The Last Trade: Gold and silver surge while bitcoin stalls — Mel Mattison unpacks the macro divergence, the Clarity Act's failure, and why the fundamental case for non-USD assets is only getting stronger.

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UPCOMING WEBINAR: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1517685004120/WN_yC29RjYoQsq6KyjyYH4ouA

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.

🎙️ About This Episode

Mel Mattison returns to explain why bitcoin hasn't participated in the broader rally in non-USD assets — even as gold hits all-time highs and emerging markets outperform. Rather than abandoning his thesis, Mel frames bitcoin as being in its "puberty stage," with uneven growth before reaching adult stability.

The conversation unpacks the real reason the Clarity Act failed: stablecoins with yield threaten the banking system's core business model. We explore the sovereign debt picture, why Europe may be the real powder keg, and how the Fed will eventually be forced to expand its balance sheet as traditional treasury buyers exit.

We close on potential upside surprises — including Trump's possible use of Defense Department vehicles to buy bitcoin — and why deflationary forces from AI and demographics may thread the needle between debasement and collapse.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 — 2026 Market Recap & Why Bitcoin Is Stalling

09:29 — Bitcoin's "Puberty Stage" & Investor Base Turnover

24:55 — Emerging Markets, Gold & Non-USD Assets Winning

35:00 — The Clarity Act, Banks & the Inflation Tax

50:23 — Europe as the Powder Keg & Sovereign Debt Risks

58:06 — AI, Demographics & the Permanent Underclass

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🎧 The Last Trade | Final Settlement | Scarce Assets

Scarce Assets: Jeroen Blokland explains why bonds have destroyed wealth for 20 years, how $124 trillion in generational wealth will reshape portfolios, & why gold at $5,000 is just the beginning.

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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

Jackson Mikalic on X // Jeroen Blokland on X // Jeroen Blokland on LinkedIn // Jeroen's new book

🎙️ About This Episode

Jeroen Blokland, founder of the Blokland Smart Multi-Asset Fund and author of The Great Rebalancing, joins Scarce Assets to explain why the traditional 60/40 portfolio is broken—and what replaces it. With 20+ years building multi-asset portfolios, Jeroen left traditional finance to launch a fund focused on scarce assets: quality stocks, physical gold, and directly-held Bitcoin. We discuss why bonds have delivered negative real returns for two decades, how gold at $5,000 still isn't enough to rebalance the system, the mechanics of financial repression, why owning assets outside the system matters more than ever, and how $124 trillion in generational wealth transfer will reshape portfolios. The conversation also covers Bitcoin's coming catalyst and the AI investment bubble Jeroen sees forming.

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.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 — Gold's Historic Rally to $5,000

03:08 — What's Driving the Gold Breakout

08:43 — How Long Will the Rally Last?

16:20 — The Myth of Central Bank Independence

21:54 — Trussonomics: When Bond Markets Strike Back

29:58 — The Great Rebalancing Defined

38:40 — Financial Repression & Forced Bond Buying

47:44 — Owning Assets Outside the System

53:23 — The $124 Trillion Wealth Transfer

59:16 — AI Productivity Gains vs. Investment Bubble

1:06:58 — Bitcoin's Catalyst & 2026 Outlook

1:10:41 — Where to Find Jeroen's Book, Outro & Disclaimer

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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

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 - Market Dynamics of Precious Metals and Bitcoin

06:02 - Infrastructure Developments in Digital Assets

12:01 - IPO Trends in the Digital Assets Space

17:44 - The Future of Digital Assets and Banking

23:47 - AI's Impact on Financial Services

29:44 - The Evolution of Bitcoin and Silver

35:39 - The Centralization of Bitcoin Ownership

41:43 - Navigating the Challenges of Physical Precious Metals

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

Links discussed:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitgo-debuts-york-stock-exchange-132125936.html

https://x.com/pitdesi/status/2014466502016061456

https://x.com/jasonlk/status/2014745189794144420

https://www.theblock.co/post/386066/steak-n-shake-adds-10-million-to-btc-treasury-eight-months-after-lightning-network-rollout

https://www.theblock.co/post/386810/ledger-mulls-new-york-ipo

https://archive.ph/RpgdO

https://x.com/lopp/status/2015411078214340763?s=20

https://x.com/StoicTA/status/2014701409682555064?s=20

https://www.reuters.com/world/fdic-clears-way-ford-general-motors-set-up-industrial-banks-2026-01-22/

https://crypto-fundraising.info/blog/2025-crypto-fundraising-report/

https://www.techinasia.com/news/sg-crypto-startup-veera-raises-10m

https://x.com/MTanguma/status/2015857475606429922?s=20

https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/jpmorgan-cuts-all-ties-with-proxy-advisers-in-industry-first-78c43d5f

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/

In Episode 22 of The ₿roadcast, Bram Kanstein, Brian Cubellis, and SPECIAL GUEST Jackson Mikalic break down the most important Bitcoin and macro developments from the past few weeks.

