Bits + Bips: Why Apple Might Benefit More From AI Than AI Companies Will

Key Takeaways

• •

  US naval blockade of Strait of Hormuz is live

  “The US naval blockade on Iranian ports took effect April 13 at 10AM eastern after peace talks in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend according to NPR. As a reminder, rough estimates, 12,000,000 barrels per day normally transit the straight, and now that is going to roughly zero. Trump warned Iran's fast attack ships if any ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated.”

• •

  Ram Ahluwalia believes the market bottom is in

  “I think the bottom's in for markets overall. That doesn't mean you don't get a pullback, especially going to OpEx later this week. But I think, overall, I think you've you've got a bottom. There's so much hedging, so much shorting taking place. There's not many people left to sell, and I think there there are great opportunities out there.”

• •

  CENTCOM move forces Iran into an economic vice

  “And now they put the IRGC in a vice. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't vice. They have two choices. They can escalate. Right now, they've enjoyed calm and peace for the last two weeks. They've seen their families. They're starting to formulate a picture of what the future might look like. They're glad that they don't have bombs raining down their head.”

• •

  Market holds steady despite collapse of peace talks

  “The US naval blockade on Iranian ports took effect April 13 at 10AM eastern after peace talks in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend according to NPR. The fact that this occurred, it seems to have been relatively well received by the market. That is to say this blockade didn't happen, the negotiations didn't fall apart, and we didn't immediately go straight back to hell in the market.”

• •

  Regional powers remain silent on US naval blockade

  “It's also interesting to me to see the pressure around this vis a vis their regional, like, neighbors because after they launch rockets and everybody, you know what we're not seeing for the Strait Of Hormuz blockade by The US is criticism from the other regional powers. This moves the war for both sides to a different layer of the strategic level of war.”

Episode Description

The US Naval blockade is live, markets are holding, and Ram thinks the bottom is in. Austin and Chris are not so sure. --- Thank you to our sponsors: Citrea  As Bitcoin's application layer, Citrea gives you access to the first trust-minimized BTC on a fully programmable platform and a native stablecoin for Bitcoin, ctUSD.  You can now participate in Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, payments, Bitcoin yield, trading and predictions. You get expanded Bitcoin utility without sacrificing its security.  Citrea mainnet is live. Put your BTC to work at citrea.xyz/unchained.   Etherfi Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else.  Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card! Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. Nexo Nexo is a premier digital wealth platform offering: ● crypto yield up to 15% (based on stated annual interest rates) ● crypto-backed credit lines from 1.9% ● a wide range of digital assets.  Join today and get 30-day access to exclusive rates. Join Nexo. ---- The day the US Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went live, peace talks had just collapsed in Islamabad and markets were holding. Ram, Austin, and Chris work through the tactical logic behind CENTCOM’s move, why regional powers are standing down, and how long Iran can sustain the economic pressure.  Then: Anthropic previewed a model called Mythos, cybersecurity stocks fell, and the question of whether AI security risk is real or manufactured now has real money behind it.  Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial borrowed $75 million against its own governance token on a platform co-founded by its own advisor, Justin Sun is accusing the team of treating investors as a personal ATM, and the stablecoin bill clock is ticking.  Which sectors are most dislocated? What would it take to bring the next wave of investors into crypto? And is this actually a market bottom? Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Austin Campbell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ram Ahluwalia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Perkins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices