04-13-2026Price:

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BITCOIN

Bitcoin outpaces gold as war drives institutional demand

Monday, April 13, 2026 · from 4 podcasts, 6 episodes
4 SOURCESBitcoin AndBanklessThe Bitcoin PodcastRabbit Hole Recap
  • Bitcoin is gaining 12% while gold falls 10% since the Iran war began, repricing as a neutral settlement rail.
  • Morgan Stanley’s low-fee ETF targets BlackRock’s dominance, leveraging 15,000 wealth advisors for distribution.
  • Iran charges oil tankers $1-per-barrel tolls in Bitcoin, creating a state-level model for sanctions evasion.

Bitcoin is decoupling from traditional safe havens. Since the war in Iran began on February 28, the BlackRock ETF (IBIT) has gained 11.75%, while the S&P 500 is flat and gold has fallen nearly 10%. On Bitcoin And, David Bennett argues the conflict highlights a new utility: when the U.S. Navy blockades ports, it can't block a private key. Bitcoin is being repriced as resilient, non-sovereign infrastructure for trade when correspondent banking channels freeze.

The institutional plumbing is adapting to capture this premium. Morgan Stanley launched its Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) this week with a 0.14% expense ratio, undercutting BlackRock’s IBIT by 11 basis points. While BlackRock holds a $55 billion liquidity lead, Morgan Stanley’s army of 15,000 wealth managers represents a direct pipeline for fresh capital from retail portfolios. Bennett expects a fee war as distribution channels tighten.

"Bitcoin is no longer trading purely as a risk-on asset or a simple inflation hedge. It is being repriced as resilient infrastructure."

- David Bennett, Bitcoin And

Geopolitical actors are building on this rails-first model. Iran is reportedly charging oil tankers a $1-per-barrel toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, payable in Bitcoin. On Rabbit Hole Recap, Marty Bent and Matt Odell framed this as the logical evolution for a sanctioned state, moving beyond energy monetization via mining to direct settlement for strategic resources. A single fully-loaded tanker could represent a $2 million Bitcoin transaction.

Michael Saylor, speaking on Bankless, is engineering financial products to absorb this institutional wave. His new STRC preferred stock functions as a Bitcoin-backed money market, paying an 11.5% dividend. His 21-year thesis targets a $21 million Bitcoin price, predicated on global bank adoption and the end of re-hypothecation in shadow banking. He dismisses quantum computing threats as alarmism, arguing rushed protocol fixes pose a greater risk than hackers.

"The 10-minute block time is not a hurdle for a tanker worth millions. If a shipping company attempts a double-spend, they lose access to the waterway forever."

- Marty Bent & Matt Odell, Rabbit Hole Recap

The backdrop is a regulatory landscape shifting from enforcement to codified rules. The Genius and Clarity Acts, discussed on The Bitcoin Podcast, are stripping yield from stablecoins to protect bank deposits, turning them into inert payment tools. This provides the predictability large institutions demand, even as it fences off yield for traditional banks. For Bitcoin, the path is clear: become the bedrock digital capital layer that a compliant, programmable economy is built upon.

BTC MarketsETFsAdoption
David BennettMarty BentMichael SaylorBlackRockSquareBitcoinIran

Source Intelligence

What each podcast actually said

Bitcoin And | Bitcoin & Economic News
Bitcoin And | Bitcoin & Economic News

Strait To Weird | Bitcoin News • Apr 13

  • Since the Iran war started February 28, 2026, IBIT gained 11.75% while SPY fell 0.6%, gold fell 9.6%, and silver fell 18.72%.
  • Morgan Stanley plans tokenized money market funds and crypto tax strategies after launching its Bitcoin ETF, aiming to expand beyond Bitcoin.
  • Trump meme coin holders are invited to a Mar-a-Lago luncheon, with the top 29 getting a private reception, drawing criticism for pay-to-play conflicts.
  • MicroStrategy bought 13,927 Bitcoin for $1 billion entirely through STRCH sales, bringing its holdings to 780,897 BTC at an average cost of $75,577.
  • Bennett warns against NewsBTC's constant negative Bitcoin headlines, noting their claims about STRCH failing were contradicted by MicroStrategy's $1 billion purchase.

