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

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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

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.

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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 --- 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

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.

00:30 - Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF Filing

12:30 - Rumble and Tether's Crypto Wallet Launch

18:07 - Walmart's One Pay Bitcoin Integration

29:49 - Early Riders Team Updates

31:58 - The White Paper: A Manifesto For All Future Capital Allocation

34:26 - Building Bridges: Traditional Finance Meets Bitcoin

36:47 - The Bitcoin Standard: A New Era of Capital Formation

38:46 - Debasement and the Search for Sound Money

43:30 - The Future of Venture Capital: Aligning Incentives

47:03 - AI and the New Age of Entrepreneurship

55:24 - Onramp for Everyone: Expanding Access to Bitcoin

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

Links discussed:

https://bitcoin.docsend.com/view/aan9dw6fkd2z746e

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-09/walmart-backed-super-app-onepay-hits-4-billion-valuation?embedded-checkout=true

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/morgan-stanley-is-betting-big-on-digital-assets-workplace-services-and-private-markets-how-they-tie-together/ar-AA1TP8N5

https://x.com/sytaylor/status/2009236033603244517?s=20https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-12/stanchart-said-to-prepare-crypto-expansion-with-prime-brokerage?embedded-checkout=true

https://x.com/faryarshirzad/status/2008898606317687058?s=20

https://x.com/aakashgupta/status/2007666720656511233

https://decrypt.co/353693/morgan-stanley-registers-bitcoin-solana-funds-sec

https://corp.rumble.com/blog/rumble-and-tether-launch-crypto-wallet-for-creator-economy/

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 21 of The ₿roadcast, Bram Kanstein, Michael Tanguma, and Brian Cubellis break down the most important Bitcoin and macro developments from the past few weeks.

The conversation centers on Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF filing, what it really signals about institutional demand, and why the shift from “allowed” to “recommended” marks a new phase of adoption. From AI-driven abundance and information slop to Bitcoin’s role as a verifiable truth anchor, the episode connects Wall Street, custody, regulation, energy, and game theory into a single framework.

00:00 — Bullish on Bitcoin (We’re Back)

03:40 — AI, Vibe Coding, and the Return of the Builder Era

08:10 — Morgan Stanley Files a Bitcoin ETF

12:45 — From Access to Recommendation

17:30 — Financialization, Collateral, and Bitcoin’s Wall Street Endgame

22:20 — “Bear Market” Psychology vs Structural Reality

27:40 — The Supply Problem No One Is Positioned For

32:10 — Gold, Bonds, and the Real Rotation Trade

36:50 — Regulation Signals: The Clarity Act & Political BTC Buys

41:20 — Venezuela, Sovereign Bitcoin, and Strategic Reserves

46:30 — AI, Consciousness, and the Coming Slop Era

52:10 — Bitcoin as a Truth Anchor

57:40 — Prediction Markets, Degeneracy, and Growing Pains

1:01:30 — Hashrate: The Signal That Never Lies

1:06:10 — The Real Adoption Bottleneck: Custody & Physical Risk

1:12:30 — CNBC Panic, Monetary Debasement, and the Inevitable Trend

1:15:40 — Final Thoughts + Where Should We Meet in 2026?

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: Morgan Stanley’s ETF filing and Bank of America’s allocation guidance mark a shift in Bitcoin’s market structure. We discuss institutional flows, the limits of cycle models, and why custody risk is becoming central to adoption.

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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

In the first Last Trade of 2026, we unpack why Morgan Stanley’s ETF filing and Bank of America’s advisor rollout are major signals of Bitcoin’s institutional maturation. We discuss how shifting access and solicitation may reshape the cycle debate, why fundamentals can strengthen even when price chops, and what it means that Bitcoin settled roughly $25T in value in 2025.

We also explore the rise of “long degeneracy” as a symptom of broken incentives, then close on the part of adoption most people avoid: custody risk. As Bitcoin’s value grows, so does the incentive for attacks and concentration failures, which is why market structure and resilient custody models matter more than ever.