00:00 - Coinbase CEO vs. French Central Banker

06:28 - The Elites Have No Clue

10:22 - Davos 2025: Something Shifted

16:39 - Crypto Is Dead, Bitcoin Wins

37:09 - Gold Added $20 Trillion — Bitcoin Is Next

44:46 - The Most Unfalsifiable Ledger Ever Created

54:01 - Why This Takes Longer Than You Think

1:08:10 - Why Hasn't Michael Burry Figured Out Bitcoin?

The ₿roadcast: Bitcoin culture meets Business & Finance. We catch up LIVE on news, tweets, videos, charts, trends, and other Bitcoin related content that stood out to us in the past two weeks ⚡️ Published on Saturday at 9AM EST / 3PM CET.

The Last Trade: Davos signals a shift in the monetary order as sovereign debt cracks, gold leads, and bitcoin emerges as a neutral alternative.

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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

UPCOMING WEBINAR: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1517685004120/WN_yC29RjYoQsq6KyjyYH4ouA

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.

🎙️ About This Episode

At the World Economic Forum, bitcoin, sovereign debt, and the durability of the fiat system were debated more directly than ever before. We break down Brian Armstrong’s exchange with the Bank of France, Ken Griffin’s warning on fiscal fragility following Japan’s bond shock, and Ray Dalio’s blunt assessment that “the monetary order is breaking down.”

Rather than focusing on short-term price action, the conversation centers on order of operations: why gold absorbs the first wave of sovereign stress, why central banks are quietly repricing reserves, and why bitcoin increasingly earns the bid as a neutral, issuer-less alternative in a world of rising political and monetary risk.

We also explore Trump’s push for U.S. leadership in digital assets, the state of market structure legislation, and why regulatory clarity matters more for plumbing than price. From there, we connect the dots between stablecoin proliferation, reserve credibility, and why paper claims versus true ownership will matter more in the next phase of this cycle.

The episode closes on AI, fiscal “Hail Mary” thinking, and why technology-driven deflation colliding with policy-driven debasement only raises the premium on sound savings.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 — Bitcoin Price Noise vs Monetary Signal

02:17 — Gold’s Breakout & the Order of Operations

09:12 — Davos Confronts Issuer-Less Money

21:09 — Sovereign Debt & the AI Escape Fantasy

29:55 — Trust Erosion, Taxes, & Counterparty Risk

36:06 — Why This Isn’t a Reflexive Bitcoin Cycle

41:32 — Market Structure, Policy Signals, & Access

45:52 — Quantum Risk Narratives & Allocation Behavior

47:58 — Stablecoins as Rails, Bitcoin as Reserve

51:18 — Practical Frameworks & Closing Thoughts

💡 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

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.

02:22 - The Clarity Act Markup + Stablecoin Yield Fight

16:48 - State Street Joins the Crypto Rush

22:01 - Goldman: Tokenization + Prediction Markets

24:04 - Distributions Versus Niches in Bitcoin Infrastructure

32:06 - TradFi Floodgates into Digital Assets

33:21 - Consumer Versus Enterprise Stablecoin Adoption

42:18 - Latest In Digital Asset Infrastructure Fundraises

55:56 - AI Tools Impact on Entrepreneurship

If you found this valuable, please subscribe to Early Riders Insights for access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly: https://www.earlyriders.com/research

Links discussed:

https://fortune.com/2026/01/14/alpaca-fundraise-series-d-brokerage-infrastructure/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-15/state-street-is-joining-crypto-rush-with-digital-asset-rollout

https://www.theblock.co/post/385924/belarus-authorizes-cryptobanks

https://x.com/TheOneandOmsy/status/2011673735065939979?s=20

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/01/14/germany-s-second-largest-lender-dz-bank-secures-retail-crypto-trading-mica-license

https://coinpedia.org/crypto-live-news/standard-chartered-to-launch-crypto-prime-brokerage

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/21shares-launches-bitcoin-and-gold-etp

https://decrypt.co/354542/visa-partners-with-bvnk-to-enable-stablecoin-payouts-on-visa-direct

https://x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/2013205830288499021?s=20

https://x.com/Houlgrave/status/2012208491578950089?s=20

https://www.theblock.co/post/386048/anchorage-digital-could-raise-up-to-400-million-as-ipo-rumors-swirl-bloomberg

https://www.rain.xyz/resources/rain-raises-250m-series-c-to-scale-stablecoin-powered-payments-infrastructure-for-global-enterprises

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: Marty Bent breaks down bitcoin’s 2026 setup, Fed vs Treasury tension, and why the denominator is breaking.

