- 68
- Episodes
- 23
- Ratings
- Weekly
- Cadence
- 2026
- First episode
About Bits + Bips
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.
- Publisher
- Unchained
- Category
- business · news
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 22 Feb 2026
- Latest episode
- 3 Nov 2026
Latest episodes
68 episodes in the feed.
3 Nov 2026
Binance Lost $6.3 Billion. Why Does Crypto Still Lack Circuit Breakers?
Binance lost $6.3 billion in a 20-minute burst. Austin, Ram, and Chris ask why crypto still lacks the circuit breakers. Sponsor Put your crypto to work with Nexo: earn daily interest or borrow funds against your assets on one platform trusted by more than 10 million clients. Find out more at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-sn. Geo-restrictions, eligibility and terms apply. Quick favor: We’re deciding what Unchained does next; new shows, stream times, what’s worth paying for. Our listener survey takes five minutes, it’s anonymous, and I read the write-in answers myself. Everyone who finishes it gets a free month of Premium, Unchained or Bits + Bips, your pick. Open through Sunday, November 8. — Laura 👉 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/ Binance lost about $6.3 billion from its hot wallets on October 29, most of it in a 20-minute burst, in an attack the FBI pins on North Korea. The exchange says it has covered about 95% of the loss, but the shock helped push Bitcoin to its worst October since 2014. Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins debate whether AI favors attackers or defenders, and Austin argues crypto never built the withdrawal delays and circuit breakers TradFi treats as basic risk management. They also cover ICE's minority stake in Trade[XYZ] and its plan to run 24/7 Hyperliquid-based perps in the US, the 50 public companies objecting to tokenized trading of their shares on OKXICE, and the roughly $5 trillion AI and chip stocks have shed since October 6. The episode closes on the midterms, where Austin makes the case that the polls are almost certainly wrong. The only question is how, and by how much. Hosts Austin Campbell - Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia - Co-host of Bits + Bips and CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins - Co-host of Bits + Bips and Head of Franklin Crypto Timestamps: 🎬 00:00 Intro 📋 00:26 Unchained Survey: complete the listener survey at https://unchainedcrypto.com/survey 🚨 01:33 Binance's $6.3B hack: the 20-minute drain, the FBI's attribution, the fallout 🔐 06:36 Why Ram says digital assets have failed to secure customer deposits 🛑 14:09 Why Austin thinks missing circuit breakers made the hacks worse 📣 18:14 Nexo: Generate daily interest on your crypto or borrow funds against your assets at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-yt 🏛️ 18:40 ICE takes a stake in Trade[XYZ] to run US Hyperliquid-based perps 🧱 24:06 Why Austin calls ICE's growing market portfolio the 'all-everything stack' 🪙 30:21 Why 50 public companies objected to tokenized trading on OKX ICE 📉 40:27 How AI and chip stocks shed $5T as investors refocus on cash flow 🗳️ 47:50 Why Austin thinks the midterm polls are missing Republican voters
27 Oct 2026
How AI Agents Are Exposing a Bank Business Model Built on 'Laziness'
Banks are blocking AI agents in the name of safety. Jim Bianco asks who they are really protecting, and what $4 trillion in zero-yield deposits has to do with it. Sponsor Put your crypto to work with Nexo: earn daily interest or borrow funds against your assets on one platform trusted by more than 10 million clients. Find out more at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-sn. Geo-restrictions, eligibility and terms apply. Quick favor: We're deciding what Unchained does next; new shows, stream times, what's worth paying for. Our listener survey takes five minutes, it's anonymous, and I read the write-in answers myself. Everyone who takes it can enter a drawing for a free year of Unchained Premium or Bits + Bips Premium. Open through Sunday, October 18. — Laura 👉 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/ Chase has stopped letting customers reach their accounts through AI agents, and credit card issuers are following, Jim Bianco, President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, says . The banks say it is about safety. Bianco says it is about $4 trillion in zero-yield accounts that an agent could sweep into a money market fund. Jim joins Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins to connect that fight to Black October, the wave of AI-discovered PHP flaws now exploited in the wild, and to explain why the ICBC ransomware attack keeps hacked firms quiet. They also pick apart Anthropic's S-1, from $16.3 billion in first-half revenue to over $400 billion in compute commitments and a risk section that mentions