Diamond Rhino

Brady Dale
  • 5.0 (2)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

An explainer show where I talk through what's big, what's changing, what's interesting and what's bad, ever so bad, in the cryptocurrency universe. Every Sunday. www.frontstageexit.com

  1. The Wolverine Stack debate misses the point (and needles)

    3D AGO

    The Wolverine Stack debate misses the point (and needles)

    Whenever some big change hits the world, the conversation goes the same way: * People on the frontier dive in and pat each other on the back for seeing the future (mistakes get made). * The mainstream rolls its eyes, clutches its pearls, wrings its hands and says “tsk, tsk, tsk” (opportunities get missed). * Eventually Matthew Yglesias and Scott Alexander write very long posts about them. No one reads both. Diamond Rhino, the inimitable podcast, sits in the middle of all that. It puts the frontier and the mainstream together on one show and asks if there aren’t some good points made on both sides. So, here we are in week two of our coverage of peptides, the industry that’s already bigger than video games were when everyone got surprised that video games were bigger than Hollywood about a decade ago. The only people who aren’t behind on this issue are in too deep. Join the A-Team: So, this week, I dig into claims focus have made about BPC-157 (mostly) and also TB-500, the two grey market peptides that often get combined into what’s known as “The Wolverine Stack” — because they are each thought to help people heal. It’s just that they don’t help everyone heal! And when they do help, results vary! And also people keep making themselves sick, but not because of what was put in the vials. More on all of this on today’s episode. Are you hyped? (we’re against hype about everything except this newsletter). But here’s the part you’re not going to expect but is actually going to really help ground you through the conversation: We’re going to start with some really modest claims from people you have never heard of. Anecdotes aren’t data, but they are information. 🖤 To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast Sources Joe Rogan Experience #1683 - Andrew HubermanJune 27, 2024 BPC-157: Everything You Need to Know—Benefits, Risks, Dosing, & Delivery MethodsQuinn Stilson MDJune 12, 2025 Why I Stopped BPC-157 and TB-500 PeptidesApril 26, 2024Bill Maeda I Took The Wolverine Stack & My Thoughts On BPC-157 & TB-500Dr. Josh JagodaOctober 19, 2025 My Experience with BPC-157 | Peptides That ENHANCE HEALING?Stephanie Wolff, PAJuly 15, 2022 My BPC-157 storyJake WatkinsAug 20, 2025 How BPC157 and TB500 Changed My Life A Personal Account (Peptide Therapy)Gabriel PicadoJune 23, 2024 I Analyzed the Wolverine Stack Evidence—Here's What I Found (BPC-157 & TB500 Peptides)Dr. Chris Raynor | Not Your Everyday OrthoMarch 14, 2026 Doctor Admits — I Was WRONG About The Wolverine StackDr. Ashley FroeseMar 10, 2026 Notes Jake Watkins follow up video, Jan 6, 2026 14 Peptides Are About to Become Legal Again — What This Means for Your Health, Meto, March 12, 2026 Nevada Regulators Fine Peptide Providers at Anti-Aging Festival Where Two Women Became Critically Ill, Propublica, March 13, 2026 A Las Vegas Festival Promised Ways to Cheat Death. Two Attendees Left Fighting for Their Lives, Propublica, July 29, 2025 Music in the episode: “Data Breach” by FASSounds “Fortnite Roblox Minecraft Video Game Music,” by MFCC “Abstract Glitch Hop” by The Mountain “Bitcoins going up” by SunoMusicShowYouTube All from Pixabay Music This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    55 min
  2. What we talk about when we talk about peptides

