The Cantilever Podcast

Wartime Markets, Broken Signals, and the Future of Venture Capital

In this episode of the Cantilever Podcast, Danny Perez is joined by partners Brendan and Jon to break down a rapidly shifting macro environment — and what it means for markets, Bitcoin, and venture capital. Over the past month, traditional market signals have started to break. Equities are down, but bonds and gold — typically considered safe havens — are also selling off. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has held relatively steady. So what's really going on? The team explores the idea of a "wartime macro" environment, where geopolitical conflict, rising energy prices, and constrained liquidity are reshaping how markets behave — and boxing in a Federal Reserve already navigating competing pressures on inflation and financial stability. From there, the conversation shifts to venture capital. With AI driving massive efficiency gains and layoffs across major companies, the economics of building startups may be changing. If companies need fewer people and less capital to operate, what happens to the traditional venture model — and who's actually positioned for what comes next? Topics covered:  * Why bonds and gold aren't acting like safe havens * Bitcoin's resilience in a risk-off environment * How AI is reshaping capital allocation and hiring * Why mid-stage VC may be structurally shrinking * How Bitcoin-native startups have already been operating under these constraints for years. * Read the 2026 Bitcoin Ecosystem report [https://epochvc.io/pdf/Epoch-Bitcoin-Ecosystem-Report-2026.pdf] by Epoch Ventures [https://epochvc.io/]. Brendan and Jon co-authored the Bitcoin Venture Capital section, which you can find on pages 171 to 184. The episode closes with a deeper question: Are we still operating under the old playbook—or entering something entirely different? This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal and/or financial advice.

Episode 45: Why Bitcoin Dumps First (and Runs Hardest After)

Bitcoin is down ~50% from its all-time high—and Cantilever’s not sweating it. In this episode, Danny, Brendan, and John break down why Bitcoin is being traded like “levered Nasdaq” in the short term, why tightening liquidity is the real driver behind the selloff, and why Bitcoin often acts as the tip of the spear in risk-off moments. They also unpack gold’s surge as geopolitics push the world from unipolar to multipolar—and explain why gold can absorb sovereign-scale flows today while Bitcoin is still too small and too reflexive. Zooming out, they argue the Bitcoin thesis hasn’t changed: fixed supply, strong network security, growing rails, and long-term monetization still intact. Finally, they address real risk—quantum computing—and why the biggest danger isn’t “quantum tomorrow,” but rushing a fix that breaks Bitcoin’s core properties. This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal and/or financial advice.

Episode 44: Bitcoin’s 2025 Stress Test: An End-of-Year Recap

Bitcoin hit new all-time highs in 2025—then absorbed one of the largest liquidation events in crypto history and… didn’t break. In this year-end conversation, Danny sits down with Cantilever partners Brendan Quinn and Jon to unpack what Bitcoin’s price action is actually telling us. From OG distribution and ETF-driven liquidity to Federal Reserve behavior, gold’s breakout, and why the four-year cycle narrative is fading, this episode reframes 2025 not as a disappointment—but as a stress test Bitcoin quietly passed. We explore why Bitcoin’s pullback from ~$125K to the mid-$80Ks was driven by distribution, not failure; how ETFs absorbed systemic leverage without cascading damage; and what gold’s 2025 performance signals about liquidity and capital protection—not competition with Bitcoin. The conversation also digs into Bitcoin’s technological edge over gold, why quantum risk is real but widely mispriced, and what 2026 could bring as consolidation, M&A, and institutional infrastructure accelerate. This wasn’t a crisis. It was maturation. This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal and/or financial advice.

Episode 43: Genius Act, Stablecoins & Bitcoin: A New Era Begins

This month, the Cantilever team tackles the macro forces shaping Bitcoin’s trajectory—starting with the newly passed GENIUS Act [https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/07/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-signs-genius-act-into-law/], which legalizes regulated stablecoin issuance backed by U.S. Treasuries. Brendan and Jon break down how this law is more than crypto-friendly—it’s geopolitically strategic. We also explore: * Why stablecoins are superior payment technology and a “Trojan horse” for dollar dominance * The symbiotic relationship between stablecoin growth and Bitcoin demand * How ETFs, in-kind redemptions, and treasury market fragility intersect * The market’s misunderstanding of Bitcoin’s rise during high-interest rate environments * A speculative but plausible future: BTC growth → stablecoin growth → treasury demand This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal and/or financial advice.

Episode 42: Bitcoin Treasuries- The Next Corporate Strategy Frontier

As Bitcoin weathers geopolitical tension and volatile markets, a growing number of companies are placing it at the center of their corporate strategy. In this episode, we spoke with Cantilever partners, Brendan Quinn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/82546772/admin/feed/posts/#]and Jon Frisch [https://www.linkedin.com/company/82546772/admin/feed/posts/#]  to unpack the rise of Bitcoin treasury companies — businesses whose primary goal is to accumulate Bitcoin as aggressively as possible. They explore how MicroStrategy pioneered this movement, why MetaPlanet skyrocketed from $20 million to $6 billion in market cap, and what makes these companies so attractive to both retail and institutional investors. From capital market arbitrage to regulatory considerations across the U.S. and internationally, , the conversation dives into how this trend could reshape corporate finance — and what risks investors should watch for. This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal and/or financial advice.