Fed Tightening Hammers Bitcoin, Kazakhstan Internet Outage Disrupts Hash Rate

In this first round up of the New Year, Mark and I started with the question that's on everyone's mind: are we still in a bull market?

Answer - you'll have to listen to the episode to find out! But I will say... compelling narratives and data on both sides. Whatever the truth is, we have clearly entered a pattern of market behavior that is different from past cycles. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

We went pretty deeply into the Fed's recent minutes, including the hawkish pivot and what that means for markets. Four separate rate hikes starting in March of this coming year are now being priced in with 80% probability. Assets are reacting accordingly, with everything from the S&P to the Nasdaq to Bitcoin falling percipitously.

For our weekly stories, we covered the internet outage in Kazakhstan and the commensurate dip in hash power on the Bitcoin network. We also talked about the continued migration of hash rate out of eastern countries and into more stable regimes, primarily the US.

Finally we closed on OpenSea's monster $300 million dollar round led by Coatue and Paradigm. For a more in-depth analysis of what drove their valuation, you'll have to give the episode a listen.

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