    MAR 29

    What we talk about when we talk about peptides

    Correction (March 30, 2026, 12:26 PM CST): At one point in the episode, I compare Ozempic to Wegovy. I should have compared it to Zepbound, instead. If you had a coworker who seemed to transform one month, what would you do? What if she seemed to have more pep in her step, a glow in her skin, more focus and more charm? Would you ask her what was going on? You might assume she had found a fresh romance, but what if she reached into her bag, pulled out a little pouch and opened it up to show you a bunch of nasal sprays and said: “I’ve been shooting these on the reg and I feel like I’m 17 again.” If she swore to you that she knows a dozen other people doing the same thing and that they all report similar results, with no noticeable downsides, what would you do? Would you order a few bottles? That’s roughly a conversation that’s taking place on the West coast quite a bit right now. I am willing to bet it’s coming to your backyard sooner than you think. The driver of the conversation: synthetic peptides. Sprays and injections that enter our body and imitate little proteins that have always been good at telling our bodies to do the things we need them to do. Peptides have been an ambient topic for me over the last three or four years. It all started with Ozempic, of course, but I’ve come across people experimenting with other peptides as well, for things like healthy skin. It felt like one of those frontier topics that I should have a look into, but once I started poking around YouTube videos and podcasts exploring the topic, I realized how exciting this new kind of hacking really looks to be. Here’s a heuristic about technology that has never let me down: If lots of smart people and smart money moves into a sector, it can’t lose. Something valuable will come out of it. We are in the rebel phase of peptide experimentation and entrepreneurship. It’s a point at which it makes sense to look directly at the rhetoric around peptides in order to see whether or not it sounds similar to (perhaps misguided) rhetoric we have heard about other topics in other times. This is not a peptides explainer. This is an exploration of the explanations. All I want to convince you of is this: an important conversation about healthcare, health hacking and health sovereignty is underway in this country. And, of course, there are major vested interests naysaying the whole conversation. Also, Martin Shkreli naysays it. 🖤 To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast Sources Silicon Valley's new miracle drugMarch 6, 2026Good Work How Peptides Conquered the InternetFeb 13, 2026Search Engine The Booming Business of Chinese PeptidesDec 19, 2025Odd Lots The Great Peptide Debate, Musk Driving on the Moon, AI Coming for Zuck’s Job, Unitree S1TBPNMarch 23, 2026Martin Shkreli v. Max Marchione The Truth About Popular Peptides (What Works, What’s Overhyped) | Peptide Tier List pt.1Dec 22, 2025Dr. Alex Tatem Dr. Josh Axe: On Mitochondrial Health, Peptide Therapy and Parasite Infections | TUH #205The Ultimate HumanGary BreckaSept 30, 2025 Before You Start Peptides: A Doctor Answers Your Biggest QuestionsNov 29, 2025Dr. Ashley Froese Joe Rogan Experience #2376 - Brigham BuhlerSept 9, 2025 Narrative note I’m super skeptical of personal stories from founders and influencers. I included one tiny one. The low trustworthiness of personal storytelling at this point obviously complicates this narrative, and something I will work to remain mindful of going forward. Notes The Peptide Craze, Ground Truths Life on Peptides Fees Amazing, NY Mag People are buying unregulated, injectable peptides from Chinese factories. Are they safe?** I Talked to 100 People on PEPTIDES - Here’s What They Said, Feb 10, 2026, Dr. Ashley Froese They Went on Ozempic—and Gave Up on Life, by Evan Gardner, The Free Press, March 26, 2026 The Ozempicization of the Economy, Kyla Scanlon, March 26, 2026 Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding that May Present Significant Safety Risks, FDA Which 14 of the 19 Peptides Are Becoming Legal Again?, OpenLoop, March 13, 2026 Music in the episode: “Data Breach” by FASSounds “Fortnite Roblox Minecraft Video Game Music,” by MFCC “Abstract Glitch Hop” by The Mountain “Bitcoins going up” by SunoMusicShowYouTube All from Pixabay Music Front Stage Exit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    1h 17m

  3. MAR 22

    Yes, prediction markets have won, but why do they feel so gross? (with Kate Irwin)

