On The Brink with Castle Island

Michael Sonnenshein and Craig Salm of Grayscale Investments join the show. In this episode we discuss: Grayscale’s filing to convert GBTC to an ETF and their advocacy campaign. The comment process (details at: www.grayscale.com/comment) Reactions to the Biden Executive Order. Grayscale’s product lineup and the future of active vs. passive crypto products. The metaverse, NFTs and other areas of interest for crypto asset managers. To learn more about Grayscale visit www.grayscale.com

Matt and Nic return for more deals and news. In this episode:  Brink Nation is officially moving to GM.xyz Did blockchains 2.0 make fundamental scaling improvements? Is ESG over? Nic surrenders his eyeball sovereignty to Clear A secret trick to get through the Miami airport Bloomberg analysts think a spot ETF could be approved summer 2023... pending SEC developments Would the SEC have to gain control over crypto exchanges to approve an ETF? Florida will accept corporate taxes in BTC Terra is buying up to $10b in Bitcoin Will seigniorage shares stablecoins ever work? The USD is the unit of account for 99% of all stablecoins Are the Democrats fracturing along crypto lines? Russia mentions accepting Bitcoin for energy payments The NYT repeats the misleading per-transaction energy cost analysis Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Netwo

Jon Birnbaum, COO of Domain Money, a new investment platform, joins the show. In this episode, we discuss: History and launch of Domain Money Jon’s path into fintech and then the digital asset industry Dimension of access to investing for the retail market Domain’s product offering across crypto and equities Developing new metrics to help consumers think through investing Learn about Domain Money here.

Celestia Labs COO, Nick White, joins us on the show to kick off our modular blockchain mini-series. Celestia is the first modular blockchain network, which decouples consensus and data availability from execution and settlement. Celestia implements a novel design to unlock key properties such as scalability, interoperability, and sovereignty while preserving decentralization. We cover:   Why scaling and decentralization have historically been at odds How Celestia creates a modular system to reimagine traditional monolithic blockchain architecture Leveraging data availability sampling to unlock scalability How Celestia intends to be the engine that powers sovereign communities Learn more about Celestia here. 

Matt and Nic return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode:  Too much Tom Brady content? Can Roman Abramovich sell Chelsea? Former skeptics coming around on Bitcoin Arbitraging tungsten cube NFTs? Why isn’t physical tungsten rallying? Facebook’s Diem is back from the dead Takeaways from Laura Shin’s book The Cryptopians Tom Emmer’s letter to the SEC Details of Sen. Lummis’ bill start to come out The EU almost bans PoW cryptocurrencies Instagram announces plans to add NFTs Ukraine legalizes cryptoassets The story behind Nic’s Tucker appearance Bitcoiners growing beards Content mentioned in the episode:  Rep. Tom Emmer's letter to the SEC  Decrypt, Bill From 'Bitcoin Senator' Lummis Would Alter Capital Gains Landscape for Crypto Coindesk, Ukraine's Zelenskyy Signs Virtual Assets Bill Into Law, Legalizing Crypto Sponsor notes:  Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visitin

Brett Harrison, the CEO of FTX.US joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Brett’s pre-crypto career and the path to leading FTX.US How FTX is evolving on their derivatives product offering Perspectives on crypto market structure in the US will evolve How equity markets may come to be impacted by innovations in the crypto world How FTX is pursuing NFTs and gaming To learn more visit FTX.us and follow Brett on Twitter  

Former FT Alphaville Editor and founder of The Blind Spot, Izabella Kaminska joins the show. In this episode:  Izabella’s pre-FT career Izabella’s Polish ancestry and how that informed her monetary worldview Why Izabella was a skeptic about Bitcoin – and why she revisited her stance Izabella’s interest in anacyclosis and cyclicality in political systems Jeremy Bentham and his views on utilitarianism Consequentialism and its influence on contemporary elite ideology What Covid-19 policies revealed about freedoms in the West The flaws inherent in bureaucracy Izabella’s changing view on the politicization of finance The failure of AML/KYC rules in the West Reflections on the FT’s Wirecard story Izabella’s view on stablecoins and why she first compared them to Eurodollars Why stablecoins are mini central banks The paradoxes of Web3 and DeFi and the veil of decentralization Do crypto systems end up inherently recentralizing Why Central Banking is so obscure and difficult to penetrate Bitcoin narratives in the cont

