G’day Folks,
Today I had the great pleasure of talking with Travis Kling from Ikigai Asset Management, and having a conversation that was long overdue. I have followed Travis for many years now, and he has no shortage of experience analysing, and observing how this weird market trades.
Way back in 2019, Ikigai prepared a repository of onchain analysis papers called Kana & Katana. Yours truly downloaded every single one of these as a PDF, printed them off at work, and read each of them over and over, absorbing what was at the time the cutting edge of onchain analysis.
My friends didn’t understand, but it felt very important…
In this conversation, we go down loads of rabbit holes, from the new American administration, to Bitcoins role as a macro asset, and the divergence between BTC and broader crypto. Travis has a keen eye for how the technological, social, and market dynamics of Bitcoin and crypto intersect, and the time of this podcast is no coincidence.
I think you’re really going to enjoy this one, and we managed to hit several of Travis’ famous one liners!
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Thanks for watching,
James
I would like to see his hard data about immigrants. Trump is one of the worst business men in the history of the US. He is a convicted felon, chronic liar, went bankrupt 6 times, and a abuser of woman. Bitcoin will change the world for the good, I also believe in democracy...Trump and Musk do not. I just wish Bitcoiners did not all hitch their wagon to this guy by drinking the the Kool Aid. He will bring everything down around him...including Bitcoin. Bitcoin will bounce back but not because of Trump.
We live in a tricky world, that is for sure. I have always been a firm believer that politicians can only be trusted as far as you can throw them...
Agreed that Bitcoin will be just fine, and it doesn't need them. Also conflicted over Bitcoiner embrase of politicians, but this is also a sub-set of the Bitcoiner population, and we can expect more and more of these sub-sets as Bitcoin adoption increases.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply, some topics are more tricky to navigate than others.
OK - I tried, but you lost me at "Trump is a master communicator". You don't get proper data from fanboys.
It's an interesting one for sure. Trump does speak to a particular audience, and I admit that for me personally, I often long for the intellectual depth of leaders in past decades (many decades ago).
I recall seeing a chart looking at the average 'educational age' that US politicans were speaking to. It is sadly down and to the right, meaning the politicians of the early 20th century spoke at a university educated level, and modern politicians speak at a 5th grader level. Quite a shame, hopefully a bottoming process.
Political candidates in the US speak at a fifth grade level not because they’re not capable. But they’re speaking to the widest audience of voters. The government has not invested in education here as they should the past few decades so they are speaking to the audience they created through defunding.
20 min in….Your guest so far is masquerading as somebody who is bringing the numbers…but only has vague newsreel highlights to share
Knowing Travis, he has crunched numbers to come to his conclusions, but as always, each person will come to the problem with their own overlay and perspectives. Tricky topics to navigate at the best of times.
The bitcoin/crypto content was fine, but I gotta admit, the opening 15 minutes was unbearable.
Understand the position, and many of these topics can be tricky to navigate. Appreciate you sticking through it, and hopefully could see value in the remainder of our conversation.
"this is not some kind of conspiracy theory" was the first red flag. I'm sorry but I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes. As a host, it's OK to challenge a guest when they're spouting nonsense (e.g. not only denying the 2020 election, but also 2024 😖)
As an Australian, I simply don't have a sufficient read on the US ground to offer a counter. Here in Australia we have our own issues, and some part of that is an imbalanced immigration policy. Our's plays out in housing costs and stress on infrastructure, but I did not have enough read to challenge US centric views.
Appreciate the feedback nonetheless.
I agree absolutely. I was very tempted to exit after 10 minutes as well but hung in since it's important to try and understand how these xenophobic, conspiracy junkies see the world. It's always disturbed me that Americans called immigrants "aliens" as though they arrived from another planet. These Immigrants who grow and harvest your food, serve your table and wash your dishes, clean your room and change your sheets, raise their families and pay taxes. America needs immigrants of all types so people like King need to get over it.
So glad to see Travis doing well. His firm took a body blow from FTX. Travis is a tough hombre to fight his way back after that.
On a tear this week!
I'm going to sleep well this weekend...will be wiped out. Only halfway with this weeks missions.
James, thank you for the flash crash update! But I really want to thank you for the podcast with Travis Kling - insightful, informative, and you have really piqued my interest in Kana and Katana. So much to learn.
Zap this man some sats on Nostr people
Travis was referring to Stephen Miran, now Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors wrote this back in 2024
https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf
Thank you mate, appreciate that.