The Last Trade: Mark Yusko breaks down why the bitcoin cycle isn’t dead, how futures and index flows “tame” BTC, why gold and oil remain the real benchmarks, and what this year’s post-peak reset signals about an adversarial, institutional future.

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🔸 Connect with Onramp: The leader in resilient, fault-tolerant Multi-Institution Custody for secure, enduring bitcoin ownership.

👉 Inheritance & Trust Planning: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/inheritance

👉 Institutional: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/institutional

👉 Business: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/business

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🎙️ About This Episode

With recurring guest Mark W. Yusko, we zoom out on Bitcoin’s 2025 run: why he still sees a 3 years 11 months, block-based cycle, how fair value models frame the recent peak around $126K, and why a smaller overshoot can mean a healthier foundation for the next phase. We unpack how CME futures and “paper BTC” reshaped market structure, what it really means to judge Bitcoin in gold and oil terms, and how prediction markets and casino-ified finance fit into a world of engineered liquidity and index-driven equities.

From there, we get into the quiet endowment and institutional bid (via Paradigm, Andreessen, and now ETFs), the structural “rigging” of 401(k) and index flows, and the political/regulatory edge of the Genius Act, Clarity Act, and CBDC ambitions. Mark lays out why Bitcoin and gold remain core stores of purchasing power in a heavily financialized system—and how allocators can navigate an increasingly adversarial environment while keeping the message human, savings-focused, and long-term.

The Last Trade: a weekly, bitcoin-native podcast covering the intersection of bitcoin, tech, & finance on a macro scale. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Michael Tanguma, & Brian Cubellis. Join us as we dive into what bitcoin means for how individuals & institutions save, invest, & propagate their purchasing power through time. It's not just another asset… in the digital age, it's The Last Trade that investors will ever need to make.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 – Welcoming Mark Yusko back & Thanksgiving sentiment

02:15 – No blow-off top: did the 2025 cycle peak quietly at $126K?

05:36 – “Taming” Bitcoin: CME futures, paper BTC, and market structure

10:54 – Bitcoin in gold and oil terms: has the real bull market started?

17:46 – Prediction markets, gambling, and separating signal from opinion

25:54 – Post-2020 money printing, MMT, and gold/BTC as liquidity sponges

30:31 – Tech cycles, venture vintages, and where this crypto buildout fits

35:54 – Rigged equities: 401(k)s, index flows, and boomer entitlements

48:42 – Vanguard, JPM, IBIT flows & why “coincidences” cluster on Wall Street

55:22 – Endowments, Paradigm/Andreessen, and quiet institutional BTC adoption

1:08:17 – Genius Act, Clarity Act, CBDCs & the “then they fight you” phase

1:20:15 – Internet vs bitcoin, censorship, and an adversarial next decade

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High-signal insights in bitcoin, macro, and custody.

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🎧 The Last Trade | Final Settlement | Scarce Assets

Peter Grosskopf — former CEO of Sprott and co-founder of Argo — joins Scarce Assets to unpack why gold has been the runaway winner of 2025 and what that says about debt, inflation, and the end of “risk-free” bonds.

Argo // SCP Resource Finance

Connect with Onramp // Onramp Institutional // ⁠Jackson Mikalic on X⁠

WHAT WE COVER:

- How gold became 2025’s top-performing major asset while “nothing was really wrong”

- Central bank de-dollarization: SWIFT sanctions, exploding US deficits, and reserve rebalancing

- Why gold is quietly replacing Treasuries as the global “safe asset”

- The debasement trade: protecting purchasing power when CPI underreports reality

- Peter’s personal allocation: ~50% in gold, silver, Argo balances, and miners

- Liquidity, QT’s end, and why the Fed’s balance sheet likely has to grow again

- Inside Argo: 24/7 direct-to-vault gold, outside the financial system, at ETF-beating costs

- Tokenized gold (Tether, Pax) and why custody, vaults, and bankruptcy remoteness matter

KEY INSIGHTS:

- Gold’s 2025 move isn’t about a single crisis — it’s decades of debasement risk finally being priced in

- Central banks aren’t just “adding diversification”; they’re hedging both sanctions and US fiscal decay

- For Peter, gold is no longer a hedge against dollars — it’s the base unit of savings

- Official inflation at 2–3% doesn’t match lived experience; the real erosion feels closer to 5–7% with violent spikes

- Treasuries are losing their status as the default safe haven; gold is stepping into that role

- Bitcoin is still digesting leverage and maturing from a speculative tech trade into a long-horizon macro asset

- Direct-to-vault and tokenized gold will sit at the core of the next monetary plumbing stack

PETER’S THESIS: “Gold isn’t just a crisis hedge anymore. It’s the base case. The real experiment is trying to run this level of debt on fiat and calling it ‘risk-free.’”