Nic and Matt return for more deals and news of the week. In this episode:  The fallout from the seizure of the Russian fx reserves Did America default on its obligations? How are Chinese interests served by the US weaponizing the dollar? Can Bitcoin become an inter-state settlement asset and sovereign-scale SoV? Zoltan Pozsar declares an end to Bretton Woods We digest Biden’s executive order The White House calls for 14 studies on crypto and CBDCs A pro-crypto candidate wins the Korean presidential election BNY Mellon gets into MPC crypto custody Stripe now supports crypto payments The Verge profiles Justin Sun Does insider trading apply to commodities? Coinbase blocks 25k Russian users from the platform Content mentioned:  Nic in Coindesk, America’s Quiet Default The Verge, The Many Escapes of Justin Sun Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Singer and songwriter, VÉRITÉ (Kelsey Byrne), and artist manager, Vanessa Magos have been leading the charge for artists and their teams to learn about and experiment in web3. In our third episode in the web3 music mini-series, they joined us to talk about: Artists as CEOs who bootstrap their business and put themselves in positions of power and ownership Artists being locked into the arbitrary fixed price imposed on music by the industry A future where artists have access to their fans free of paywalls, algorithms, and third parties The role music DAOs can play in restructuring artist teams You can find VERITE and Vanessa on Twitter @verite and @vanessamagos, respectively.

Sohrob Farudi, the founder and CEO of Fan Controlled Football joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Sohrob’s entrepreneurial journey and the insights that led to him founding Fan Controlled Football. How FCF works and how fans engage with the league, all the way to calling the plays. How Sohrob came to be interested in cryptocurrency and how NFTs have crossed into FCF. Longer term opportunities for cryptocurrencies and tokenized securities in the context of FCF. The upcoming season and what fans can expect. To learn more visit FCF.IO and follow the league on Twitter Sponsor notes Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io

Nic and Matt return for another wild week. In this episode:  OTB theme music controversy Is Bitcoin a risk off asset Ukraine raises crypto to fund the war effort Why Ukrainians were better positioned to deal with a banking sector failure The U.S. cuts Russia out of SWIFT (mostly) Can the U.S. pull the SWIFT deplatforming again? Will gold be remonetized? Metamask, Infura, and Opensea are banned in Iran and Venezuela Why the cost of running a full node matters Can NFTs be securities? Is Russia evading sanctions with crypto? Powell’s comment on multiple reserve currencies Content mentioned:  JP Schnapper-Casteras in the New Atlanticist, Here’s why crypto won’t save the Kremlin from sanctions Jon Sindreu in the WSJ, If Russian Currency Reserves Aren’t Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com  

We sit down with Blake Masters, COO at Thiel Capital, coauthor of Zero to One, and 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona.  Why Blake is running for Senate in Arizona  Blake's experience running Thiel Capital and what led him to politics today  Does Congress need more business expertise?  Where Blake falls on the spectrum of being pro vs anti crypto  Where Blake gets his info regarding the crypto industry  USA vs Chinese policy on Bitcoin  Should the US pursue a strategic Bitcoin reserve?  Does cryptocurrency impair the US' sanctions-making ability?  Will the government maintain its sanctions-making ability in perpetuity?  How crypto and Bitcoin could shore up the U.S. dollar  Can the Fed solve climate or racial equity issues?  Are the MMTers in power?  Is the U.S. facing a genuine risk of default?  Leftist explanations for inflation and why they are unsatisfying Where the Covid-related stimulus payments warranted? Dealing with Big Tech deplatforming and whether Section 230 is sufficient  Can decentralize

Meow CEO Brandon Arvanaghi and CTO Bryce Crawford join the show to cover crypto yields and how they make them accessible to corporate treasuries. In this episode:  The origins of the name Bryce and Brandon’s backgrounds The purpose of getting access to crypto yields while staying in dollars How Meow manages risks in DeFi protocols Are crypto yields fundamentally mispriced? Where crypto yields ultimately come from? The risk free rate of crypto yields The relationship between fragmented exchange environments and the cost of capital in crypto Why smart contract risk differs between chains and its effect on yields Why yields compressing will be a sign of the institutionalization of crypto The emergence of undercollateralized lending on DeFi, and which protocols the Meow leadership is most excited about Do DeFi yields face the risk from declining subsidies from token issuance Why institutional tooling is still lacking in DeFi The emergence of the crypto scene in Miami Projections for the future of DeFi Visions fo