    I feel weird about prediction markets. I think a lot of us do? Those of us who feel weird about them call it gambling. Those of us who think they are great prefer “gaming.” Our whole country is in the middle of a big conversation about whether or not prediction markets are on balance good or on balance bad. So, I invited someone who made her beat gaming — the kind of gaming where people try to have fun more than they try to make money (though she was covering crypto gaming, so that line got blurry too, in all fairness), the great Kate Irwin. You know her from Decrypt, PCMag and Blockworks. Now she’s leading content at the vault company Veda. * She broke the fall of a major crypto gaming operation, Neon Shrapnel. * And GameStop bagging on NFTs. * She made some waves last last year with her big take on the industry, “Extraction Isn’t the Only End Game.” Front Stage Exit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. In this episode, we hear from a number of proponents of prediction markets, from key moments in the history of this sector: before they were legal here, amid the election of 2024 and afterward, as they started to settle in as a clear industry in the United States. As I edited this episode, I realized that I don’t represent my views on this topic as well as I should. As usual, my general approach is: “Let’s wait and see.” However. Most use on prediction markets now is sports betting. Sports betting is bad. As a great man once said: “That’s a judgement call and I’m making it.” You can see it in the fact that we have more and more scandals in sports. I don’t even care about sports. I don’t watch them. I don’t follow them, but it’s clear to anyone who cares to look that gambling not only corrupts the game but also hurts enough of the bettors to make it not actually worth it societally. The big idea of prediction markets is that people would bet on things that would help societally. Like, could we set up markets on, for example, which presidential candidate is likely to yield a better overall employment rate? Or a lower national deficit? As Robin Hanson explains in a quote (admittedly, from quite a few years ago) that I clipped from an old episode of Epicenter (linked below), you usually can’t get a lot of liquidity into questions like that. People just don’t find them that interesting. The tough question that Irwin speaks to a lot in this episode is insiders. * Is society better off if prediction markets give them a profit motive to reveal privileged information by making a bet on something that they are more informed about than anyone else? * Or is society worse off, because those insiders hover up all the money from retail traders who are making bets on public information and vibes? On that one, I’m a little bit sympathetic to the Hanson view that it’s good to get that information out there, albeit indirectly. But there will be weird edge cases. For example, the Israeli reservist charged for placing bets using privileged military information. The Racket News has a good post up today about people betting on the war in Iran. We can’t know for sure that insiders were placing bets, but the sudden rush of wagers just before the attack looks suspicious. And that’s not the only event that looks suspicious. As Racket reports, Democrats have prepared legislation to forbid Federal employees from placing bets, but I would not bet on that legislation going anywhere. At least not in this session. Even in crypto, some influential folks are starting to raise their eyebrows. I’m a regular listener to Castle Island Ventures’ weekly news roundup podcast. Nic Carter is starting to give the markets side eye. He suspects retail will get out of the game, soon, as they realize how outclassed they are in most markets. On the other hand, prediction markets offer some good features for bettors. First of all, their odds are just much more legible. Second, sports books also stack the deck against bettors. If you are any good at placing wagers, sports books will just kick you off. Michael Lewis and his producer Lidia Jean Kott broke all this down in season 4 of their podcast, Against the Rules. Prediction markets won’t do this because you aren’t betting against Polymarket or Kalshi. You’re betting against another user (you don’t know which one, but you are). So they don’t care if you’re good or bad. They just like your liquidity. So it is fair to say that prediction markets are different in kind from sports books. OK. But are they different in consequence? If we were getting lots of compelling insights about the fate of companies or the fate of policy in the U.S. out of these things, I might feel differently. But we mainly seem to be getting a new way for corrupt politicians to max extract and for nobodies to lose money. These are some of the topics Irwin and I explore in today’s pod. In this post, I wrote more of what I actually think about prediction markets, because I don’t think I say it very well in the episode. * That’s okay though! Kate does a great job making her take clear! So listen for Kate! One last thing: As I was researching clips to make for this episode, I stumbled on this video about not making rookie mistakes: I thought I might make a clip from it as something orthogonal for Kate and I to discuss, but, to be honest, I didn’t even understand it. It made me feel like even dumber money. Buy markets on the future at your own risk, friends. Looks pretty rough out there. Sources The Folly of PredictionSteven LevittFreakonomics2011 Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets And The Challenge Of Disruptive TechnologyEpicenter2015 Polymarket CEO says his prediction market is “the most accurate thing we have as mankind right now.”Anderson Cooper and Shayne Coplan2025 Why the Media Got the 2024 Election WrongTom Schmidt, Robert Leshner and Haseeb QureshiThe Chopping Block 2024 Prediction Markets and the “Suckerifcation” CrisisCharlie Warzel and Max Read 2025 Show notes Meta layoffs — this was weird. We discussed this as a hypothetical market on the show and then it happened, right after we taped. Male suckerification crisis Kalshi beats CFTC ahead of 2024 election Polymarket comes back to USA FBI raids Shayne Coplan’s home after 2024 election Rain Protocol Variant post on Melee Disclosure I have made a few bets on a few markets. I don’t trade. I let ‘em ride. I threw in about $50 and spread it across several of the Democrats who were favorites to get the Democratic Party’s nomination for President. I don’t actually care about this race, I just noticed that the prices for all of them were so low that if any of the ones I bet on won, it would more than make up for my losses on the other. Of course a dark horse could easily hit and I’ll lose it all. So it goes. I also have roughly $20 in on whether or not we will learn aliens exist this year. I bought that more as hopium than because I actually think it will work out. I did it right after Trump announced he was asking Hegseth to reveal what the military really knows (looking at your Air Force — you guys have been so sketch). As we know, I love this topic. Kate and I actually discussed this but as I was editing I decided to cut it for time as one of the weaker bits. So the same info is now here in the post. There was one good part in the tape I was sad to cut. After saying which bets I’d made, Kate basically says, “Congratulations, Brady. You’re exit liquidity.” Not wrong. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    58 min

