Borrowing Against Bitcoin Is Getting Easier? #120

This week on Crypto Options Unplugged, Imran Lakha and David Brickell are joined by Santiago Roel Santos, founder of Inversion, for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, crypto and where the biggest investment opportunities could emerge from the next wave of technological disruption. Santiago argues that we are still extremely early in the AI adoption cycle. Rather than focusing purely on frontier models, he sees persistent demand for compute, memory and energy as AI agents spread through businesses and everyday life — potentially turning previously cyclical industries into structural beneficiaries of the AI buildout. The discussion then turns to crypto, where Santiago takes a much more selective view. He questions whether many crypto networks generate enough economic value to justify their valuations and argues that Ethereum's usage and network effects don't necessarily translate into sufficient value capture for ETH itself. They also explore the intersection of AI and crypto: whether autonomous agents genuinely need blockchain rails, where stablecoins offer a real advantage, and whether the biggest winners from tokenisation could actually be stablecoin issuers, DeFi applications and established financial institutions rather than the underlying Layer 1 tokens. Finally, the conversation expands into robotics, healthcare and the economic consequences of AI-driven productivity. Santiago discusses why he is heavily exposed to AI infrastructure, healthcare, robotics and defence, while considering how governments may eventually have to respond to widespread labour displacement.

In this week’s Crypto Options Unplugged, Imran Lakha and David Brickell unpack the market reaction to the Fed’s latest rate hike, the bigger forces driving global markets, and Bitcoin’s breakout through the key $80–85k area. The Fed may have delivered another hike, but Dave argues monetary policy is increasingly becoming a sideshow compared with the much larger story of fiscal dominance. Persistent government deficits, resilient economic activity and shifting inflation dynamics are creating a backdrop where risk assets have continued to absorb supposedly bearish news remarkably well.

In this week’s Crypto Options Unplugged, Imran Lakha and David Brickell are joined by Mark Sischka, Global Head of OTC Trading at Blockchain.com, to discuss the evolution of institutional crypto trading and whether Bitcoin’s recent breakout signals the beginning of a new market regime.Mark shares what he is seeing across the OTC market as traditional finance increasingly moves on-chain. The discussion covers the growth of 24/7 markets, stablecoins and tokenised assets, alongside the increasing sophistication of institutional execution. They also explore how crypto options strategies are evolving beyond systematic covered-call selling, with investors becoming more selective about yield generation, downside protection and portfolio management.The conversation then turns to Bitcoin’s explosive move higher. Mark describes it as one of the biggest short squeezes Bitcoin has seen and argues that the market mentality may have shifted from selling rallies to buying dips. With BTC testing the $80–85k resistance zone, upside calls being bought and longer-dated skew moving away from persistent put premium, the options market is beginning to reflect greater confidence in the recovery.Finally, they examine what could come next. Treasury buybacks, the upcoming Fed decision, inflation data, bond-market stress and potential dollar weakness could all determine whether Bitcoin immediately extends the rally or first retraces towards the $70–72k region. They also discuss whether capital could rotate from AI equities back into crypto, and why the next altcoin cycle may increasingly favour established, liquid projects rather than lifting every token indiscriminately.

In this week’s Crypto Options Unplugged, Imran Lakha and David Brickell examine the growing stress in global bond markets and why it could ultimately become the catalyst for Bitcoin’s next major move. Despite increasingly hawkish Fed rhetoric and rising expectations of a September hike, long-end yields continue to push higher—raising questions over whether policymakers are losing control of the bond market. The pair discuss why the combination of huge government deficits, AI-related borrowing and pressure across global sovereign bonds may eventually force policymakers to inject significantly more liquidity into the system. With Treasury buybacks, potential TGA deployment, swap lines and other measures already being discussed, Dave argues that the real Bitcoin bull case emerges if these interventions have to be dramatically scaled up. They then turn to Bitcoin’s recent breakout and the options market. Volatility initially jumped as BTC broke higher, but implied and realised volatility have quickly compressed again, while the bullish shift towards calls has largely faded back to neutral. With significant resistance around $80–85k and major macro events approaching, September could provide the next test of whether Bitcoin’s renewed uptrend has staying power. Finally, Imran breaks down the actively managed Bitcoin hedging strategy he has been running over the past 18 months. Using risk reversals against part of his BTC holdings, the strategy has delivered roughly 70% upside participation versus 50% downside participation, while reducing annualised volatility from around 45% for Bitcoin to 25%.

In this week’s Crypto Options Unplugged, Imran Lakha and David Brickell are joined by Chris Perkins, Head of Franklin Crypto, to discuss whether crypto is entering a new regime as improving liquidity, institutional adoption and stronger market structure finally begin to translate into price action. The episode opens with the Treasury’s expanded bond buyback programme and the prospect of drawing down the TGA. Imran and Dave explore why these measures are being interpreted as an attempt to contain long-end yields, what they could mean for market liquidity, and why Bitcoin and gold reacted so strongly. Bitcoin’s breakout has also transformed the options market, with realised volatility surging, skew flipping towards calls and short-volatility positioning being forced to unwind. Chris then explains why the institutional crypto story is reaching an important inflection point. In his view, the risk for large investors has shifted from being involved in crypto to potentially being left behind, as regulatory clarity improves and institutions race to develop 24/7 trading, tokenisation and digital-asset capabilities. The conversation also covers the return of the crypto basis trade, why the next altcoin cycle may reward projects with genuine fundamentals rather than lifting everything together, and where Franklin sees opportunities across crypto infrastructure, applications, AI and even quantum computing. Finally, they discuss the convergence of traditional finance and crypto, with tokenised assets and 24/7 markets potentially reshaping how institutions manage risk. The broader message is that the infrastructure has continued to develop even while prices struggled—and institutional participation could increasingly become the dominant force in the next phase of the market.