Betting On Zero Burke Koonce & John Fichthorn

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the first episode of Season Three.
Hedge fund veteran John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and longtime Wall Street analyst Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and as of last March, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.
In this new episode, Season Three begins with the same theme that prevailed at the end of Season Two--trouble in crypto land. When Season Two ended, TerraUSD had just collapsed--a stablecoin that wasn't so stable. Well, the past was prologue--the so-called J.P. Morgan of crypto has just lost $16 billion in about three business days. Turns out SBF, the FTX pioneer, might not have been the elder statesman of crypto he held himself out to be. Who could have guessed? 

We take the deep dive into SBF and team's sudden and extremely goofy failure. Maybe de-fi isn't so de-fi? More like fi in search of a regulated version of itself--it's a cartoon version of finance. 

And of course, no episode of the Betting On Zero podcast would be complete without us bashing Russia. Things suddenly really seem to be breaking Ukraine's way. Imagine a world in which Russia and Iran have collapsed and swoon westward; it'd be interesting. 

Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the ninth episode of Season Two.
John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and as of just two months ago, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.
Gaming Wall Street is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml. The two-part documentary explores the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and the light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street.

In this new episode, as John is midway through his dive down the rabbit hole that is TerraUSD, the stablecoin that wasn't so stable, when Burke gently reminds him about something interesting and highly unexpected that happened last week--Burke got invited to go on Tucker Carlson Today to talk about GameStop. After a whirlwind sequence of events, Burke traveled to Tucker's studio to talk about the meme stock frenzy that of course was the subject of Gaming Wall Street. Tune in to see how the interview went (spoiler alert--Burke did not think he sounded as stupid as he feared he might, at least in his own mind.)

After paying proper homage to Burke's 15 minutes of fame, the conversation turned back to TerraUSD, the crypto stablecoin that wasn't--and what may in fact be the canary in the coal mine for the entire crypto ecosystem and potentially other ecosystems. As much as we try, algorithmic-backing of a digital currency is not a subject we really comprehend. But try, and laugh we do!

And of course, no episode of the Betting On Zero podcast would be complete without us bashing Russia and China for their brutal regimes. 

And of course, this leads us to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter! We'll see what happens! 

Rates are up again and, stocks are down further. Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the eighth episode of Season Two.
John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and just last month, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.
Gaming Wall Street is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml. The two-part documentary explores the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and the light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street. 

In this new episode, while are still basking in the warm afterglow of getting the documentary out into the world, there is still the seemingly unlimited supply of Wall Street shenanigans to discuss, starting with this week's arrest of former trading superstar Bill Huang. The enigmatic Huang, who once ran Tiger Asia, was picked up by federal authorities for a long laundry list of no-nos, including racketeering and market manipulation. Turns out when you lie to your federally-insured bankers about how much of their capital you have put at risk they don't like it very much. Huang's leverage at his family office Archegos was like nothing we've ever seen. 

Our discussion of Huang's downfall leads into a discussion of the broader Chinese market downturn, which apparently reflects the growing lockdowns in Shanghai and possibly additional Chinese cities, which of course has massive implications for the rest of the world's economy.  Unfortunately, the freedom of the Chinese people to talk about what's happening there is limited, which limits our own understanding. This censorship is the same tool used by Putin to support his terrible war in Ukraine--anywhere freedom of speech is impaired, really bad things tend to happen.

And of course, this leads us to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter! We'll see what happens! 

Rates are up, stocks are down. Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the seventh episode of Season Two.
John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and now... another one! Gaming Wall Street!
OK, so the secret is out. Biltmore Films, the company founded by Betting On Zero producers Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn, is excited to announce a new documentary film, Gaming Wall Street, about the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street.

The two-part documentary debuted on March 3 on HBO Max. The film is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml.

In this episode, we are still basking in the warm afterglow of getting the documentary out into the world, and of course, since Gaming Wall Street is about Wall Street shenanigans and bizarre behavior, it will always be current. Accordingly, our discussion starts off with how AMC Entertainment is acquiring a 22 percent stake in a gold mining company.  Meanwhile GME Chairman Ryan Cohen has bought almost a 10 percent position in Bed Bath & Beyond. What does this mean for shareholders?

And if you thought trading in GameStop was rigged or at least favored the big guys, you'll likely enjoy our discussion of how the London Metal Exchange has closed trading in nickel for the last five days so a fat cat can wriggle out of an actual bona fide short squeeze.

Of course, we talk about the recent volatility in the markets and what it means for stocks. Are there opportunities out there?

And if you haven't streamed Gaming Wall Street, go do it!

Gaming Wall Street shows how the self-proclaimed "apes" set off to take down Wall Street bad guys, only to discover a game that was far more rigged than they could ever imagine. And in the process, they almost took the whole system down. 

Enjoy this episode!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the sixth episode of Season Two! 
John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and now... another one!
OK, so the secret is out and the exciting hour is almost upon us. Biltmore Films, the company founded by Betting On Zero producers Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn, is excited to announce a new documentary film, Gaming Wall Street, about the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street.

The two-part documentary will debut on March 3 on HBO Max. The film is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml.

This is perhaps our most fun episode in two years. It's a celebration of the hard work put in by Toby and his team, including producer Tessa Byford, which resulted in a documentary on HBO Max that we happen to think is first rate.

We discuss how Toby first got involved with the  GameStop story, prowling around on Reddit and drinking the stock market Kool-Aid. Then, after the GameStop story began to take shape, we started chatting and soon enough we were crafting a narrative, meeting characters, and going down rabbit holes. Soon enough, we were in bed with HBO and racing to get a quality project out into the market. And we succeeded. 

Gaming Wall Street shows how the self-proclaimed "apes" set off to take down Wall Street bad guys, only to discover a game that was far more rigged than they could ever imagine. And in the process, they almost took the whole system down. 

Tune in starting on March 3 to see how it all played out, and how it continues to play out. And enjoy this episode!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the fifth episode of Season Two! 
John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero. Keep your eyes peeled for their next film, due out in the first quarter of this year.
In this episode, we cover the latest in crypto fraud news, which is saying something because there's something new every week and the losses are staggering. Crypto talk leads to the NFT marketplace, which is something neither of us really comprehend but we both agree that it is hilarious, though sad because neither of us owns any ape cartoons and so neither of us is a gazillionaire. NFTs and apes lead us back to Reddit Apes and the latest in the meme stock rally and crash, and finally, since we're talking about the metaverse, we cover the value destruction at Meta Platforms, which until recently was known to the world as Facebook. 

Finally, we close out the episode with some movie recommendations. Also, we drag Yoko Ono through the mud. 
This is a wide-ranging episode and fun. We hope you enjoy it, and have a great weekend.