Exploring how crypto and macro collide one basis point at a time.
Hosted by Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell and Chris Perkins.
Livestream: Every Monday at 4:30 pm ET.
Bits + Bips
Claim This Podcastby Unchained
5.0(2 reviews)
50 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview
Exploring how crypto and macro collide one basis point at a time. Hosted by Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell and Chris Perkins. Livestream: Every Monday at 4:30 pm ET.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
2/22/2026
1 verified contact email on file for Bits + Bips
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Recent Episodes
July 21, 2026
Stripe Bid $53B for PayPal: Who Actually Wins Stablecoin Payments?
Cyclops founder Alex Wilson on why PayPal 'chose to fail' at stablecoins, and what Stripe's $53 billion bid really means for the payment wars. Plus: the Clarity Act's last shot before recess. --- Thank you to our sponsors: Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED). Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips on its dedicated channels. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. 🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786 🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ 🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0 🔥X - https://x.com/bitsandbips 🔥 Unchained - https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitsandbips/ ---- Stripe and Advent's $53 billion bid for PayPal has reopened an old argument: did PayPal ever really try to win with stablecoins? Alex Wilson, founder of Cyclops and former head of crypto and stablecoins at Shift4, joins Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins to argue that PayPal chose the innovator's dilemma over disrupting its own checkout business, while Stripe used its richer private valuation to buy up cheap public payments companies outright. Wilson and the hosts then map the stablecoin distribution war, from Circle's exposure to bank-led consortiums like OUSD to Robinhood's USDG, which arrived with a built-in user base and a promotional 7% yield. Markets and AI round out the show. Ram Ahluwalia explains why SpaceX's post-IPO round trip is less a top signal than a series of mini euphoric moments unwinding, and why he sees Oracle's balance sheet exposed as Kimi K3 undercuts OpenAI's pricing. Chris Perkins closes on why banks are suddenly pushing for the Clarity Act's federal preemption, and why the Senate may get only one shot before recess. Hosts: Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, Head of Franklin Crypto Guest: Alex Wilson - Founder of Cyclops, Cofounder of The Giving Block, and former Head of Crypto and Stablecoins at Shift4 Timestamps 📣 01:33 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months of America's privacy first mobile carrier at https://cape.co/unchained 🤝 02:49 Meet Alex Wilson: the Cyclops founder on his second run at stablecoin payments 💳 04:59 Stripe's $53B bid for PayPal and what it says about the distribution battle ⚔️ 16:51 The stablecoin distribution war: Circle, the bank-led OUSD, and Robinhood's USDG 🚀 25:47 SpaceX's post-IPO round trip and what record US equity issuance signals 🇨🇳 32:56 Kimi K3: China's cheap open weight model rattles US AI and chip stocks 🧩 38:42 Where Ram thinks AI's value actually accrues: semis, then the app layer 🧠 41:23 Austin on AI in health care and Claude Fable 5's Jacobian conjecture breakthrough 🛡️ 48:11 Why Austin says there's no way to opt out of the AI guardrails race ⚖️ 52:12 The Clarity Act: why Chris says it's one shot on goal before recess
July 17, 2026
Bitcoin and ETH Are Up. But This Crypto Rally Still Lacks Conviction.
