Bits + Bips: Bitcoin's Geopolitical Upturn and the $100K Question

Unchained

Laura Shin

Tech News, Business News, News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why ETH outperformed Bitcoin this past week, what's really behind the prediction market activity during the Iran situation, and what comes next for institutional crypto adoption. --- Thank you to our sponsors! Ether.fi — 15% cash back on food and rideshare apps, 3% on everything else, borrow at 4% or less Citrea — Trust minimized BTC, native stablecoin CT-USD, Bitcoin capital markets --- A tenuous Iran ceasefire sent oil prices tumbling this past week, and crypto responded before any other asset class. Bitcoin climbed to around $72K, Ethereum outperformed with 6.7 to 7% gains in 48 hours, and billions poured back into ETFs after months of withdrawals. But amid the rally, uncomfortable questions are surfacing: who profited from suspicious prediction market bets placed just before the ceasefire announcement? Are Middle Eastern governments and corporations now using Bitcoin as actual settlement infrastructure? And if the Clarity Act passes without allowing yield-bearing stablecoins, has the banking lobby won? Kavita Gupta, founder and general partner at Delta Blockchain Fund, sits down with Steven Ehrlich to work through a week of whipsawing markets, fragile geopolitics, and structural shifts that could define where crypto goes from here. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steven Ehrlich⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Research, SharpLink Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kavita Gupta, Founder & General Partner at Delta Blockchain Fund Links: Ceasefire, Markets & Institutional Flows: Crypto Markets Rebound After Iran-Israel Ceasefire Deal (Unchained) Bitcoin ETFs Record $5 Billion in Daily Volume as Inflows Top $870 Million (Unchained) Crypto Adoption in MENA 2025: Crisis, Adaptation, and Growth (Chainalysis) Prediction Markets & Insider Trading: DEX in the City: Why Prediction Market 'Insider Trading' Isn't Illegal — Yet (Unchained) DEX in the City: How Prediction Markets Pose a National Security Risk (Unchained) Trading Volumes on Prediction Markets Will Drop After the November Election. Will New Market Entrants Still Attract Users? (Unchained) DOJ and CFTC Drop Investigations Into Polymarket: Report (Unchained) Clarity Act & Stablecoin Regulation: Bessent Presses Senate on Clarity Act, Labels Resistant Crypto Leaders 'Nihilists' (Unchained) Circle Stock Plunges 20% as Clarity Act Draft Threatens Stablecoin Yield (Unchained) Treasury Secretary Bessent Presses Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (The Hill) Bessent Ramps Up Pressure on Congress to Pass CLARITY Act (CoinTelegraph) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of Bits and Bips the interview, the show where we explore how crypto and macro collide one basis point at a time.
0:10.0	My name is Steve Erlich. I'm the head of research at Sharplink and also your host.
0:14.8	And we've got a terrific show again for you today.
0:17.9	But before we get started, just a little bit of housekeeping.
0:22.0	One, nothing that you hear on the show is financial or investment advice. For full disclosures, please see Unchainedripto.com
0:28.4	backslash bits and bips. And then finally, before we get started, let's take a very brief
0:33.1	moment to hear from some of the sponsors who make the show possible.
0:36.8	EtherFi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cash back on food and ride apps. And that's on top of the
0:42.7	3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. I switched.
0:47.8	Go to Ether.Fi slash Unchained to claim your discount.
0:52.1	Bitcoin changed how money works. Satrae changes how Bitcoin scales.
0:56.0	With a trust minimized BTC and a native stable coin, CTUSD,
1:00.0	Citrae enables Bitcoin capital markets with lending, privacy, Bitcoin yield, and more.
1:06.0	Get started at Citraea.xyZ slash Unchained.
1:10.0	All right, welcome back. So as I mentioned before the break, we have a lot At sitraea.xyZ slash Unchained.
1:11.7	All right.
1:12.4	Welcome back.
1:16.4	So as I mentioned before the break, we have a lot to talk about today.
1:21.0	A very tenuous ceasefire was agreed to a couple days ago with regard to Iran.
1:27.2	And it's had ramifications all across crypto and the broader sort of macro economy.
1:27.7	I've got a terrific guest to discuss all this today,
1:31.0	Kavita Guta.
	...

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