Rates, BTC AI Convergence, BTC Risk Outlook | BMTV Sep. 21, 2026

Grace Remington (0:06)

Good Monday morning, and welcome into BMTV. I'm Grace Remington, alongside Sean Hagan. Thanks so much for starting your day with us. We've got a packed show today. There's a shifting relationship between the US and Europe, a major bet on the American economy and a growing being our next productivity boom or something much more dangerous, plus what it all means for Bitcoin.

Sean Hagan (0:27)

Yeah, we've absolutely got a lot to unpack for you today, but I think we're going to do it just fine.

Grace Remington (0:32)

We've got a couple guests here to help us out with that today. Jordi Visser, head of AI Macro Nexus at 22V Research, Jeff Walton, Chief of Research at Strive, and Jim Bianco, president at Bianco Research LLC, all joining us on today's show. But let's start with today's headlines. The United States has proposed a new AI safety notification system with China aimed at communicating artificial intelligence risks that could rise to the level of national security. Treasury Secretary Scott Bissett and Chinese Li Hefeng concluded talks in New York on Sunday with the proposal now set to be considered later this week. The Ukraine and Russia conflict has continued its escalation as Russia says three people were killed in the largest Ukrainian drone attack reported so far in the Moscow region. Russian authorities say more than 1,600 while several drones reached an oil refinery in the capital and damaged the facility. Europe is taking a major step toward a CBDC-based financial system with the launch of Pontes, new ECB blockchain-based infrastructure that allows banks and financial institutions to settle tokenized assets using central bank money.

Crypto industry begin operating under a full legal framework before the end of the year, according to Russian news agency Interfax. Central Bank First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistukin says regulators are finalizing 27 rules needed to implement the country's new crypto law. Bitcoin Treasury Company's Strategy and Strive have purchased a combined $2.5 Bitcoin for roughly $182.7 million. Strategy added $950 Bitcoin, while Strive purchased an additional $1,355 Bitcoin, continuing the two companies' aggressive accumulation strategies. The purchases come as Bitcoin rebounds over $85,000 USD, with the asset recently reaching its highest price.

Fidelity Global Macro Director, Jurian Timmer says Bitcoin may be entering a new four-year cycle bull market. Timmer says Bitcoin has held the $60,000 support zone for almost a year, roughly the length of a typical Bitcoin winter and has now started to move higher. He also points to Bitcoin Z-Square turning positive after reaching negative 100 percent, which he says has generally confirmed a market bottom in the past. So those are your headlines and with that, let's check on the markets today. Bitcoin just absolutely ripping up almost 6 percent on the day, sitting at $85,332.

Its highest mark since February.

We'll go to gold next, down a quarter of a percentage point on the day, sitting at $4,351 per ounce. The SPY kind of flat today, sitting at $766.55. QQQ also not much movement to start the morning at $728.19. Anything standing out to you so far today, Sean?

Sean Hagan (3:29)

Yeah, you know, it's interesting that the markets are flat and there's a secular rally in Bitcoin. You know, obviously, we smashed past our 50 week, which we've covered previously. We're going to cover it again, coming out this morning and saying he's wrong.

You know, but I don't think we should be too hard on Ben. You know, he's stuck to his guns. He followed the data and now the data has invalidated his thesis and he's truing up to that.

Grace Remington (3:53)

Yeah, I always think that's a sign of a true intelligence when you are given new information and you're confident enough to change.

So yeah, lots of excitement happening in the social media world today. But as we step back from the numbers, there's a much bigger story developing behind some of these moves. Tensions between the US and Europe escalated over the weekend with new developments around Greenland, defense and energy, raising question one of America's oldest alliances. A lot going on out there, Sean. So can you kind of simplify it for us?

Sean Hagan (4:27)

Oh, man, I'll try to keep it simple. But yeah, look, a lot happened over the weekend. And I think that this is more than just a geopolitics story. I think that this is important and relevant to our viewers because of the thread going through it all. Right. So a couple of weeks ago, it all kind of starts with the CIA director meeting in Moscow and having some closed door conversations there. Shortly after, Trump says, you know, Russia and Ukraine, you need to stop hitting each other's energy targets. We're already in a global energy crisis. Winter's around the corner. You know, we need to have a currency even in war. Please stop hitting each other's energy targets. And they agree to that. Shortly thereafter, Greenland's parliament came out and said, hey, you know, we did agree with Trump over control and over security. So that's a huge US win in the Arctic region. We're controlling largely energy shipments as well.