WHO IS PETER GROSSKOPF?

- Co-Founder — Argo, a digital platform for direct-to-vault physical gold

- Former CEO — Sprott (2010–2022), leading one of the world’s premier precious metals firms

- Managing Partner — SCP Resource Finance, focused on mining and real asset finance

- 35+ Years in Financial Services — spanning trading, asset management, and capital markets

- Lifelong precious metals investor now bridging vaulted gold with modern digital rails

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Gold’s Shock 2025 Rally & Peter’s Background

07:25 - Why Central Banks Are Rebuilding Gold Reserves

14:20 - From 60/40 to Gold: Institutional Reallocation

20:06 - Gold as the New “Safe Asset” Replacing Treasuries

29:45 - Bitcoin vs Gold in 2025: Cycles, Leverage & Liquidity

41:48 - Inside Argo: Direct-to-Vault Gold in the Digital Era

50:04 - Tokenized Gold vs Direct Vault Ownership & Custody Risks

54:40 - Key Takeaways, Where to Learn More & Outro

Scarce Assets: a biweekly podcast presented by Onramp which delves into the emergent role of bitcoin in finance professionals' strategies and outlooks. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Scarce Assets provides invaluable insights for wealth managers aiming to outperform their peers in the decades ahead. Finance professionals everywhere know about stocks and bonds, but the macroeconomic outlook requires that serious investors pay close attention to another category: Scarce Assets.Please subscribe to Onramp Media channels and sign up for weekly Research & Analysis to get access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.

The Last Trade: Former Blackstone partner David Thayer explains why liquidity—not cycles—drives BTC, how AI and fiscal dominance are steering policy, why gold is leading, what Texas’ ETF buy signals, and how JPM’s new BTC note underscores spot over wrappers.

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🔸 Connect with Onramp: The leader in resilient, fault-tolerant Multi-Institution Custody for secure, enduring bitcoin ownership.

👉 Inheritance & Trust Planning: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/inheritance

👉 Institutional: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/institutional

👉 Business: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/business

📩 Schedule a briefing: https://onrampbitcoin.com/contact

🎙️ About This Episode

With David Thayer (ex-Blackstone), we reset after the pullback: the 5-year lens over daily noise; fiscal dominance and valuations in a broken fiat denominator; AI as a national-security project (energy, chips, compute) that backstops spending; and gold + BTC as “liquidity sponges.” We hit SLR tweaks and stablecoin rails as engineered demand for Treasuries, realistic quantum timelines, Texas’ first ETF allocation, JPM’s new IBIT-linked structured note (what it signals), and why “treasury companies” can’t outrun spot. We close on politicization risk—and how to keep bitcoin’s message human, bipartisan, and savings-focused.

The Last Trade: a weekly, bitcoin-native podcast covering the intersection of bitcoin, tech, & finance on a macro scale. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Michael Tanguma, & Brian Cubellis. Join us as we dive into what bitcoin means for how individuals & institutions save, invest, & propagate their purchasing power through time. It's not just another asset...in the digital age, it's The Last Trade that investors will ever need to make.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 – Intro to David Thayer, price check, 5-year lens

04:12 – Volatility as opportunity: Thanksgiving playbook

06:07 – AI “bubble” or policy mandate?

11:15 – National security, AI, and quantum risk

17:01 – Fiscal dominance: engineered Treasury demand

26:33 – Gold, China, and the U.S. Bitcoin edge

28:16 – Texas ETF buy & the sound money revival

38:27 – Bitcoin and politics: partisan risk

54:20 – JPM’s BTC note: structure and signal

1:02:28 – Treasury companies vs spot BTC

1:09:29 – Gratitude and the monetary revolution

💡 Subscribe & Stay Ahead

Get Onramp’s weekly Research & Analysis:

High-signal insights in bitcoin, macro, and custody.