Also from this episode:

War (3)
  • David Bennett questions the feasibility of a US Navy blockade of Iranian ports, noting intelligence lag and uncertainty over detecting crypto payments.
  • Allard's analysis argues the Iran war highlights Bitcoin's value as an open settlement network immune to correspondent banking or state control.
  • Iran's 2025 crypto transaction volume was $8-11 billion, with researchers noting millions moved from Iranian exchanges after strikes.
Custody (2)
  • Garrett Dutton lost 5.9 Bitcoin ($420,000) to a fake Ledger app on the App Store, part of a pattern targeting Ledger users.
  • Bennett advocates for Cold Card over Ledger, citing Ledger's repeated hacks and scams, and notes Cold Card's open-source design.
Markets (1)
  • Bitget launched Pre-SPECS token offering retail exposure to SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO, but grants no equity, voting rights, or ownership.
Stablecoins (2)
  • Jeremy Allaire defended Circle's decision not to freeze USDC in the Drift exploit, citing legal obligation and moral quandary unless law enforcement directs action.
  • WLE threatens legal action against Justin Sun after he accused the Trump-linked project of treating users as ATMs over a $75 million stablecoin loan.
BTC MarketsStablecoinsBankingMacroCustody

Quantum Salvage | Bitcoin News • Apr 9

  • David Bennett reports the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) raised $33.9 million on its first trading day, trading over 1.6 million shares.
  • Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chughani estimate Bitcoin has a three to five year window to implement post-quantum security, framing it as a scheduled evolution rather than a crisis.

Also from this episode:

Protocol (8)
  • Google research estimates a future quantum machine could break Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography with under 500,000 physical qubits, a 20x reduction from prior estimates.
  • Bernstein notes scaling quantum computers to attack levels would require breakthroughs in hardware and error correction, potentially costing tens to hundreds of billions of dollars.
  • Bernstein identifies approximately 1.7 million BTC in Satoshi-era wallets with permanently visible public keys as the highest exposure segment to a quantum attack.
  • Nick Carter's fiction piece 'Trillion Dollar Salvage' explores a scenario where a quantum attack on exposed Bitcoin leads the US government to seize coins under maritime salvage law, testing Bitcoin's social consensus.
  • Roast Beef of Lightning Labs developed a prototype tool allowing wallet recovery via proof-of-ownership during a quantum emergency upgrade, generating a proof in 55 seconds and verifying it in under 2 seconds on a MacBook.
  • Developer Robert Graham argues Adam Back and Satoshi Nakamoto's C++ coding styles are completely different, with Back's resembling academic Unix code and Satoshi's that of a professional Windows programmer, contradicting the New York Times' linguistic analysis.
  • BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated $5.4 million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, a move Bennett suggests may fuel UK political efforts to ban crypto donations.
  • Arthur Hayes is skeptical of reports Iran is collecting Bitcoin tolls from oil tankers, demanding on-chain proof and calling it IRGC theater until verified.
AI & Tech (2)
  • Nunchuk released open-source tools for AI agents to interact with Bitcoin wallets using a bounded authority model, where agents operate within user-set spending caps and approval policies.
  • Visa unveiled 'Intelligent Commerce Connect', a platform for AI-driven autonomous shopping that supports tokenized payments and is compatible with major AI agent protocols.
BTC MarketsProtocolBankingRegulation

Resident Evil | Bitcoin News • Apr 8

  • Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) began trading with a 0.14% expense ratio, undercutting BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) at 0.25%.
  • Nate Geraci notes Morgan Stanley's competitive edge comes from its army of wealth managers and trillions in client assets, not just its low fee. James Seyffart argues IBIT's liquidity dominance will be hard to replicate.
  • Iran is exploring collecting cryptocurrency, potentially Bitcoin, as a $1-per-barrel transit fee for oil tankers using the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week ceasefire.