  4. MAR 15

    Blood of the Bitcoin books

    How many novels have we seen so far about some numbnuts taking a job at a Silicon Valley startup? Lots. But what we haven’t seen nearly so much of, proportionally, have been books that deal with the world of blockchains. That despite the fact that nonces, hashrates and memes have powered a whole hell of a lot of real-world drama. From scams to billionaires to nation-state meltdowns to cyber-robbery, crypto has veered wildly into the edgy zones where fiction breathes. A part of the problem may be that, as Alex Perez pointed out in 2022, the only books that can get a deal in American publishing focus on the sort of subjects that make an NPR listener say “so important” and “thank you” in that hushed tone of the yes-very-concerned. I think that’s part of the story. “Crypto” is definitely poisonous among that set. (I may or may not know something about trying to get bookstores — which have the same sensibility — to give the author of a book about cryptocurrency some attention.) But there’s another problem: The crypto world barely cares about reading books about itself. This is something that Molly J. Zuckerman and I have been discussing, privately, for some time. Molly is a long time crypto journalist, and she used it in a very real and daily way before she ever started writing about this technology. So I asked Molly to come talk to me about a new crypto novel that has hit the virtual shelves of Amazon, Blood of the Bourgeoisie, by Michael Sullivan. One problem with crypto fiction might be the fact that, as Molly points out in our conversation, most of the drama on chain, at the end of the day, is about pushing buttons on a laptop. A lot of inanity has gone down in crypto, but I can’t think of any swordfights. And everyone knows that swordfights are crucial for good fiction. But, there is this new novel. It’s about Bitcoin. In the world of this book, there is only Bitcoin. So Molly and I both read it (I confess that I was skimming pretty hard by the end) and we talk about it on today’s episode. We also talk about some other books, too, so here is the complete list of the crypto books discussed in what follows, in the order that we give them appreciable attention: * Blood of the Bourgeoisie, by Michael Sullivan (the star of our show), * REKT: A Crypto Hallucination , by Chris Furlong (best supporting actor), * The Oracle: A Novel, by Ari Juels, * Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall, by Zeke Faux, * American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, by Nick Bilton and * Bitcoin Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich. (Molly also namechecks some fiction books that bring up blockchain topics, but you’ll have to listen for those) 🖤 To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast Next week… Kate Irwin and I will discuss prediction markets, what folks have said about them and what we think. This will be the second time Kate and I have talked about this weird world of ours. The first time was here: Sources #25 Michael Sullivan - Blood of the Bourgeoise | The Best Fiction Novel About BitcoinThe Bitcoin BroadcastNov 2025 Show notes How to Send Money to the Wrong Side of the WarCoinDesk How Tyler Winklevoss Converted His Biographer Into a Bitcoin BelieverCoinTelegraph Dear Crypto: Read a Book AlreadyBlockworks Net Society #65: Exit through the Grift ShopFebruary 2026 Victor PelevinWikipedia Tana FrenchWikipedia Origin story of this episode: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    1h 11m
  5. In court, Sam Bankman-Fried got more guilty by the day