📩 https://onrampbitcoin.com/research

Subscribe to Onramp Media for more:

🎧 The Last Trade | Final Settlement | Scarce Assets

Stu Bradley, CFA, CFP — Wealth Advisor at Hightower St. Louis — joins Scarce Assets to explore how bitcoin fits into modern portfolio design, the illusion of market “cycles,” and why peace of mind matters more than price charts.

With decades of experience across HSBC, UBS, Vision Capital, and now Hightower, Stu brings a global investor’s perspective on inflation, fiscal dominance, and the future of wealth management in a K-shaped economy.

This episode cuts through the hype to reveal how advisors are quietly rethinking sound money, digital assets, and intergenerational planning — all while clients question the meaning of risk, time, and value in a rapidly changing financial system.

Stu Bradley on LinkedIn // Hightower Wealth Advisors // Stu's Presentation, Understanding Bitcoin // ⁠Connect with Onramp⁠⁠ // ⁠⁠Onramp Institutional⁠⁠ // ⁠⁠Jackson Mikalic on X⁠

WHAT WE COVER:

- From HSBC and UBS to Hightower: a career across global markets

- How a $20 smoothie became the “wake-up call” on inflation

- Why Bitcoin represents optionality, not speculation

- Fiscal dominance, QT’s end, and the K-shaped economy

- The psychological side of wealth: why “peace of mind” beats alpha

- How advisors are integrating BTC exposure through ETFs & custodial platforms

- The coming wealth transfer and how next-gen clients will reshape the advisory model

KEY INSIGHTS DISCUSSED:

- Expectations = suffering — and 2025 proved it

- Bitcoin is entering its “IPO moment” as long-term holders distribute

- Fiscal dominance and policy inertia make inflation a structural feature, not a bug

- The top 10 mega-cap stocks now represent 75% of U.S. GDP — a concentration risk hiding in plain sight

- Owning a small allocation of the most tamper-resistant asset in history may be the best form of risk management

- The future of advice: meeting clients where they are, not where the market says they should be

STU’S THESIS: “Bitcoin isn’t about getting rich — it’s about staying solvent. When money itself is changing, optionality becomes the ultimate form of wealth.”

WHO IS STU BRADLEY?

- Wealth Advisor — Hightower St. Louis (managing $1.6B for 400+ families)

- Former Institutional Investor — HSBC, UBS, Vision Capital Advisors

- CFA & CFP Charterholder — Bridging traditional finance with digital assets

- Career Coach & Educator — Founder, J. Stuart Bradley Consulting

- Advocate for sound money, long-term stewardship, and client-first financial planning

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro & Stu’s Background

03:00 - From Wall Street to Hightower

06:00 - The $20 Smoothie & the Inflation Epiphany

10:30 - Bitcoin as Stewardship, Not Speculation

15:00 - Longevity Risk & Portfolio Construction

21:00 - Peace of Mind Over Price Action

27:00 - How Advisors Discuss Bitcoin with Clients

33:00 - 2025: No Blow-Off Top, No Problem

38:00 - Fiscal Dominance & QT’s End

44:00 - The K-Shaped Economy Explained

50:00 - Inflation, Inequality, and the Role of Scarce Assets

56:00 - The Great Wealth Transfer

01:00:00 - Preparing for the Future of Advice

01:03:00 - Outro & Resources

Scarce Assets: a biweekly podcast presented by Onramp which delves into the emergent role of bitcoin in finance professionals' strategies and outlooks. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Scarce Assets provides invaluable insights for wealth managers aiming to outperform their peers in the decades ahead. Finance professionals everywhere know about stocks and bonds, but the macroeconomic outlook requires that serious investors pay close attention to another category: Scarce Assets.

Please subscribe to Onramp Media channels and sign up for weekly Research & Analysis to get access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.

Connect with Early Riders // Connect with Onramp

Presented collaboratively by Early Riders & Onramp Media…

Final Settlement is a weekly podcast covering capital markets, dealmaking, early-stage venture, bitcoin applications and protocol development.

