Dankrad Feist's $1B proposal to "save Ethereum." Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS:...
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OpenAI Digs A Moat, Ethereum Foundation Loses Talent, And Polymarket’s UMA Problem | The Breakdown
David unpacks the Ethereum Foundation exits, the Polymarket / UMA Oracle dispute mess revealed by the WSJ, and OpenAI's push to sell guaranteed compute on 1–3 year commits. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:23) ETH Foundation Departures (17:00) Polymarket Dispute Judges (27:11) OpenAI…
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The Messy State of Crypto Governance with Jito Foundation's Nick Almond | The Breakdown
Nick Almond of the Jito Foundation joins David to walk through why DAO governance is a mess, what “pragmatic decentralization” looks like in practice, and how the CLARITY Act will reshape governance going forward. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:22) Why Governance Matters (03:43) Token…
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The $70B AI IPO, Claude Cracks a Lost Wallet, and CLARITY Advances | The Breakdown
Hyperliquid enabled early exposure to the biggest AI IPO of the year. Claude helped recover a Bitcoin wallet locked for 11 years. And CLARITY made it through markup. David runs through all three. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 01:05 Cerebras 12:42 Claude Rescues Wallet 19:17 CLARITY Markup Update...
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Bhutan Times the Top, CLARITY Hits Markup, and the Onchain Pokemon Card Boom | The Breakdown
Bhutan timed the Bitcoin top almost perfectly. The CLARITY Act may only let 10–20 chains qualify as “decentralized.” And onchain Pokémon cards are popping off. David runs through all three. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:31) Bhutan Sells (06:37) Nexo Ad (07:12) Bhutan Sells (Cont.) (14:39) CLARITY...
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Bored Apes Rally, Canton Raises at $2B and Saylor Raps the Bears | The Breakdown
David covers three Monday stories: the NFT mini-revival (Bored Apes doubled in a month), Canton raising $300M at a $2B valuation, and Saylor's AI rap video defending Strategy from “Ponzi” accusations. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:15) Are NFTs Back? (07:24) Nexo Ad (07:59) Are NFTs Back?...
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Coinbase Down Again, HIP-4 vs Polymarket, and Dueling Big Tech Crypto Partnerships | The Breakdown
David covers three Friday stories: Coinbase's hours-long outage on the back of an AWS cooling failure, the data on whether prediction markets are actually beating memecoins, and the dueling Solana + Google Cloud / AWS + Coinbase + Stripe agentic commerce announcements. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro...
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Coinbase's AI Layoffs, a16z's $2.2B Fund, and Strategy's $12.5B Loss | The Breakdown
David covers three Wednesday stories: Coinbase laying off 14% of staff, a16z Crypto raising $2.2 billion, and Strategy losing $12.5 billion as CEO Phong Le floats selling bitcoin. We also unpack the AI-first layoff narrative, the potential return of the infra supercycle ($6B+ raised across crypto...
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Clavicular x Polymarket, the CLARITY Act, and What MegaETH Tells Us About Retail | The Breakdown
David runs through three Monday morning stories: the viral Clavicular clip with Polymarket’s CMO, the CLARITY Act’s compromise on stablecoin yield, and MegaETH’s adoption numbers a week into its points campaign. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:06) Clavicular and Polymarket CMO (09:20) Nexo Ad…
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MegaETH, the DeFi United Bailout, Meta’s USDC Push, and Blockworks Reaches $192M Valuation | The Breakdown
DeFi just raised $302 million to cover losses from the Kelp DAO hack. David calls it what it is: a bailout. David runs through four stories from the week — MegaETH, DeFi United, Meta’s stablecoin payouts, and the Blockworks rebrand. We unpack why MegaETH’s points campaign is the 2021 playbook in...
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How Crypto Is Fighting Back Against North Korea | The Breakdown
North Korea has had IT workers embedded in DeFi protocols since DeFi Summer — and they’re pretty good devs. Nick Bax, blockchain investigator and SEAL 911 incident responder, joins us to break down how crypto crime has evolved from SIM swaps to nation-state social engineering. We unpack the…
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Mythos Leaks, Crypto in the Strait of Hormuz, and DoorDash Stablecoins | The Breakdown
Someone guessed Anthropic’s Mythos URL, gained unauthorized access to the most hyped AI model in history, and used it to build websites. David covers three stories from the week: the Mythos breach, a Tether scam in the Strait of Hormuz, and DoorDash’s stablecoin announcement. We unpack why…
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Can AI Actually Trade Crypto? | The Breakdown
Crypto might be the world’s best test bed for AI trading — and Virtuals Protocol is running the experiment live. Weekee Tiew, co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, joins us to explain Degen Claw, their AI Council judging system, and why agents will soon replace wallets. We unpack why pure P&L is the...
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Crypto Fed Chair, Polymarket Bots, and the Faketoshi Movie
Trump's Fed pick has 30-plus crypto investments — and that's just what he could disclose. David walks through Warsh's filing, a Polymarket bot built on the theory that nothing ever happens, and Hollywood's Craig Wright blockbuster. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (00:21) Trying Something New...
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Kevin O’Leary on AI, Data Centers, and Why He Sold 27 Crypto Positions | The Breakdown
AI is reprogramming the social fabric — and nobody can agree whether that’s a good thing. Kevin O’Leary, investor and entrepreneur, joins us to share his framework for navigating the AI era across investing, data centers, and crypto. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (01:33) One Shot, One...