    MAR 1

    In court, Sam Bankman-Fried got more guilty by the day

    A jury of his peers found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts in 2023. Then Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison. In case you’ve forgotten, he launched the crypto exchange that turned out to have a multibillion hole where it’s customer’s money should have been, late in 2022. In recent days, SBF has attempted to exonerate his image in the public and he has sucked up to President Trump on social media as he campaigns for a pardon. It would surprise me immensely if it worked, but his antics gave the journalists who were there to watch his trial a reason to have a reunion of sorts. We didn’t really reunite with each other. Several of them united just with me, over a video call, and all six of them I spoke to are now reunited in this podcast. We revisited the trial, what about it stood out and what we remembered and how convincing we found the prosecution’s case against him (we found it convincing). I’ve been following Sam since the first time I spoke to him amid DeFi summer in 2020. Then after his empire fell apart, I wrote a whole book about the guy. My book, SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy, was the first to hit bookstore shelves. It isn’t the most famous, but it the only one that tells the full length of his story. The others that got attention really only cover about the last 15 minutes of his career, but mine goes back to the start of his days in the crypto trading game, right up through his arrival in U.S. prisons. None of the books so far include in the trial, but this account puts a bunch of perspectives on the trial together. The goal of this dispatch was to look back and talk about what, with time, has become the most memorable parts of the trial — the bits that remain the post compelling. (plus, it’s a fun look under the hood at the reporting process). Just in case time has caused your memories to fade a little, just in case you have started to wonder whether or not we might have been too quick to judge Bankman-Fried, I think this revisiting of his trial should lay any fermenting misgivings to rest. 🖤 To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast Sources Interviews with: * Andre Breganski, Decrypt; * Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge; * Crystal Kim, now of Investopedia, then of Axios; * Aleks Gilbert, DL News; * Ben Weiss, then of Fortune, now of Fortune and * Katie Baker, The Ringer. Judging Sam: The Hail Mary That Wasn’t, Against the Rules, Nov. 1, 2023 Front Stage Exit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Notes Sam Bankman-Fried is waging a social media campaign for a pardon—but President Trump will not give him one, says the White House, Fortune, Feb 4. 2026 The Year That Cryptocurrency Somehow Didn’t Die, The Ringer, Dec. 19, 2023 Michael Lewis Is Still Defending Sam Bankman-Fried, Institutional Investor, Nov. 6, 2023 Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty in FTX fraud case, Axios, Nov 2, 2023 Judge Blocks ‘Going Infinite’ Excerpt as ‘Inadmissible Hearsay’ at Sam Bankman-Fried Trial, Decrypt, Oct 31, 2023 Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t recall, The Verge, Oct 30, 2023 The Crypto Whistleblower at the Center of the Sam Bankman-Fried Storm, Rolling Stone, Oct. 23, 2023 Crypto Influencers and ‘Degenerates’ Flock to Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial, New York Times, October, 20, 2023 Caroline Ellison Was Supposed to Shock the SBF Trial. Instead, the Defense Team Has, The Ringer, Oct 16, 2023 SBF trial: FTX lacked funds to meet customer deposits over a year before collapse, witness says,(that forensic accountant) Axios, Oct 18, 2023 Sam Bankman-Fried was a no-good, very bad ex, Axios, Oct. 12, 2023 FTX used random numbers to generate the size of its insurance fund, The Block, October 9, 2023 Sam Bankman-Fried can’t shut up, Fortune, Oct 23, 2023 Sam Bankman-Fried leans on ‘dumb defendant defence’ as he faces life in prison, Decrypt, Oct 5, 2023 SBF overflow rooms wildness, NY Mag, Oct. 2023 Music: “Data Breach” by FASSounds “Bitcoins going up” by SunoMusicShowYouTube From Pixabay Music This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    1h 23m

