The Breakdown


Markets

The FinCEN Files Show Banks Don’t Actually Care About Stopping Money Laundering

The massive leak of suspicious activity reports shows how banks let the government know about likely money laundering, then go right on providing services.

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Markets

Lyn Alden’s Latest: Why Currency Devaluation Is Inevitable

This week’s “Long Reads Sunday” reading is from macro analyst Lyn Alden and focuses on the inflation vs. deflation debate in historical context.

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Markets

Why the First US Crypto Bank Is a Big Deal

Kraken became the first crypto exchange to win a U.S. banking license this week. Here’s why that matters.

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Markets

'I Didn't Buy It to Sell It. Ever.' MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor on His $425M Bitcoin Bet

The CEO of publicly traded MicroStrategy (MSTR) shares why he started to feel like he was “sitting on a 500-lb block of ice” and how he came to bitcoin as a solution.

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Markets

Monetary Policy Is Finished and Macro Debates Are Boring, Feat. Raoul Pal

A wide-ranging conversation about the state of macro, why central banks can’t really do anything and why private markets are leading the future of money.

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Markets

Governments vs. Networks: The Battle for the Soul of Finance

Governments have significant discretion over economics and finance today, but decentralized network-driven alternatives threaten that control.

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Markets

The Decade of the Living Dead: How Zombie Companies Are Robbing Tomorrow’s Economy

The percentage of companies that can’t afford to pay the interest on their debt has reached a new all-time high in the wake of central bank intervention.

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Markets

The Business of Geopolitical Competition

As Oracle wins a bid for TikTok US, a look at how tech competition, culture competition and currency competition shape the business of geopolitics.

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Markets

Is Being the ‘Saudi Arabia of Money’ Good for America?

A reading of “How to Diagnose Your Own Dutch Disease,” a look at the problems of America’s dollar trade.

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Markets

The Raw, Savage Capitalism of Open-Source Protocols

Recapping the biggest stories of the week, including Joe Biden’s China plan, a market holding pattern and, of course, the strange competitive saga of SUSHI.

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