The White House Is Building a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve—w/ Arch Lending
Aug 1, 2025
The Last Trade: a weekly, bitcoin-native podcast covering the intersection of bitcoin, tech, & finance on a macro scale. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Michael Tanguma, & Brian Cubellis. Join us as we dive into what bitcoin means for how individuals & institutions save, invest, & propagate their purchasing power through time. It's not just another asset...in the digital age, it's The Last Trade that investors will ever need to make.
00:00 - Introduction to Dhruv Patel and Himanshu Sahay 01:41 - Breaking Down the White House Digital Assets Report 07:29 - Bitcoin’s Growing Distinction from the Broader Crypto Space 10:28 - How Bitcoin Went from Fringe to Treasury Strategy 13:32 - The Rise of Bitcoin-Backed Public Companies 16:47 - Strategic Bitcoin Adoption and Economic Incentives 20:07 - Custody Risk and the MicroStrategy Blind Spot 21:43 - Major Banks Partner with Coinbase: What's at Stake 27:05 - Coinbase as a Systemic Risk and Industry Bottleneck 32:20 - Kraken’s IPO and Institutional Capital in Bitcoin 35:15 - Fed Dissent, Interest Rates, and Political Pressure 42:03 - Abra Halts Withdrawals: Lending Risk Is Back 47:00 - Custody, Collateral, and Counterparty Due Diligence 54:08 - Behind the Scenes of Arch’s Lending Infrastructure 58:29 - Private Credit, Rate Arbitrage, and Institutional Capital 01:03:42 - Bankruptcy Remoteness and Custodial Risk Management 01:11:02 - Product Innovation: Tax, Retirement, and Income Lending 01:17:36 - Final Thoughts, Outro, and Disclaimer