BREAKDOWN: Is Bitcoin a Chinese Financial Weapon? Peter Thiel Ignites a Geopolitical Debate
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2021
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Recent comments from the PayPal founder, early Facebook investor and renegade libertarian political donor ignite a discussion about the battle around the world’s reserve currency.
This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io and this week’s special product launch, Exodus.
Peter Thiel is nothing if not good at igniting controversy. For the last 24 hours or so, Bitcoin Twitter (and really, FinTwit and TechTwit and Politics Twitter as well) have been hotly debating his assertion in recent remarks that bitcoin had become a “Chinese financial weapon.”
In today’s episode, NLW breaks down:
- The debate around Thiel’s comments
- Why bitcoin is more likely a threat to Chinese aspirations around the digital yuan’s future status as a global currency than the U.S. dollar
- Why digital dollars like tether and USDC might make this whole debate moot from the get-go
-
Nexo.io lets you borrow against your crypto at 5.9% APR, earn up to 12% on your idle assets, and exchange instantly between 75+ market pairs with the tap of a button. Get started at nexo.io.
-
Exodus empowers people to control their wealth through a safe and reliable non-custodial crypto wallet, placing the ownership of digital assets back into the user’s hands. Your keys, your crypto. Download Exodus today and learn more at exodus.com.
-
Image credit: John Lamparski/Getty Images Entertainment
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch |
| 0:05.8 | of a button. |
| 0:07.0 | Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths |
| 0:11.8 | solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville. |
| 0:17.1 | Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural |
| 0:22.6 | chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration. |
| 0:28.5 | Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers |
| 0:34.4 | that transport you from the very first word, because the next great |
| 0:38.2 | adventure is just a listener way. Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash |
| 0:43.9 | Wondery, UK. That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. |
| 0:49.8 | My read is that Peter Thiel thinks that China recognizes themselves as locked in a series of |
| 0:55.0 | existential geopolitical battles with the U.S., much more than the U.S. sees the inverse. |
| 1:00.4 | This is because we are currently in the catbird seat, the leadership role. |
| 1:04.5 | We are the incumbent who doesn't realize they're being competed with until they've actually |
| 1:08.6 | been disrupted. |
| 1:10.0 | China is long anything that disrupts |
| 1:12.5 | dollar dominance. Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW. It's a daily podcast on macro, |
| 1:21.5 | Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world. The breakdown is sponsored by |
| 1:27.2 | nexus.io and Exodus andO. and Exodus. And produced and |
| 1:29.9 | distributed by CoinDesk. What's going on, guys? It is Thursday, April 8th. And today we have a juicy one. |
| 1:38.4 | We're talking about a question brought up by Peter Thiel yesterday, is Bitcoin a Chinese financial weapon? |
| 1:46.7 | So some days, I'll be honest, it's a bit of a struggle figuring out what to dedicate a show |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CoinDesk, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of CoinDesk and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.