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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

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.

🎙️ About This Episode

Marty Bent (TFTC) joins the show to explain why 2025 looked like a year of consolidation, how tax-loss harvesting and year-end positioning may have created artificial pressure, and why the next leg could be driven by something deeper than a typical cycle narrative. We discuss the “Last Trade” order of operations, where gold and silver absorb the first wave of sovereign and institutional stress, and Bitcoin increasingly earns the bid as the superior digital reserve asset.

We also dig into the growing public tension between the Fed and Treasury, why “independence” is starting to look like theater, and how trust erosion is becoming a primary macro driver. From there, we debate the role of stablecoins as rails versus money, the risks of CBDC/digital ID creep, and why sovereignty still has a high bar.

Finally, we close on AI: the productivity unlock for high-agency builders, the coming barbell economy, and why sound savings matter more in a world where technology accelerates deflation while policy accelerates debasement.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 — Marty Bent Returns & Bitcoin Starts 2026 Strong

05:52 — Sovereign Stress & Bitcoin as a Neutral Reserve

12:14 — Fed vs Treasury, Monetary Authority, Trust Erosion

17:13 — Fraud, Waste, & the Hard Asset Rotation

27:24 — Stablecoins, CBDCs, Digital ID Risk

34:28 — AI, Privacy, Productivity, Agency Divide

52:07 — Gold & Silver Dislocations, Physical vs Paper

58:03 — Broken Denominator, Supercycle Framing

01:08:53 — Guest Requests & Onramp Update

01:11:27 — Outro & Disclaimer

💡 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

Scarce Assets: Alex Pron explains why wealth managers are finally embracing Bitcoin, how Wall Street distribution changes the market, & why long-term conviction matters more than cycles.

---

🔸 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

Jackson Mikalic on X --- https://x.com/macrojack21

Alex Pron on X --- https://x.com/Crossover_Alex

🎙️ About This Episode

Alex Pron, Founder and Wealth Strategist at CrossOver Capital Advisors, joins Scarce Assets for a deep conversation on Bitcoin’s maturation inside traditional wealth management, the slow capitulation of Wall Street, and why Bitcoin’s fundamentals are strengthening even when price action lags.

Alex shares his journey from EY and Merrill Lynch to launching an independent RIA so he could fully educate clients on Bitcoin as part of a fiduciary portfolio framework. Today, nearly 90% of his clients hold Bitcoin exposure.

We discuss why most investors still misunderstand Bitcoin’s supply dynamics, how ETFs created Bitcoin’s “IPO moment,” why 2025 price action frustrated expectations, and how institutional distribution may permanently change market structure. The conversation also explores Bitcoin’s role in divorce settlements, long-term portfolio construction, AI-driven deflation, and why the four-year cycle may be fading.

Topics covered include:

- Why Alex left Merrill to build a Bitcoin-forward RIA

- The simple portfolio math that helps clients understand Bitcoin risk

- How ETF liquidity enabled whale distribution without collapsing price

- Bitcoin vs crypto: strategic allocation vs speculative exposure

- Vanguard, Merrill, Bank of America & Morgan Stanley’s quiet pivot

- Why 2025 fundamentals improved while price disappointed

- The “Bitcoin IPO moment” and what comes after it

- AI, scarcity, and why Bitcoin differs from gold and commodities

- Why time horizon matters more than timing the market

- How advisors help clients stay committed through volatility

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.

🧠 Chapters

00:00 — Wealth Management Meets Bitcoin

07:33 — How Bitcoin Changed an RIA’s Market Lens

13:39 — The Supply Story: Scarcity, Issuance, and 21M

19:27 — Bitcoin vs Crypto: Portfolio Roles and Risk

25:23 — Where Bitcoin Demand Comes From Next

30:32 — 2025: Price Action vs Fundamentals (What Happened)

41:31 — AI, Deflation, and Why Bitcoin Differs From Metals

54:46 — Sentiment, Cycles, and the Long-Term Setup

58:42 — Outro and Disclaimer

💡 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