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 — Why This Year Feels Different for Bitcoin

02:05 — Morgan Stanley’s ETF Filing & Institutional Demand

11:30 — Sentiment vs. Fundamentals: 2026 Bitcoin Setup

21:34 — Degeneracy, Nihilism, Work, & Money

34:12 — Agency, AI, & the Future of Wealth Creation

37:14 — Dead Internet, Slop, & the Return to Analog Signal

39:22 — Running It Hot: AI, Growth Narratives, & Asset Inflation

43:09 — Fraud, GDP, & the Trust Breakdown

49:43 — Institutional Trust Erosion & Market Consequences

53:17 — Mimetic Momentum: What Ignites the Next Reflexive Move

01:04:10 — Gold vs. Bitcoin: Wealth Effects & the Broken Denominator

01:07:56 — Custody Risk Comes Into Focus

01:22:16 — Market Structure, Custody, & Bitcoin’s Path Forward

01:27:08 — 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

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 - Welcome Back and Market Overview

02:47 - Inflation and Asset Trends

05:44 - Regulatory Changes and Institutional Adoption

08:53 - Security Risks and Custody Solutions

11:52 - Market Sentiment and Long-Term Thinking

14:57 - The Role of AI and Future Predictions

33:15 - Navigating the Content Proliferation Challenge

35:59 - The Future of Value in Digital Content

40:19 - Stablecoins vs. Bitcoin: The Future of Transactions

42:10 - Tether's Strategic Positioning in Global Markets

48:43 - The Shift of Talent and Capital to Favorable Jurisdictions

56:17 - Understanding the Economic Landscape and Future Opportunities

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

Links discussed:
https://x.com/exec_sum/status/2005751198725640395?s=20
https://x.com/bearlyai/status/2006474217206985085?s=20
https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2002414704753586398?s=20

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: Matt Odell on the 2025 postmortem: why BTC lagged gold, how DATs wrecked sentiment, what the quantum debate gets wrong, and what changes when institutions take the wheel.

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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

Matt Odell: https://odell.xyz

🎙️ About This Episode

With Matt Odell in the studio, we run a proper 2025 postmortem: why the “OGs are dumping” narrative never dies, what actually changes when Bitcoin’s liquidity deepens, and why it’s healthy (not bearish) for long-term supply to distribute over time.

From there, we tackle the elephant in the room: gold and equities ripped while BTC chopped. Matt’s take is simple and brutal, retail is broke, capital is hiding in perceived safe havens, and Bitcoin still gets treated like a high-risk tech trade if you don’t understand self-custody. We also dig into the October break in the crypto casino and how forced sellers can pin price even when long-term fundamentals look strong.

Then we get honest about the cultural and structural fallout from “Bitcoin treasury companies” & DATs: how leverage-on-leverage turned into a negative feedback loop, why board seats and influencer incentives distorted the narrative, and why the only benchmark that matters is whether these wrappers can actually beat spot bitcoin over time.

Finally, we hit the quantum panic. Matt lays out a sober framework: upgrade carefully, opt-in where possible, don’t rush into untested cryptography, and don’t even flirt with protocol-level seizures or “freezing” coins. If Bitcoin compromises neutral property rights to “save” the market, it’s no longer Bitcoin. We close with what this all implies for 2026: whether cycles are fading, where the next reflexive move could come from, and why the most bearish sentiment is often the best tell.

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 - Christmas Greetings + Why 2025 Felt So Weird

01:42 - “OGs Dumping” Bitcoin: Meme Narrative vs. Reality

03:35 - Liquidity, Distribution, & Engagement Bait

06:24 - Sentiment, Macro, & the “Quiet Depression” View

09:42 - Institutions, ETFs, & How Market Structure Changes the Cycle

12:35 - DATs / Treasury-Co Mania: Why It Took Over 2025

16:27 - Cultural Fragmentation + Incentives

22:36 - Quantum FUD Deep Dive

45:25 - Why the Next Move Will Catch People Offside

48:25 - Centralization Risk, Custodians, & How a Fork Would Play Out

55:28 - Why Quantum Became the “Last Remaining FUD”

59:11 - Stablecoins, Tether, & the Institutional Rails Story

01:02:20 - SBR: Expectations vs. Reality + 2026 Scenarios

01:06:20 - Gold’s Run, the Debasement Trade, & the Bitcoin Setup

01:10:27 - 2026 Outlook: Cycle Theories & What Could Flip the Switch

01:29:21 - 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

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 - Year-End Reflections and Top Deals

12:45 - Market Signals and ETF Flows

25:13 - Stablecoins and Digital Asset Integration

28:19 - Noise in the Market: DATs and Cycle Theory

35:26 - Reevaluating Bitcoin Cycles

36:01 - The Quantum Debate

37:09 - Predictions for Bitcoin's Future

41:39 - Market Dynamics and Predictions

53:45 - Innovative Banking Solutions for 2026

59:55 - The Future of Multi-Institution Custody

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

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/