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The Three Layers of AI Agent Commerce with Jordan Liu | The Breakdown
x402 just got a lot bigger. The Linux Foundation is now backing it — and maybe Amazon, Google, Stripe, Mastercard, and American Express along with them. In this episode, David sits down with Jordan Liu, co-founder of AIsa — one of earliest builders in the x402 ecosystem, with over 20 million...
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Are AI Agents Actually Using Crypto? | The Breakdown
AI agents are coming online fast — and the payment rails for that world are being built right now. David breaks down the race between Coinbase’s x402 and Stripe’s Machine Payments Protocol, the rise of agentic commerce, and why crypto may have a natural edge, before sitting down with Jordan Liu…
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Fed Governor Miran on Why Inflation Fears Are Overstated | Forward Guidance
While The Breakdown is between seasons, we’re bringing some of our favorite conversations from across Blockworks onto the feed. In this episode of Forward Guidance, Felix Jauvin sits down with Fed Governor Stephen Miran at DAS to discuss why he believes inflation fears are overstated, why the Fed...
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The Crypto-TradFi Convergence | Inflection Point
While The Breakdown is between seasons, we’re sharing a panel from Digital Assets Summit featuring the team behind Inflection Point. The conversation explores how investors should think about crypto valuations, what gives L1s value, and why there’s still no shared framework for pricing blockchain...
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Privacy & Institutional Crypto's [Redacted] Future | The Breakdown
While The Breakdown is between seasons, we’re sharing a panel from Digital Asset Summit hosted by David. The discussion explores how institutions think about on-chain privacy, the tradeoffs involved, and what it takes to bring financial systems onto blockchain infrastructure. – Follow Blockworks...
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Investor Relations in the Onchain Era
In this special episode, we introduce Blockworks’ new investor relations platform for onchain businesses. As institutional capital continues to enter crypto markets, expectations around transparency, standardization, and professionalism are rising. But instead of replicating legacy systems,...
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Are We Measuring Crypto All Wrong? | Nick Almond
While The Breakdown is between seasons, we’re sharing the full version of a past conversation with Nick Almond. The discussion explores how to think about crypto networks, why common metrics can be misleading, and what actually matters when evaluating activity and value. Follow Blockworks…
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The Macro Chain Reaction of Oil Shocks | Forward Guidance
While The Breakdown is between seasons, we’re sharing a recent episode of Forward Guidance. Felix is joined by Bob Elliott to break down how oil shocks impact inflation, growth, and central bank policy—and why markets may be underestimating the risks. As always, remember this podcast is for...
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Why I’m Hosting The Breakdown | David Canellis | The Breakdown
As a new season of The Breakdown approaches, David takes a moment to introduce himself and explain how he thinks about Bitcoin, crypto culture, and the industry’s next phase. – Follow David: https://x.com/dcanellis — Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks...
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The Real Forces Moving Bitcoin Now | Marc Arjoon
Marc Arjoon joins the show to discuss how institutional flows, ETF market structure, and the changing economics of Bitcoin mining are reshaping the market. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions,...
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Bitcoin’s Halving Cycle Isn’t What You Think | The Breakdown
From miners to institutional buyers, David breaks down why Bitcoin’s halving cycle may still shape the market — even if the supply shock itself is fading. Plus, a conversation with Marc Arjoon. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone…
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AI Agents and the Next Wave of Crypto Demand | The Breakdown
How should crypto tokens be valued? Haseeb Qureshi breaks down why cash-flow rights won’t “fix” prices, and how AI agents transacting on-chain could drive the next wave of demand. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show…
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Introducing: Inflection Point | The Crypto-TradFi Convergence
In this first episode of Inflection Point, we explore the accelerating convergence between traditional finance and crypto as institutional adoption begins reshaping the foundations of global financial infrastructure. The conversation examines ETFs, DeFi innovation, market structure shifts,...
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Crypto VC Is Not The Problem | The Breakdown
Are retail investors just exit liquidity? We unpack the token premium, forced price discovery, and what Ethereum and Tron data reveals about when fundamentals actually matter. Featuring insights from Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only,...
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Is Crypto Becoming Fintech? | Nick Almond
Crypto and fintech are converging. But who captures the value? Nick Almond on stablecoins, DAOs, and the future of capital formation. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.…
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Fintech Might Absorb Crypto | The Breakdown
With no clear external enemy left, crypto may be facing its next antagonist: fintech. This episode explores whether crypto is winning — or being domesticated. Plus, a conversation with Nick Almond. As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by...
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Crypto Can Build The Agent Economy | The Breakdown
Daniel Shapiro joins to break down why AI and crypto may be destined to converge — from agent payments and identity to privacy, data markets, and the next big investable primitive. Thanks for tuning in! As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Breakdown dives into the deepest topics in crypto, blockchain, and the macro forces shaping markets and power structures. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into clear, grounded analysis — separating signal from noise across crypto, finance, and geopolitics.
Hosted by David Canellis, The Breakdown features explainers, interviews, and conversations with the people building, regulating, and challenging the financial system.
A Blockworks podcast.
Subscribe to The Breakdown newsletter: https://the-breakdown.carrd.co/
HOSTED BY
Blockworks
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Breakdown have?
The Breakdown currently has 1000 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Breakdown about?
The Breakdown dives into the deepest topics in crypto, blockchain, and the macro forces shaping markets and power structures. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into clear, grounded analysis — separating signal from noise across crypto, finance, and geopolitics. Hosted by David Canellis, The...
How often does The Breakdown release new episodes?
The Breakdown releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 1000 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to The Breakdown?
You can listen to The Breakdown on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Breakdown?
The Breakdown is created and hosted by Blockworks.
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