00:00 - Latest in Bitcoin price action

01:46 - Kraken’s $20B IPO & Citadel’s investment

10:17 - Tether’s strategic investment in Ledn & Bitcoin-only lending

17:53 - VC money chases perp DEX infrastructure

21:52 - Maker/Sky’s OBEX incubator & the stablecoin yield gray zone

24:46 - Slash: stablecoin-first banking and demand for better money movement

26:01 - Human risk management, AI scams & Doppel’s $70M raise

32:48 - Cardano chain split exploit & “decentralization theater”

42:13 - Rethinking the poverty line, broken stats & the debasement trade

50:12 - Square/Block’s SMB Bitcoin tools & the future of merchant adoption

If you found this valuable, please subscribe to Early Riders Insights for access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.

Links discussed:
https://www.theblock.co/post/378358/lighter-raises-68-million-1-5-billion-valuation-vc-bets-flood-perp-dex-infrastructure-report
https://www.ledn.io/post/tether-invests-in-ledn
https://www.theblock.co/post/380056/hoskinson-involves-fbi-after-developers-careless-experiment-splits-cardano-blockchain
https://decrypt.co/349147/crypto-exchange-kraken-raises-800-million-20-billion-valuation
https://www.doppel.com/blog/doppel-series-c
https://x.com/LayerZero_Core/status/1990822714416963636
https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie

Keep up with Michael:

https://x.com/MTanguma
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtanguma/

Keep up with Brian:

https://x.com/BackslashBTC
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-cubellis-00b1a660/

Keep up with Liam:

https://x.com/Lnelson_21
https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-nelson1/

The Last Trade: Bitcoin sentiment has cratered after a 30% drawdown, but the thesis hasn’t changed. Cycles are dead, liquidity is turning, and gold’s strength signals what’s next for BTC. Fundamentals are stronger than ever as custody, rails, and institutional demand quietly build beneath the noise.

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🔸 Connect with Onramp: The leader in resilient, fault-tolerant Multi-Institution Custody for secure, enduring bitcoin ownership.

👉 Inheritance & Trust Planning:

https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/inheritance

👉 Institutional:

https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/institutional

👉 Business: https://onrampbitcoin.com/products/business

📩 Schedule a briefing: https://onrampbitcoin.com/contact

🎙️ About This Episode

Sentiment ≠ fundamentals. The team dissects the drawdown (short-term holder capitulation, cycle anchoring), the macro pivot (QT end, rate-cut path, fiscal dominance), gold’s 2025 lead, BTC in gold terms, and why better rails/custody unlock new cohorts. They also cover AI bubble optics, prediction-market mania, muni BTC pilots, IMF data on fiat depreciation since 1971, and fresh institutional signals (M&A, endowment flows).

The Last Trade: a weekly, bitcoin-native podcast covering the intersection of bitcoin, tech, & finance on a macro scale. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Michael Tanguma, & Brian Cubellis. Join us as we dive into what bitcoin means for how individuals & institutions save, invest, & propagate their purchasing power through time. It's not just another asset...in the digital age, it's The Last Trade that investors will ever need to make.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 – Price check and sentiment reset

02:54 – Liquidity over cycles: the real driver

05:18 – Capitulation data and new buyer cohorts

12:36 – Gold leads; BTC in XAU terms

16:52 – Market structure: not a bull yet

24:44 – AI risk: concentration and circular ROI

31:47 – Portfolio mix: gold hedge, improving rails

34:35 – Block rails: pay dollars, settle in bitcoin

39:50 – Levered “treasury companies” vs real adoption

49:35 – Bitcoin muni pilots; IMF on fiat decay

52:56 – Institutional signals: flows and M&A

54:52 – Prediction markets and casino-ified risk

01:05:09 – Outlook: liquidity setup and path forward

💡 Subscribe & Stay Ahead

Get Onramp’s weekly Research & Analysis:

High-signal insights in bitcoin, macro, and custody.

📩 https://onrampbitcoin.com/research

Subscribe to Onramp Media for more:

🎧 The Last Trade | Final Settlement | Scarce Assets