On The Brink with Castle Island

Minnesota Representative and newly elected House Whip Tom Emmer joins the show for a discussion of the FTX fallout, the House hearings, the SEC’s behavior throughout the process, and developments in the House looking ahead to 2023. Rep. Emmer’s thoughts on the House hearing with John Ray How the FTX collapse was about a failure of centralization How the timing of the SBF arrest was not coincidental - and who had an incentive to stop SBF testifying Why the Bahamian authorities may not have wanted SBF to testify The meaning of Rep. Emmer’s march letter to Gensler and the SEC Chairman Gensler’s role in the FTX scandal Has Gensler been concealing his calendar from the public? Gensler’s poor track record over the crypto crisis Oddly close links between SEC Chair Gensler, FTX, and subsidiary exchange IEX House Republicans will gain the subpoena authority in the next legislative session and what they will do with it What are some of Emmer’s responsibilities in his new role as Majority Whip? The importance of Rep. M

Matt and Nic are back for another wild week of news and deals. In this episode:  Is SBF currently interned in a top 5 prison on earth? SBF is finally arrested We enumerate the charges from the SEC, CFTC, and DOJ What kind of sentence could Sam be looking at here? The CFTC’s interesting argument for standing over FTX SBF is charged is campaign finance violations Confirming that Alameda did have latency and other advantages trading on FTX SBF’s parents face growing scrutiny What’s the deal with Gensler’s calendar? Gensler comes under more scrunity for his FTX/IEX meetings Mr. John Ray is a new star of CT We have a new possible category for bad boys McCaffrey resigns from The Block after revealing loans from SBF Elizabeth Warren proposed a hostile anti-crypto bill Do Kwon is reportedly in Serbia The DOJ is reportedly split over charging Binance What’s the deal with the Binance ‘bank run’? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Conne

Matt and Nic return for another episode of news and deals. In this episode:  Brink Nation’s surprising fan club in Bali We investigate FTX’s leaked private equity portfolio FTX employees were raising LP money for funds from FTX Why was FTX acting as a fund of funds? What is modulo capital The Michael Lewis - IEX - FTX troika Why did FTX invest $1b+ in Genesis Digital Assets? SBF’s possible incentive to invest heavily in a BTC miner How FTX’s mining investment disadvantaged other BTC miners Who has the size to buy up FTX’s private equity portfolio? Sam and Caroline secure high powered attorneys The Boston Globe’s Caroline Ellison article We correct the record on BlockFi Restating the core issues with 3AC Democrats are criticizing Gensler for his inaction on FTX What’s the deal with Sam’s subpoena? What’s the deal with the Coindesk most influential Does PoS make Ethereum a security? What’s the deal with the Castle Island merch store? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital asse

John Palmer, the CEO of CBOE Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: John’s career and the path that led him to CBOE Digital. The history of CBOE Digital, including the acquisition of ErisX and the company’s recent funding round. CBOE Digital’s product approach. The regulatory landscape in the United States and how CBOE is positioned vs. offshore unregulated venues. The impact of the FTX fraud on the broader market. Upcoming product and company plans. To learn more about CBOE Digital visit CBOEDigital.com

In this episode, Ria is joined by Robert Miller, Steward at Flashbots, which is a research and development organization with the aim to reduce the negative externalities and risks posed by MEV, or maximal extractable value. We cover: The MEV supply chain and how it’s evolved as Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake The new challenges and risk vectors that have emerged as a result of the transition, notably around decentralization and censorship resistance The tools Flashbots has proposed and implemented in response, such as Flashbots Auction, MEV Geth, MEV Boost, and the open sourcing of these tools to foster a competitive market The risk posed by exclusive order flow and cross domain MEV in centralizing block building The latest endeavor of the organization to decentralize block building using a new network - SUAVE (the single unifying auction for value expression) Research mentioned:  Order flow, auctions and centralisation - Quintus  Flashbots – The Good, Bad and the Ugly of MEV

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Tether collapse scenarios The wrapped Bitcoin issue Ria and others are named Forbes 30 under 30 Sam is still not in jail Sam’s hidden media strategy How Sam could be positioning himself for the case Was FTX really a case of negligence or was it fraud? Sam is muddying the waters Sam Trubucco is our bad boy of the week Should the US really annex the Bahamas? Members of CT are running around Nassau looking for Sam Should the US be pressuring the Bahamas for more action here? Beto returns his FTX donation The CFTC met with FTX 10 times The SEC’s culpability in the FTX scandal The Farmington Bank acquisition scandal Did Sam Trubucco and Caroline really not know about the malfeasance? SBF is throwing his former colleagues under the bus Kyle Davies’ embarassing attempted comeback What’s the fate of the charity boxing match? Casa rolls out support for Ethereum Binance rolls out a Proof of Reserve - but it has issues Content mentioned:  NYM