Also from this episode:

Stablecoins (1)
  • A White House Council of Economic Advisors analysis found banning stablecoin rewards would boost community bank lending by only 0.026%, contradicting banking lobby warnings of catastrophic deposit losses.
AI & Tech (2)
  • Anthropic's AI model Claude Mythos Preview can autonomously find and exploit decades-old software vulnerabilities for under $50 in compute, raising potential security risks for open-source DeFi protocols.
  • Actress Mila Jovovich, in collaboration with Bitcoin coder Ben Sigman, developed an open-source AI memory tool called Mem Palace, inspired by ancient mnemonic techniques.
Protocol (5)
  • David Bennett views the Mythos reveal as a marketing campaign similar to the 'New Coke' strategy, designed to generate hype by touting an exclusive, powerful product.
  • A New York Times investigation suggests Adam Back may be Satoshi Nakamoto, citing similarities in writing patterns from cypherpunk mailing list archives. Back has consistently denied the claim.
  • OpenSats announced its sixteenth wave of grants, funding projects like Nostr Mail, a decentralized email system built on the Nostr protocol.
  • An academic paper concludes a quantum attack on Bitcoin mining using Grover's algorithm would require energy roughly equal to 3% of the sun's output, making it physically unfeasible.
  • David Bennett characterizes the simultaneous release of quantum FUD, Mythos AI warnings, and the NYT Satoshi story as a coordinated fear campaign to suppress Bitcoin's price.
BTC MarketsTradeWarAI InfrastructureMacro
Bankless
Bankless

"Fix the Money, Fix the World" — Michael Saylor's Master Plan (plus questions on Quantum and Ethereum) • Apr 13

  • Michael Saylor's 21-year thesis forecasts Bitcoin's price will reach $20-21 million per coin, implying a $400 trillion market cap as it becomes the world's dominant digital capital.
  • Saylor sees Bitcoin's long-term annualized growth rate averaging 29%, decelerating from the past five-year rate of 37%. He believes the asset is currently oversold and will be much higher by year-end.
  • MicroStrategy's STRC instrument is a variable-rate monthly preferred stock designed to strip away volatility and duration, offering pure yield. It recently traded with less than 2% trailing 30-day volatility, making it one of the S&P 500's least volatile securities.
  • Saylor frames STRC as asset-backed credit, converting a volatile capital asset (Bitcoin) into a stable income instrument. The model pays investors a fraction (e.g., one-third) of Bitcoin's expected capital appreciation as a dividend, using over-collateralization to manage risk.
  • Key drivers for Saylor's $20 million Bitcoin thesis include global regulatory recognition as a capital asset, bank credit networks forming against Bitcoin collateral, and the securitization wave via ETFs and digital credit instruments like STRC.
  • Saylor argues the current price suppression stems from re-hypothecation within the crypto shadow banking system, where cheap loans require collateral to be re-lent, creating selling pressure. Bank credit networks would reverse this by allowing non-rehypothecated loans.
  • MicroStrategy's business model is to perpetually issue digital credit (like STRC) to acquire more Bitcoin, aligning with equity investors who want amplification. Saylor sees no reason to diversify or stop accumulating, viewing Bitcoin as an infinitely scalable homogeneous collateral base.
  • Saylor's ultimate vision is to 'fix the money' by providing a billion people with a bank account yielding more than the inflation rate (e.g., 8%). This would be built on a stack of digital capital (Bitcoin), digital credit (STRC), and digital money distributed by traditional banks.

Also from this episode:

Protocol (2)
  • On the quantum computing threat to Bitcoin's cryptography, Saylor adopts an optimist's stance, warning against iatrogenic solutions. He believes the Bitcoin community will upgrade in due time and cautions against panic driven by alarmism seeking clicks or funding.
  • Saylor's view on Ethereum has evolved, acknowledging its role as a leader in the staking network segment for tokenizing securities, currencies, and commodities. He sees regulatory clarity as the next step but believes the ultimate utility and winners will be determined by market competition.
BTC MarketsAdoptionBankingMacroProtocol
The Bitcoin Podcast
The Bitcoin Podcast

The Bitcoin Podcast: Corey is a GENIUS, Jessie and Dee give CLARITY • Apr 11

Also from this episode:

Startups (2)
  • Jesse aims to disrupt healthcare through tech, starting with gym management software that uses QR codes on equipment for maintenance logs and usage analytics, improving member retention and operational efficiency.
  • Jesse acknowledges the pragmatic need to build centralized software for commercial viability, even if it deviates from pure cypherpunk ideals, due to the slow pace of real-world adoption for peer-to-peer networks.
Business (1)
  • Dimitri characterizes private equity as parasitic, arguing firms buy companies to strip assets, indebt them, and then acquire valuable holdings when the businesses inevitably fail.
Stablecoins (2)
  • The Genius Act, now law, provides a legal framework for stablecoins by requiring 1:1 reserves and explicitly excluding them from securities classification, enabling real-world asset tokenization.
  • The Genius Act's limitations include prohibiting stablecoin issuers from paying yield, denying FDIC insurance and Federal Reserve access, and allowing big tech to issue stablecoins without full bank regulatory standards.
Regulation (4)
  • The Clarity Act, passed by the House but stalled in the Senate, aims to replace "regulation by enforcement" with codified rules for crypto, providing predictability and separating CFTC and SEC regulatory lanes.
  • The Clarity Act is stalled by the banking lobby's opposition to stablecoin yield, which drives crypto innovation offshore and led to dropping FIT21 provisions, limiting retail investor protections and institutional on-ramps.
  • Corey explains Congress stripped stablecoins of yield features to prevent them from being classified as bank deposits or securities, thereby avoiding existing banking or securities regulations.
  • Dimitri compares crypto's regulatory challenges to regulatory capture, where established industries like airlines and banks influence legislation to protect their financial flows and control new market entrants.
Big Tech (1)
  • Dimitri asserts that AI companies are currently "breaking many laws, domestic ones and foreign ones for sure" through their aggressive development and data acquisition practices.
MacroBankingRegulationStablecoins
Rabbit Hole Recap
Rabbit Hole Recap

RABBIT HOLE RECAP #404: THE RISE OF THE PETROSAT • Apr 9

  • Marty reports Iran is reportedly accepting Bitcoin as payment for tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, with transactions potentially averaging $2 million per tanker at $1 per barrel.
  • The Bitcoin ETF became the fastest-growing ETF in history, accumulating $100 billion in assets under management in 435 days, significantly faster than the previous record holder (VOOS ETF, 2011 days).
  • Morgan Stanley launched its own Bitcoin ETF, featuring lower fees than BlackRock's IBIT and leveraging its 16,000 advisors managing $7.4 trillion in client assets for potential inflows.
  • Miles Suter of Block clarified that Square is gradually rolling out Bitcoin payments to eligible US sellers, enabling 100% of newly onboarded users by default while expanding to existing sellers in phases.
  • Individuals from El Salvador who completed Mempool's Lightning Network Bootcamp in Tokyo are now joining the company's team at its new offices in El Salvador.

Also from this episode:

Protocol (5)
  • Marty argues Bitcoin is ideal for international financial transfers where trust is limited, citing its finality and censorship resistance as superior to traditional and stablecoin alternatives for sanctioned entities like Iran.
  • Marty highlights Iran's existing Bitcoin mining operations, noting it offers an efficient way for energy-rich, sanctioned countries to monetize their energy resources directly.
  • Matt notes France made a $12 billion profit on the gold trade and suggests the repatriation highlights gold's limitations in verifiability and transferability compared to Bitcoin.
  • BitChat was banned in China, which Marty considers a positive signal for the freedom technology project; its Android app has accumulated 3.2 million downloads since launching on July 6, 2023.
  • Marty argues that the ethical stance of Bitcoin maximalism has been compromised by the embrace of MicroStrategy's (MSTR) treasury products, which he likens to 'shitcoins' when viewed through a non-Wall Street lens.
Macro (1)
  • France repatriated 129 tons of gold by selling reserves in New York and repurchasing them in Europe, citing concerns over counterparty risk with foreign holdings.
Nostr (1)
  • OpenSats has issued its 16th wave of Nostr grants, committing 100% of donations to open-source contributors, supporting projects like Amethyst Desktop and Hamster, which utilizes ham radio for Nostr communication.
Politics (2)
  • Marty notes the Iranian government has blocked its people from global internet access for 41 days during conflict, making alternative communication tools like Starlink, local mesh networks, and ham radio critical.
  • Russia's Ministry of Digital Development is drafting legislation to mandate banks use MAX, a Kremlin-controlled messaging app, for confirming customer financial operations, granting officials broad discretion over transactions.
AI & Tech (2)
  • Block released Sprout, a Nostr-based open-source relay for AI agents, and Mesh LLM, which enables users to pool spare GPU capacity via Nostr to create an OpenAI-compatible API for open-source models.
  • Anthropic ceased OpenClaude subscription access, forcing users to its API where Marty's estimated costs for his The Financial Times project saw a 15x increase, reaching $3,000 per month.
TradeMacroModelsRegulation

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