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Bitcoin logged its worst week since the FTX collapse, falling 17%, while Ethereum dropped 22% and the total crypto market cap shed roughly a third of a trillion dollars. The looming SpaceX IPO seems like an easy explanation. But Ram Ahluwalia argues that’s not the real culprit:  STRF and STRC, Strategy’s preferred securities, have slipped below par, stalling the capital engine that funds Bitcoin buys.

Austin Campbell, Ram, and Chris Perkins cover three distinct crises in this episode. A Claude Opus 4.8 agent found a live counterfeiting bug in Zcash’s Orchard Shielded Pool, undetected since 2022, prompting the group to map how AI is rewiring the threat landscape for financial services. Back on Strategy, Ram applies Hyman Minsky’s three market phases and argues the company was built for the final phase — where price appreciation is the only bailout.

Austin closes by framing Strategy’s $3.4 billion in preferred obligations as an SVB-style depositor flight problem with no clear resolution in sight.

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