Mahesh Ramakrishnan of Escape Velocity joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mahesh’s career in traditional financial services and the path that led him to launching Escape Velocity. The decentralized wireless market and how it is likely to evolve. How tokenized protocols and USD stablecoins are likely to play a role in this evolution. How incumbents are positioned in this emerging category. Views on FTX and how that impacts the market more broadly. To learn more about Escape Velocity visit www.EV3.xyz.    

Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mike’s thoughts on FTX and the unfolding fraud case. His views on crypto market structure and how it is likely to evolve in the face of the FTX collapse. The regulatory landscape and the path forward for spot market regulation. Views on the MPC custody landscape and advances in zero knowledge cryptography. To learn more about BitGo visit bitgo.com  

Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode:  Liz Warren writes her first good letter ever? SBF is striking a defiant tone Sam’s new letter to employees Is the Alameda/FTX situation really that complicated? Sam’s parents bought tens of millions worth of Bahamas property The Bahamas steps in and seizes some funds Should the US annex the Bahamas? Should the US use ‘extraordinary rendition’ on SBF? Is this the death of meme rounds of financings? Semafor reports on SBF without disclosing that he was an investor Was FTX ‘just a classic bank run’? Why don’t journalists understand that the FTX situation was fraud? Where are the Bahamas prosecutors in all this? Further contagion in the crypto lending market What is to become of DCG? Could Grayscale use Reg M to do GBTC redemptions? NY Governor Kathy Hochul finally signs a moratorium on Bitcoin mining OkX launches a Proof of Reserve Who are we thankful for? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecos

Travis Scher, co-founder of North Island Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis’ investing career including his tenure at DCG and his path to founded North Island Ventures. How Travis initially met SBF and his reasons for passing on the deal. Analysis of the bankruptcy process and the likely second order impacts. How this event will change the early crypto VC landscape. To learn more visit northisland.ventures and follow Travis on Twitter.

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt’s blog post, ‘It’s Time to Grow Up’ The Alameda - FTX relationship was always sketchy Would FTX ever have been able to go public? Why don’t we have decent disclosure for token emissions? How do we put this crisis to use? John Ray’s Day 1 filing about the state of affairs at FTX So what in the hell happened to the client funds at FTX? Will funds donated to politicians be clawed back? What’s wrong with utilitarianism? How effective altruism is like Stalinism One theory on how Alameda lost money on Luna Some lending firms kicked out Alameda after the summer credit crisis Is Serum forking out coins which are due to FTX creditors? Why has the DOJ been so passive so far? We introduce some new bad boys Su Zhu and Kyle are trying to redeem themselves Do Kyle and Su have a new venture underway? Rep. Tom Emmer is elected as the GOP Whip in the House Will the Republican led House subpoena Gensler? Content mentioned in this episode: Matt Wal

Garrett Weaver, the co-founder and CEO of Juke joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Garrett’s career as an entertainment industry executive and the path that led him to starting Juke. How Hollywood intellectual property works and how blockchains can open up revenue opportunities for studios. The use cases for NFT technology and the innovation on the horizon in the industry. To learn more about Juke visit www.juke.io Read about Juke's launch   

Nic and Matt return for one of the craziest weeks in crypto history. In this episode:  Coin Metrics makes a key on-chain discovery regarding FTX’s insolvency Will Castle Island buy the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena? What in the hell happened to FTX/Alameda? How big is the hole in FTX’ balance sheet Was FTX/Alameda insolvent as early as Q2? How this is reminiscent of the Bitfinex/Tether transaction? What did CZ see that caused him to catalyze the attack on FTX? How did FTX pass an audit? Who will be affected by the FTX collapse? How this will affect the already impaired crypto lenders We revisit some of the recent departures from FTX/Alameda This explains why FTX was bailing out the lenders in Q2 Will FTX US be firewalled off here? Could this crisis have been forecasted? Did Sam perjure himself in front of Congress? Gensler’s responsibility in the FTX fiasco Su Zhu is trying to do a redemption arc Why is Su Zhu surfing? Possible regulatory consequences What are the midterm consequences for crypto? A f

