From New York Times opinion, I'm Ross to answer a question that's haunted my own investment strategy for years.

What is cryptocurrency actually good for?

It's up. It's down.

Sometimes it's a centerpiece of Trumpian economic policy,

sometimes it's ransom money for crossing the strait of Hormuz. Sometimes it's going to replace the dollar or help the middle class afford retirement, and sometimes it's just a vibe. For my guest this week, Anthony Pompliano, there's very little that Crypto can't do,

or at least the OG cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, which he's permanently bullish on.

We talked about crypto's reputation as a shady enterprise,

whether Bitcoin is a bet against the American Empire, and whether

its volatility is a weakness or a reason for me to buy and hold. Anthony Pompliano, welcome to

interesting times. Thanks for having me. Super excited. So let me do a tiny bit of stage setting about crypto, where we are right now. I think

2025, it's fair to say, was a bull market year for cryptocurrency. And this year is more of a

bear market. The value of Bitcoin dropped from about 120k to about

70K and it hasn't recovered yet. It's still bobbing around there. But at the same time,

cryptocurrency is just increasingly embedded in financial and political systems. Morgan Stanley just said

they're set to become the first Wall Street bank to launch a Bitcoin tracking exchange traded fund,

an ETF. As we record this, the Islamic Republic of Iran is demanding to be paid in crypto for the

right to transit the Strait of Hormuz. So those are some of the things

I want to talk about, but I want to start in an extremely basic way. I often come into these

interviews with some pretty strong views or preconceptions, and in the case of crypto, I'm really a

genuine agnostic. And I imagine at least some of our viewers and listeners are as well. So I'm going to ask what seem like incredibly naive questions to start with. And then we can get more complicated. So, Anthony, what is cryptocurrency and why do we need it?

Well, I usually think about these assets as it's all finance, and it's a very important part, right?

If you go back and look at history, every single asset in the world was physical.

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