Matthew Pines on the Geopolitical and National Security Implications of Cryptocurrency Adoption
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
Release Date: 09/23/2024
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
Lukasz Rachel is a former Bank of England economist and currently is an assistant professor of economics at the University College of London. In Lukasz’s first appearance on the show he discusses his big career breaks, the implications of secular stagnation in the industrialized world, what is next for R-star, what non-Ricardian macro policy looks like, his policy prescriptions for the US, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on October 29th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow Lukasz on...
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Tara Sinclair is a professor and chair of the economics department at George Washington University. Tara returns to the show to discuss her ambitious paper simulating an FOMC meeting before it happens with LLM models, the process of building sim FOMC members, the importance of publicly funding economic data, the future of AI and macroeconomics, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on October 27th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow Tara on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro...
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Bryan Cutsinger is a monetary historian and an assistant professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University. Bryan returns to the show to discuss how we think about deflation, the history of growth driven deflation, the connection between the postbellum period and today, the potential of rapid productivity growth from AI, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on September 23rd, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow Bryan on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro Musings ...
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Will Roberds is an economist emeritus of the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Steve Quinn is a professor of economics at Texas Christian University. In Will and Steve’s first appearance on the show they discuss the historical significance of the Bank of Amsterdam, The use of ledger at the Bank of Amsterdam, It’s use of repo and open market operations, it’s connection to central banking today, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on September 23rd, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David...
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Jim Clouse is a veteran of the Federal Reserve System and is currently a fellow at the Andersen Institute. In Jim’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the evolution of monetary rules at the Fed, what happened at the Fed during Y2K, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, and the COVID Pandemic, the ever changing stigma of the discount window, Ted Cruz’s calls to end interest on reserves, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on September 11th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow the...
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Manmohan Singh is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Financial Markets Infrastructure. Manmohan returns to the show to discuss whether money still matters, the impacts of the GENIUS ACT, the lobbying show down over stablecoins in the US, stablecoins impact on the Eurodollar market, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on September 10th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro Musings to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps 00:00:00 -...
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Raphael Bostic is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In President Bostic’s first appearance on the show, he discusses his love of birding, what that teaches him about central banking, the unique role of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, switching for FIT to FAIT back to FIT, what to do about inflation, the importance of globalization, rising fiscal pressures, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on September 23rd, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on...
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Jon Hartley is a macroeconomist and affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center. Jon returns to the show to discuss the most recent Hoover Monetary Conference, the legacy of John Taylor, why central banks should be using his new measure of r-star, the status of debt management at the US Treasury, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on August 26th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow Jon Hartley on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro Musings to David's new BTS YouTube...
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Marc Giannoni is a managing director and the chief US economist at Barclays Capital. In Marc’s first appearance on the show he discusses working on the 2020 Fed Framework Review, the troubling issues of Fed independence and fiscal dominance, the future of long rates and r-star, his influential 2006 paper about what good monetary policy looks like, and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on August 28th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro Musings ...
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Samim Ghamami is former SEC economist. Samim returns to the show to discuss the fiscal trajectory of the US, the outlook of interest rates, the US Treasury market’s impact on inflation, potential reforms to the Treasury market and much more. Check out the for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on August 5th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Follow David Beckworth on X: Follow Samim on X: Follow the show on X: Check out our Macro Musings to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:42 - Fiscal Trajectory of...
info_outlineMatthew Pines is the director of intelligence for SentinelOne Strategic Advisory Group and is a veteran of the national security world. Matthew is also the author of several papers on cryptocurrencies and their implications for national security, including a recent one titled, *Great Power Network Competition & Bitcoin,* and he joins David on Macro Musings to talk about these linkages. Specifically, David and Matthew also discuss the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve proposal, the problems with our current network approach to national security, how digital currency can enhance dollar dominance worldwide, and much more.
Transcript for this week’s episode.
Matthew’s Twitter: @matthew_pines
Matthew’s Bitcoin Policy Institute profile
David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
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Related Links:
*Great Power Network Competition & Bitcoin* by Matthew Pines
*National Security in the Digital Age: Bitcoin as a Tool for Modern Statecraft* by authors Matthew Pines, Ben Kincaid, Robert Malka, James McGinniss, Lee Bratcher, Pierre Rochard, Lindsey Daley, Gabriel Royal, Thomas Wood, Ian Gaines, and Kyle Schneps
*Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order* by Paul Tucker
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Intro
(00:01:35) – Matthew’s Journey into the National Security Space
(00:07:56) – Evaluating the Current Level of Defense Expenditures
(00:12:17) – An Executive Summary of *Great Power Network Competition & Bitcoin*
(00:16:11) – Problems with Our Current Network Approach to National Security
(00:26:24) – The Intersection of Monetary Policy and National Security
(00:29:55) – How Can Digital Currency Enhance Dollar Dominance Across the Globe?
(00:38:32) – Breaking Down the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Proposal and Its Implications
(00:48:13) – The National Defense Authorization Act and the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act: Basics and Implications
(00:57:29) – Outro