Matt and Nic return for another insane week of news and deals.  Russia invades Ukraine Will Russia get kicked off SWIFT? Are there alternatives to SWIFT? Laura Shin identifies  the alleged DAO hacker Is Bitcoin’s privacy fundamentally broken? Chainalysis demixes Wasabi transactions Was the DAO hacker even guilty of a crime? Should blockchains be private at the base layer? Wyoming introduces a state stablecoin Miami grapples with the fallout of Miamicoin Do turkeys hibernate? Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Leo Lucisano of Decentral Park Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Leo’s regulatory predictions for 2022 and the beliefs that informed his blog post. Views on how DeFi would evolve in the face of a harsher treatment from the SEC. The emerging crypto lobby and how this will shape future elections and also policy. Lending, derivatives and other financial products in a central and decentralized context. How Decentral Park Capital is investing across the landscape. To learn more about Decentral Park visit their website.

Co-chairman of Stronghold Digital Mining Bill Spence and CEO Gregory Beard join the show. Stronghold is a vertically integrated Bitcoin miner that uses waste coal to power their operations – while also remediating this environmentally damaging product. We dive into this fascinating, and counter-intuitive story. In this episode:  Backgrounds of the co-chairmen and how they found the intersection of Bitcoin mining and coal waste mitigation Bill’s personal commitment to the mitigation of coal waste Why coal waste has been accumulating in PA since the late 1700s The immense scale of the coal waste and how it continue to affect PA, even though mining no longer occurs How unremediated coal waste can be understood as a form of class warfare Why coal waste exists in the first place Why developments in power plant technology meant that coal waste could be safely combusted Why aboveground coal waste oxidizes and releases CO2 anyway - as well as other harmful particulates Why growing grass over the coal waste doesn’t s

Matt and Nic return for a huge week of news and a big CIV announcement. In this episode:  Matt scans the Coinbase QR code ad The post-Superbowl backlash against crypto ads Is there any hope for music NFTs Castle Island announces a third fund Binance buys a stake in Forbes Is Circle a bet on interest rates? Our thoughts on BlockFi’s settlement with the SEC Does the SEC’s BlockFi settlement create a regulatory moat for larger lenders? What happens to DeFi in the wake of the BlockFi settlement? Canada weaponizes all financial services against truckers and donors Miners are once again active in Inner Mongolia – with a catch The etymology of tantalizing Content mentioned in this episode:  Bloomberg, Castle Island announces Third Fund CIV on Medium, Announcing Castle Island Ventures III  Hester Peirce, Statement on Settlement with BlockFi Lending LLC Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fir

In our second episode in the web3 music mini-series, we spoke with Matthew Chaim, musician and founder of Songcamp and other projects at the intersection of music and web3. We cover how Matthew thinks about: Helping artists gain control over their creative output Collective creation and re-imagining the role of fans Optimizing for resonance versus reach with music NFTs Discoverability in music NFTs and ways to democratize curation And much more. We also recommend reading Matthew’s writing on these topics at chaim.mirror.xyz. Intro and outro track: OmgKirby Genesis #326  

Mash founder Jared Nusinoff joins the show to explain how internet monetization is broken and how lightning-based payments fixes it. In this episode:  Jared’s professional history and how he came to work on Bitcoin Going from an adventure guide to bitcoin Jared’s early entrepreneurial work Jared’s early history sharing music prior to torrents Why Jared quite Google to found an adventure guide company How Jared thinks of Bitcoin’s MoE/SoV debate Why internet monetization models are flawed today - and the missing middle How the technology of payments online directly affects the quality of internet experiences How Lightning uniquely solves the monetization of quality content online Jared’s view of Lightning’s maturity and momentum as a payments infrastructure How Lightning provides completely novel business models on the internet How Mash could change the game for internet ‘miniapps’ Get started on Mash here and follow Mash on Twitter.  Sponsor notes:  Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online ma

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode:  Kraken brings back PoR Bitfinex hack money launderers are arrested The long history of Bitfinex, hacks, Recovery rights, Tether, and LEO Who is entitled to the recovered BTC from the Bitfinex hack? The NY Fed attacks stablecoins, and private banknote issuance Ottawa truckers are banned from Gofundme Are US Treasuries backing stablecoins stranded liquidity? Why central bankers attack stablecoins to promote CBDCs Content mentioned:  NY Fed, The Future of Payments is not Stablecoins Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com