Josh Schwartz and Dima Kogan, co-founders of Fordefi, join the show. In this episode we discuss: MPC custody: what it is, its academic roots and how MPC works. The tradeoffs and considerations that have led to the growth in popularity of MPC custody. Josh and Dima’s backgrounds and the path that led them to founding Fordefi. The institutional custody landscape and some of the challenges that firms face when engaging with DeFi protcols. How Josh and Dima think about the security risks associated with smart contract platforms. The types of customers that Fordefi is currently serving. Their fundraise announcement and what is next. To learn more visit fordefi.com

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode:  Bitwise is moving into active management What’s the deal with Uber on the blockchain? The boys review House of the Dragon The history of land-based blockchain bets Fidelity launches no-fee retail trading for trading BTC and ETH on their platform Matt reminisces on Fidelity’s crypto journey Google announces blockchain node engine Nic’s 2-year pending transaction on Venmo SBF continues to wrangle with CT Sam’s debate with Erik Voorhees Alameda’s questionable balance sheet is leaked Can FTX buy its way into respectability despite the existence of Alameda? What’s the deal with the MAPS token? Is it far for FTX to start offshore and buy way into the regulated system? Elon’s schemes for Twitter Coinbase and the Blockchain Association are supporting Ripple in their case against the SEC The Tether case is reopened at the SDNY Tether rips us off with their own bootleg FUD Dice What happens to Chinese Tether holders if Tether has to unwind If Te

Jeff Park, an active Portfolio Manager at Bitwise joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The state of active crypto asset management. How Bitwise approaches the active management opportunity. The taxonomy of strategies that Jeff observes in the market. Perspectives on MEV and other crypto specific opportunities. The institutional LP landscape for active management vs. passive. To learn more about Bitwise visit bitwiseinvestments.com and see their announcement of new active strategies.

CoreWeave's Brian Venturo (CTO) and Brannin McBee (CSO) return to On The Brink for a discussion of their journey through the merge and beyond. In this episode:  Are they relieved that the merge finally happened? Will there be some form of non-Bitcoin PoW in the future? Could Ethereum conceivably return to PoW? The effect of PoS on ETH’s censor resistance What quantity of ETH miners shifted to other PoW chains and what portion went elsewhere? What is the best use of capital for former ETH miners now? Did the merge really reduce global electricity consumption by 0.2%? Brannin’s estimate for precise electricity reduction from the merge How feasible is it for former ETH miners to get into GPU clouds? How Core Weave built their cloud product What it takes to be competitive in the high performance computing sector Why the generalized providers of cloud can’t just win when it comes to rendering and ML/AI Why the HPC market is exploding right now How open source communities behind text and image models contributed t

Matt and Nic are back for another week of deals and news. In this episode:  Full time crypto haters What’s the deal with the nocoiner think tank? Eric Wall and Udi vs Bitcoiners Did Bitcoin put all of its eggs in the LN basket? Scaling isn’t LN versus big blocks any more Is there just one scaling solution for blockchains? What are the prospects for ZK Rollups on Bitcoin? Spam attacks on BSV and Zcash Bitcoin Miners are going bankrupt How did the Ethereum merge affect Bitcoin miners What’s the deal with Bitcoin’s hashrate spike? Are non-economic Bitcoin miners killing the free market for mining? What’s the deal with miner lenders? Synthetic Bitcoin stablecoins Is Twitter fairly priced at the deal price? Matt Levine’s 40k word article on crypto Is the pivot finally in? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them

Mike Cahill, Director of the Pyth Data Association joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The origin of Pyth and how the project is addressing the ‘Oracle Problem’. How Pyth works and how companies and protocols are using the product today. Mike’s views on how equities on chain will evolve, and how Pyth is positioned in this market. The recent Mango Markets exploit and the future of on-chain market manipulations in DeFi. Pyth’s network of partners and how the network is growing in 2022. To learn more about Pyth visit Pyth.Network.    

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode:  Why USDC is suffering redemptions but not USDT Some new 3AC shenanigans are unearthed The SEC and CFTC are investigating 3AC Details from the Voyager bankruptcy filing Avraham Eisenburg is crypto’s hottest new villain Is the Mango exploit against the law? Is there a vigilante group out to get Do Kwon? SBF is criticized for his regulatory draft proposal The Texas securities regulators are investigating FTX FTX shareholders at odds with FTT holders? Aptos’ controversial launch Have we forgotten how to do a fair launch? How Ethereum’s merge put pressure on Bitcoin miners Reuters’ Binance investigation Unstoppable domains deprecates over 100k .coin domains Is Bitcoin finally decorrelating from risk assets? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet