Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.

It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.

What's going on, guys? It is Sunday, February 25th, and that means it's time for Long

Lead Sunday. Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying The Breakdown, please go

subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into the

conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show notes or go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod. All right, friends, a fun little speculative one for you today.

We are going to kick off with a piece by Daniel Kuhn over at CoinDesk called Does Anyone

Else Feel the Crypto Vib Shift, surveying the small telltale signs that the market is back.

But what's different this time?

Let's read it and then let's discuss.

Daniel writes,

Is crypto back?

It seems that every other week there is a headline saying Bitcoin and ether are trading hands

at prices not seen since 2021 when the crypto market was in an upswing.

It's not obvious that the price appreciation is going to stop anytime soon.

Things feel different this time around.

The pandemic-era

bull market was a period of mass exuberance, hysteria, and fun. Everyone from Elon Musk to my mom

seemed to be talking about crypto. Celebrities were endorsing meme coins and buying NFTs. Crypto became

a cultural touchstone. Perhaps the best signifier of an economy going through wild gyrations

as the post-pandemic

world began to reopen, a weird time dominated by vibes. In comparison, the latest market upswing

...