  6. FEB 22

    Bear market EthDenver, bull market regulators

    🤯 55% off subscription discount subscription offer * lasts forever! Wow! I was not at ETHDenver 2026. It’s the first one I have missed in several years. But I still have a report for you, because I went through a bunch of the talks posted on YouTube that dealt with the evolving regulatory backdrop for the cryptocurrency world. Regulation still seems like the key theme of the moment — to me. Plus, it’s also the most likely to serve as a catalyst for renewed enthusiasm about cryptocurrency. People were talking a ton about agents and ETH on stage this year, too, but I’m not going to hold my breath for that to make the market kick off. Coinbase getting a proper exchange license, at long last, though? That could be a thing. Authorization to raise money selling tokens? Tokens that send profits back to investors with no doubts about getting slapped with a lawsuit? Oh yes. That could be very real. So I continue to follow along with the agencies. Congress is not going to get this done. 🖤 To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast 📼 Follow up on last week’s ep: Curious about how Bitcoin adapts when price tanks? Sources: All the sources this year came from videos posted on the EthDenver YouTube page. SEC Chair Paul Atkins and SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce in ConversationFeb 18, 2026 The Compliance Era: How Tax Regulation Is Reshaping Web3 | Patrick Camuso - Camuso CPAFeb 18, 2026 The Identity Layer: Compliance as Core Crypto Infrastructure | Derek Woods - PersonaFeb 19, 2026 Why TradFi Stablecoins Need DeFi Stablecoins | Gerrit Hall - Curve FinanceFeb 18, 2026 Ethereum: The Next Chapter | Alex Stokes - Ethereum FoundationFeb 19, 2026 Tokenization in 2026: What the Data Says | Dean Khan Dhillon - RWA.xyzFeb 19, 2026 From Boring to Billions: How RWAs Won Crypto, and What's NextFeb 18, 2026 Stablecoins as Infrastructure | Gerrit Hall, Jelena Djuric, DeFi Dave, and Katie TalatiFeb 18, 2026 RWAs: From Experiment to Exponential | Drake Breeding - Circle & Bhaji Illuminati - CentrifugeFeb 18, 2026 Why Policy Needs Cypherpunks | Samuel Jacques Cloutier - Hash DirectorsFeb 20, 2026 — Seriously watch this one 👇 Notes: The Future of Crypto Banking | Jeff John Roberts , Caitlin Long & Rok KoppFeb 18, 2026 Peanut Butter & Watermelon: Financial Privacy in the Digital AgeCommissioner Hester M. PeirceRemarks to the Science of Blockchain ConferenceU.C. BerkeleyAug. 4, 2025 Privacy in the House: Remarks at the Privacy and Financial Surveillance RoundtableCommissioner Hester M. PeirceWashington D.C.Dec. 15, 2025 Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and amended Common Reporting Standard: OECD releases IT format for transmitting information and issues interpretative guidanceOECDOctober 2, 2024 Front Stage Exit is a reader-supported publication. Stick around! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    38 min

  7. FEB 15

    Economist Paul Krugman agrees: Bitcoin is for Exit

    Imagine my surprise when I started going through crypto crash commentary in mainstream media, news shows and podcasts and found that economist Paul Krugman is on my side on one key point. The commentator, who has always hated Bitcoin, concedes the one use case for Bitcoin that is — in my opinion — its most compelling: Its ability to evade capital controls. Bitcoin is for exit. You can hear him say so in the first couple minutes of today’s episode of Diamond Rhino. Wealth that needs to get out from under a government that’s not working for its owner can escape thanks to Bitcoin. It’s the most rarely used but most powerful use case. If Krugman can see it, does that mean he will come around? No. He’s committed to the bit. In fact, for some reason, after a decade-plus of talking about Bitcoin on the reg, the mainstream media is still treating the most recent massive drop in BTC price just like they have treated the past ones: Bitcoin is useless. We don’t see the purpose. It’s just a story. There’s no intrinsic value. It’s probably over this time. Why are reporters in the west so committed to this bit? Do they love being wrong? Weird flex, bro. In this week’s episode of Diamond Rhino, we go through some of the latest takes on the drop in Bitcoin price from the names you know: CNBC, the FT, The Information and so on. Did you hear any mainstream takes that I should have revisited? How fair do you think I was to these commentators? * Let me know in the comments or email me directly. Note: As ever, I edit clips, but mainly to cut down rambling and for efficiency. I don’t change the speakers’ points or clip to make it look like they said something they didn’t really say. If you disagree, let me know. The fulls segments I used are all linked below. To subscribe to Diamond Rhino in a pod player, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast 🤯 55% discount subscription offer * lasts forever, too! Wow! Keep this site going for cheap! Audio sources BitGo CEO Mike Belshe: The latest bitcoin downturn doesn't bother me too muchCNBC w/ host Morgan BrennanFeb 11, 2026 FT’s Jemima Kelly: Bitcoin’s value is zero and the scarcity argument is pretendPowerLunchJemima Kelly with Kelly EvansFeb 10, 2026 Behind the volatility in crypto: Bitcoin hovering around $69,000, ethereum near $2,000MacKenzie Sigalos speaks with Andrew Ross SorkinCNBCFeb 10, 2026 Bitcoin's Bumpy Ride Continues Trading Around $70,000Isabelle LeeBloombergFeb 9, 2026 Bitcoin Slump Raises Questions About Crypto's PurposeBloombergEd Ludlow talking with Jalak JobanputraFeb 9, 2026 Why the Crypto Story is DyingYueqi YangThe Information. Host Akash Pasricha.Feb. 6, 2025 Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman Calls Bitcoin 'Total Bust'Paul KrugmanHosts: Carol Massar and Tim StenovecBloomberg Businessweek Daily.Feb 5, 2026 Be my BFF? Other sources Is This Crypto’s Fimbulwinter?, by Paul Krugman Bitcoin is still about $70,000 too high, by Jemima Kelly, FT The schtick is in, Front Stage Exit Coming Attractions From the Division of Corporation FinanceJames Moloney, Director, Division of Corporation Finance, SECFeb. 13, 2026 Bitcoin: Addresses with Balance > 1 BTC Russia’s Sberbank plans crypto-backed loans to corporate clients Are we the baddies? — Know Your Meme Bitcoin Hashrate Falls 12% After US Winter Storms Hit Miners Bitcoin: Percent Addresses in Profit Bitcoin Difficulty Chart Bitcoin Hashprice Index Thanks for reading Front Stage Exit! This post is public so feel free to share it. Music in the episode: “Data Breach” by FASSounds “Bitcoins going up” by SunoMusicShowYouTube All from Pixabay Music Thanks for listening! Let me know what you think! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    42 min