Crypto just had its best week in months. GSR's Andy Baehr explains why he is not calling it a real rally yet, and what would actually change his mind. Sponsors Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED). Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips on its dedicated channels. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. 🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786 🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ 🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0 🔥X - https://x.com/bitsandbips 🔥 Unchained - https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitsandbips/ Crypto just booked its best week in months, with Bitcoin pushing toward $65,000 and Ether closing back in on $2,000 after June CPI cooled to 3.5%. Andy Baehr, Managing Director of Asset Management at GSR, joins Steven Ehrlich to explain why he still calls the market ambivalent rather than convicted, and what would actually flip it. They trace new Fed chair Kevin Warsh's “inflation is a choice testimony”, the CoinDesk 80 Index's surprising outperformance against Bitcoin and Ether in the second quarter, Strategy's rare decision to sell Bitcoin to cover preferred dividends, and why Aave lending rates sitting near the risk-free rate show a market with almost no appetite to lever up. Baehr also walks through the fiduciary questions facing onchain vaults and their curators, then puts Polymarket's odds on the Clarity Act at under 40%, down from 75% in May, and argues passage would still catch traders off guard. Host: Steven Ehrlich, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: Andy Baehr - Managing Director of Asset Management at GSR Timestamps 🌡️ 02:56 CPI cools to 3.5%. Does crypto's rally finally have real legs? 🎯 07:29 Peak hawkishness hasn't hit yet, Baehr explains why under Kevin Warsh 📊 11:53 Mag 7 vs Russell 2000: the surprising reason CoinDesk 80 beat Bitcoin in Q2 🏦 17:32 What actually powered Ether's 2025 rally, Baehr's pro-DAT case 💧 22:20 Stablecoin supply is shrinking and Strategy stopped buying. So who's left to buy? 📈 25:35 Aave lending rates near the risk free rate. What that says about appetite to lever up 🏛️ 34:46 Vaults, curators, and the fiduciary questions DeFi still can't answer ⚖️ 43:59 Clarity Act countdown: why passage would still catch markets off guard
July 14, 2026
How China May Be Interfering in Local US Politics to Block AI Data Center Progress
Sam Lyman says a Shanghai-based network is quietly blocking billions in AI data centers. Austin, Ram, and Chris also debate Clarity odds and stablecoins. --- Thank you to our sponsors: Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED). Heads up! If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Bits + Bips on its dedicated channels. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, X, Unchained and wherever you get your podcasts. 🔥 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bits-bips/id1827931786 🔥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKiSkbYrUOOEEiYQEVPniQ 🔥 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6aSBMrOyi33aVDCULJ9mjN?si=NTLk-jl5QGeytA6-2kxMVQ&nd=1&dlsi=42f0b13dd53c4ba0 🔥X - https://x.com/bitsandbips 🔥 Unchained - https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitsandbips/ ---- A political network based in Shanghai has helped block or delay $24 billion in US AI data center construction, according to new research from the Bitcoin Policy Institute. Sam Lyman, head of research at BPI, joins Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins to walk through 21 case studies of Marxist-Leninist activists organizing town hall showdowns, sometimes bused in from out of state, while separating that inorganic pressure from the genuine local concern over water and power that also exists. The hosts press him on the mechanics, then turn to whether the Clarity Act survives the Senate before August recess. Lyman puts the odds at 70%, helped by senator Ron Wyden's surprise endorsement of BRCA. Austin argues age, not party, is the real predictor of political support, and later makes the case that Jamie Dimon has stablecoins backwards. The through line: money moves policy long before votes do, in Shanghai and on Wall Street alike. Hosts: Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins, Co-Host, Head of Franklin Crypto Guest: Sam Lyman - Head of Research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute Timestamps 🗺️ 02:20 BPI's report: the Singham network's $24B block on US AI data centers 🏛️ 07:34 Astroturfing 101: town halls, busing, and the PSL playbook ⚛️ 20:41 Why the AI backlash echoes the mistakes made on nuclear power 📜 25:49 Sam's odds: Clarity passes in the next few weeks at 70% 📣 29:31 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months with code UNCHAINED at https://cape.co/unchained 🤝 30:31 Wyden's surprise break: why a key Democrat just backed BRCA 🎂 37:51 Austin's heuristic: age, not party, predicts crypto and AI support 🛢️ 43:18 Why the market is really pricing Iran tail risk, not a rate hike 🏦 48:57 Dimon's blind spot: why JPMorgan may be stablecoins' biggest winner 🎟️ 53:22 Interchange as a tax: Ram's coupons fix for merchants and consumers 💰 58:04 Franklin's Benji tech and the case for tokenized money funds
50 total episodes available
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This podcast updates daily.
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