The Last Trade E066: Tracking Business Bitcoin Adoption with River's Sam Baker

Sam Baker, research analyst at River, joins The Last Trade to present his firm's landmark report on corporate Bitcoin adoption, covering the trends driving businesses to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Drawing on prior experience at Citi's digital assets group and Galaxy, Sam offers an insider perspective on how large banks view Bitcoin and CBDCs as a threat to their deposit base rather than embracing Bitcoin's monetary significance. He explains the persistent brain drain of Bitcoin-literate talent from incumbent institutions to Bitcoin-native companies, and why this exodus leaves traditional finance perpetually ill-equipped to lead in the space. The episode also examines how the innovator's dilemma prevents legacy institutions from building Bitcoin-native solutions at the pace the market demands.