ending humanity. Jim makes the case that AI is forcing Wall Street to invent new financing tools, the way Venice invented the secondary bond market. They also discuss whether the Fed starts signaling a December hike. Hosts Austin Campbell - Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern Ram Ahluwalia - Co-host of Bits + Bips and CEO of Lumida Chris Perkins - Co-host of Bits + Bips and Head of Franklin Crypto Guest Jim Bianco - President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research Timestamps: 🎬 00:00 Intro 📋 00:47 Unchained Survey: Complete the listener survey at https://unchainedcrypto.com/survey 🎙️ 01:34 Bits + Bips: Search Bits + Bips and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/@Bitsandbips 🔓 01:55 Black October: what AI-discovered PHP flaws mean for internet security 💸 07:31 Have the breaches done economic damage yet? From GMO Internet to ICBC 🏦 14:28 Why Jim says banks blocking AI agents are protecting profits, not customers 🌏 24:35 Why the US, UK, and France fear AI while China and Indonesia embrace it 💠 28:20 Nexo: Generate daily interest on your crypto or borrow funds against your assets at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-yt 📉 29:06 Tech sell-off: why Jim says AI is forcing Wall Street to 'mutate' again 📑 39:39 What Anthropic's S-1 reveals about its revenue, compute bill, and governance 🗳️ 48:43 Why Jim thinks AI will split Democrats between the DSA and labor unions 👔 52:13 Ram on why low-skilled white-collar jobs are now at risk from AI 🏛️ 55:51 Fed preview: why Jim thinks a December hike would be healthy for the economy
20 Oct 2026
Why Crypto Is Holding Up as the AI Trade Starts to Crack
The chip index fell 11.4% and the KOSPI had its worst week since 2008, yet Bitcoin finished flat. Coinbase's John D'Agostino and Agora's Nick van Eck join the Bits + Bips crew to explain why. Sponsor Put your crypto to work with Nexo: earn daily interest or borrow funds against your assets on one platform trusted by more than 10 million clients. Find out more at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-sn. Geo-restrictions, eligibility and terms apply. Quick favor: We're deciding what Unchained does next; new shows, stream times, what's worth paying for. Our listener survey takes five minutes, it's anonymous, and I read the write-in answers myself. Everyone who takes it can enter a drawing for a free year of Unchained Premium or Bits + Bips Premium. Open through Sunday, October 18. — Laura 👉 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/ The chip index lost 11.4% in a week and South Korea's KOSPI had its worst week since 2008, yet Bitcoin finished roughly flat. Is crypto trading on its own drivers, or did it just take its losses earlier? John D'Agostino, Head of Institutional Strategy at Coinbase, and Nick van Eck, CEO and co-founder of Agora, join Austin Campbell and Chris Perkins to sort it out. D'Agostino points to low liquidity and treasury company buying, while van Eck says the next year could be significantly bullish. They also weigh whether frontier labs like Anthropic can build a moat, what CoreWeave's 25% drop and Anthropic's reported junk rating say about AI credit, and why 3.7% CPI and a 10-year that touched 5.33% leave the Fed boxed in. Van Eck calls the debt math "the generational pump and dump." The question underneath it all: can the US grow its way out? Hosts Austin Campbell - Host of Bits + Bips, Founder of Zero Knowledge Group, and Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern Chris Perkins - Co-host of Bits + Bips and Head of Franklin Crypto Guests John D'Agostino - Head of Institutional Strategy at Coinbase Nick van Eck - CEO and Co-founder of Agora Timestamps: 🎬 00:00 Intro 📉 01:50 Chips crack, Bitcoin holds: did crypto trade on its own drivers? 💵 08:20 Nick on why GENIUS pulled enterprise stablecoin demand forward 3-5 years 📲 12:25 John's '1-hour thesis' and $20M a week in tokenized stocks in the UAE 🤖 15:15 Is the AI trade unwinding, and do frontier labs like Anthropic have a moat? 🟦 24:45 Nexo: Generate daily interest on your crypto or borrow funds against your assets at https://unchainedcrypto.com/go/nexo-podcast-yt ⛽ 25:23 Why 3.7% CPI, $110 Brent, and a 5% 10-year leave the Fed in a tough spot 🧓 31:37 Nick's 'generational pump and dump' and why voters are angry at both parties 🏗️ 41:38 Where will AI's debt come from after CoreWeave's 25% slide? 🔐 47:29 Why AI's math breakthroughs pull forward the post-quantum timeline
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
- Apple Podcasts (US)
- 4.1 / 5
- 15 ratings
- Spotify
- 3.9 / 5
- 8 ratings
Contact Bits + Bips
- Guest appearances
- Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Shows with a similar audience
Host of Bits + Bips?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show
Podcast research with Pod Engine