On The Brink with Castle Island

In the first episode in our web3 music series, Cherie Hu, founder of Water & Music, sits down with Ria to talk about transitioning Water & Music into a research DAO and Cherie’s thoughts on the growing interest of musicians in crypto. We discuss: How Cherie found a niche covering the intersection of music, technology, and now web3 The decision to formalize the Water & Music community into a research DAO harnessing the wisdom of the crowds The shortcomings of early experiments with music and crypto and how the recent approach differs The salient macro factors contributing to enthusiasm and experimentation with music NFTs, DAOs, and social tokens The pushback against music NFTs by skeptical fans and artists

Veteran Bitcoin commentator and inventor of Drivechains Paul Sztorc joins the show to talk Bitcoin's sustainability and the role of merged mined side chains. In this episode:  Why Paul is the ‘Steely Dan’ of Bitcoin Revisiting ‘Measuring decentralization’ Revisiting Paul’s argument on Proof of Stake being veiled PoW Why you should roll your own statistics Concentration of power in miners and mining pools Is PoW worthless if it isn’t challenged? How Bitcoin energy FUD is based on neo-malthusianism The Julian Simon / Paul Ehrlich wager Why none of our resources are finite How climate change diplomacy is neo-colonial Why and when innovation happens Why Paul is a critic of Bitcoin development culture Paul’s critique of Stock to Flow Why Bitcoin culture is static Why Bitcoin needs more satire Bitcoin fees are 80-100x less than those of Ethereum Why BTC fees are not sustainably high Why Bitcoin fees and security budget need to grow over time Can you just wait for more confirmations if security spend declines Are f

Matt and Nic return for deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Fidelity's Wise Origin spot Bitcoin ETF is denied Putin walks back the central bank ban on mining NY isn’t processing BitLicense applications Facebook is selling their IP being Diem/Libra to Silvergate Ripple buys out their Series C Investors Google’s cloud division makes a blockchain push A DeFi protocol founder is revealed to be a former Quadriga executive Are anonymous developers the future? Ark comes out with their Big Ideas for 2022 Content mentioned:  Ark's Big Ideas 2022 Bloomberg, Putin Backs Crypto Mining Despite Bank of Russia’s Hard Line Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Chris King, Founder & CEO of Eaglebrook Advisors, a digital assets SMA platform, join the show. In this episode, we discuss: Eaglebrook’s Series A announcement Chris’ path into the digital assets space and the origins of Eaglebrook Advisors Crypto penetration in the RIA and asset management space Inflection points in the market over the last couple years that have put a spotlight on solutions for RIAs and asset managers Key parts of the SMA solution that offer advantages for end clients Eaglebrook’s new product launches in 2022 To learn more about Eaglebrook visit their website. 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

Will Peck, the head of digital asset at WisdomTree joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Will’s path to WisdomTree and how the firm began researching digital assets How WisdomTree is approaching exchange traded products in the public blockchain ecosystem Views on the Bitcoin futures ETF products vs. the proposed spot products Views on the various Bitcoin ETF proposals and the prospects of an SEC approval in 2022 Views on tokenization of investment products How ‘legacy’ asset management firms will face increased competition from digital asset early adopters To learn more about WisdomTree visit their website. 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

Matt and Nic return for a busy week of deals and news. In this episode:  We cover the witness selection for the House energy hearing on Bitcoin mining The SEC goes to war with its employee union The SEC rejects the Skybridge Bitcoin ETF proposal GBTC is trading at a 30% discount Walmart is building its own metaverse Twitter rolls out NFT avis Crypto dot com’s ad copy We correct the record on Ari Juels’ Congresional testimony on PoW Content mentioned in this episode:  Ari Juels' congressional testimony The House Energy Committee's memo on Bitcoin mining  The House Hearing 'Cleaning up Cryptocurrency' Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

In this latest installment of the mining miniseries, Iris Energy cofounder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts joins us to talk through their approach to mining. In this episode:  How Dan came to work in mining Backgrounds of the Iris executive team Which thinkers influenced Dan in his Bitcoin journey Why Iris focuses on sustainable energy and on only entering energy markets where they will not drive prices up for households How Iris chooses geographies to operate How Iris found abundant underutilized power in British Columbia Why Iris’ entry to British Columbia actually drives down energy prices for regular households Why Bitcoin mining has better location agnosticism than aluminum smelting or hydrogen production How Bitcoin miners are more flexible loads than other datacenters How Iris is geographically diversified in Canada, Texas, and Australia, and why geographic diversification is so important How flexibility from Bitcoin mining replaces peaker plants burning fossil fuels Why the oversupply of power is an issue