  8. FEB 8

    Quantum Money, the apotheosis of cypherpunk

    This podcast covers a new twist on the intersection of cryptocurrency and quantum computing. It’s got a wow factor. If you think the quantum threat to Bitcoin is controversial, wait until you see what can be uncovered when you start to look into quantum applications. There’s an idea that’s been floating around out there since 25 years before Satoshi dreamed up Bitcoin: Quantum Money. We say BTC works like cash, but that’s not really true. If I hand you a dollar, no one has to witness that. The dollar in your pocket is the proof that you have it. The location of the dollar is the ledger. No one needs to witness a cash transaction. Bitcoin itself witnesses bitcoin transactions. We don’t mind. We like Bitcoin. It’s neutral. But there are trade-offs there. For example, Chainalysis and Elliptic are always watching. They can probably figure out who we are. What if there were an electronic money that didn’t need witnesses? That’s the promise of quantum money. Quantum money allows the creation of objects, like physical coins, that can work over the internet. In fact, it may even be better than the internet? We may not even need wires. This stuff all gets super weird. It’s like peering through Alice’s looking-glass. All of this is completely theoretical. It’s a long way off. But it’s cool enough that maybe, just maybe, it allows a crypto stan to look at the future with less dread. To maybe even look ahead and feel a little dazzled. Were you dazzled? It would be great to hear your thoughts. Front Stage Exit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. To subscribe to Diamond Rhino on mobile, click on any of these links: * Spotify * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * Overcast Sources The Future is Quantum by Fabrizio Romano Genovese (NeverLocal/QSig/20Squares)Dec 19, 2024Fabrizio Romano Genovese QuantumPunks Meetup Quantum Crypto Acceleration Dec 19, 2024Nicola GregoQuantumPunks Meetup Quantum Punks with Alex and NicolaMay 7 2025Alex Obadia and Nicola GrecoZK Podcast Quantum Cryptography Part 2 Nov. 1, 2023Or SattahZK Podcast Other materials The Quantum Punks Manifesto Quantum Punks Meetups The Quantum Bitcoin Summit Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem – Part II: The Quantum Supremacy, Murmurations II by Nic Carter Bitcoin developers are mostly not concerned about quantum risk, Murmurations II by Nic Carter Restack this baby This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.frontstageexit.com

    42 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

An explainer show where I talk through what's big, what's changing, what's interesting and what's bad, ever so bad, in the cryptocurrency universe. Every Sunday. www.frontstageexit.com

Information

  • Creator
    Brady Dale
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Brady Dale
  • Show Website
    Diamond Rhino