Is the Fed raising rates in 2022?  What will happen to equities? What is an NFT and why should I care? How can I hedge my portfolio against inflation?   Answers to each of these questions and many more are covered in this month's interview. In the kickoff to season #2 of Fill the Gap, we are joined by one of the best macro strategists on the street – and a man who came close to being a Fed Governor himself!   James Bianco, CMT is President of Bianco Research, L.L.C., an Arbor Research & Trading, LLC affiliate based in Chicago. Since November 1990, he has been a highly sought-after Fixed Income Strategist and macro market analyst. A longstanding member of the CMT Association and a familiar face in financial news media, Jim’s commentaries are primarily devoted to fixed income markets, and he places special emphasis on the money flow characteristics of primary dealers, mutual funds, hedge funds, futures traders, banks, and institutional investors.    Other topics he has researched include the effects of commodity prices on bond yields, how the ratio of the equity market’s capitalization as a percentage of the nominal gross domestic product affects price performance of the stock market, the role government regulation plays in determining inflation, how market performance affects mutual fund investors, the role politics plays in setting interest rates and measuring the stock and bond markets from a total return perspective.   In this episode, we cover all of Jim’s specialties and take a look at the emerging asset class with a clear-eyed description of decentralized finance, the protocols underlying altcoins in the cryptocurrency market, and the proliferation of NFTs.