Bits + Bips: Vanguard's Crypto U-Turn, Tether/MSTR FUD & Picking Future Winners - Ep. 967

Unchained

Monday’s selloff rattled the entire market—Bitcoin, equities, commodities, you name it.

But beneath the volatility, something more structural may be happening.

In this week’s Bits + Bips, Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, Chris Perkins, and B+B OG previous host Alex Kruger break down one of the most confusing macro weeks of the year. They debate why high-beta assets snapped, whether a rotation into quality is underway, why institutions seem unfazed even as retail stays skittish, and share initial thoughts on Vanguard finally allowing clients to buy crypto.

The crew also unpacks Strategy’s chaotic comments about selling BTC, the Clarity Act’s political hurdles, the CME outage that exposed systemic fragility, and the never-ending debate over Tether—profitability, reserves, and what institutions actually want from a stablecoin issuer.

Sponsors:

• Uniswap
• Mantle

Hosts:

• Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida
• Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting
• Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

Guest:

• Alex Kruger, founder of Asgard

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

💥 2:13 What triggered Monday’s selloff—and why Chris is still long-term bullish

🤔 6:57 Why Alex was a bit surprised about this week’s volatility

🔄 12:37 Is there a rotation out of risk and into higher-quality assets?

🗯️ 15:11 The chaos after Strategy CEO floated selling BTC to fund dividends

🏢 18:33 Which types of companies Ram thinks are positioned to win in the near term

📺 22:39 Why Polymarket appearing on 60 Minutes is a positive signal for the industry

🏛️ 25:37 Why passing the Clarity Act will require far more political work

🧠 31:30 Why markets feel like a “Rorschach test”—and whether Fed cuts are actually coming

📉 36:06 Why Alex says we’re entering a new era for the Federal Reserve

💵 42:40 Tether’s balance-sheet drama—and what kind of stablecoin institutions will really choose

⚠️ 52:36 How the CME outage exposed dangerous single points of failure

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