Matt and Nic return for more deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Matt loses the podcast audio New Turkey drama Rep Emmer introduces a bill banning a retail focused CBDC Nic releases a song with Gramatik The story behind the Scribbler song We investigate Fan Controlled Football Paypal looks to build a stablecoin Several banks issue the USDF stablecoin Crypto-dollarization in Turkey Why dollarization fails Jack Dorsey starts a Bitcoin developer legal defense fund  Justin Sun is a Grenadan diplomat  Content mentioned Nic's song with Gramatik, Just a Scribbler WSJ, Turks Pile Into Bitcoin and Tether to Escape Plunging Lira Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the l

House Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) joins the show to share thoughts on his crypto policy agenda for 2022, as well as his views on inflation, MMT, stablecoins, and CBDCs. In this episode:  How Rep. Emmer came to be interested in public blockchains Rep. Emmer’s interest in Austrian economics How Rep. Emmer stays up to date with the industry Are MMTers the establishment or an outsider group? Is Washington dominated by covert MMT ideology? Is fiscal conservatism dead in Washington? Why Rep. Emmer voted for the CARES act any regrets he has How the massive injection of cash in the last two years warped our economy Is inflation driven by fiscal spending or corporate greed? Is crypto inherently a partisan issue? Rep Emmer’s concerns about a CBDC Why the US should not take cues from China Why CBDCs are not akin to physical cash Why insisting that stablecoins need bank charters is deeply ironic Problems with the Presidential Working Group’s guidance on stablecoins Is crypto favorable or hostile to American interest

Matt and Nic return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode:  Everything is selling off Is the US losing its status as global reserve? We announce our policy miniseries Sen. Lummis will reportedly propose a crypto bill Opensea raising $300m at a $13b valuation Illicit activity in 2021 was only 0.15% of total crypto volume The Boston Fed CBDC pilot program rumbles on Kazakhstan turns off the internet, and dims Bitcoin hashrate by 12% NY State reproposes their bill to ban mining in the state The National Credit Union Administration looks to ratify usage of crypto for its members The House Energy and Commerce committee will hold a hearing on PoW A group of environmentalist organizations sends a letter regarding PoW to congress Content mentioned:  National Credit Union Administration, Relationships with Third Parties that Provide Services Related to Digital Assets Letter to Congress from environmentalist groups regarding PoW   Sponsor notes: Corporations and institutions can allocate cash in

Luxor COO and CPO Ethan Vera and Guzman Pintos join the show to talk about their relaunched data product, Hashrate Index and other trends in mining. In this episode:  The history of the firm Why Luxor created the hashrate index How Luxor gathers data on ASIC pricing and creates their time series charts ASIC pricing dynamics Are sell side analysts correctly pricing ASICs on the balance sheets of public miners? Why different efficiencies of miners have traded differently in the last 2 months How constraints on rack space affect the demand for older ASICs Why so many ASICs can’t leave China Is there still residual black market mining in China? Kazakhstan’s under-reported mining crackdown Are ASIC development cycles slowing? Are miners still front-running their clients with prop mining? Are Bitcoin miners trying to acquire Bitcoin or do they want to hedge their exposure Are derivatives becoming more popular among miners? The maturation of the Bitcoin mining derivatives market Why prior hashrate derivatives haven

Nic and Matt return for the last episode of 2021. In this episode:  Someone makes an unauthorized Nic NFT Microstrategy buys more BTC Blake Masters sells a political NFT Why do gamers and artists hate NFTs? We look back at our 2021 crystal ball predictions Best predictions of 2021 Our outlook for crypto policy in 2022 Our favorite OTB episodes of the year We look back at the Token Daily 2019 crystal ball predictions What it’s like to be in crypto for an entire decade Midterm implications for the crypto industry Our favorite OTB episodes of 2021 Content mentioned: Tokendaily, 2021 Crystal Ball  Sponsor notes:  Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC resell

Gabe Frank and Robert Masiello, the founders of Arcade, a financial services platform for NFTs join the show. In this episode we discuss: Gabe and Robert’s origin stories in the crypto industry and the path that led them to founded Arcade The similarities in the market structures for bitcoin in the early years and NFTs today The role of MPC custody in the crypto markets How they think about the various L1 chains that will host NFTs The OTC trading landscape for NFTs Peer to peer vs. peer to pool NFT lending models How the lending market will evolve with great data / pricing functionality The product roadmap for Arcade over the next year   To learn more about Arcade visit their website. Sponsor notes: This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Pu

Matt and Nic return for a festive Christmas eve roundup. In this episode:  Reevaluating our intro song Jack Dorsey’s web3 beef What’s on our Christmas list Is PoW inherently high-fee? We steelman the Jack Dorsey and the pro web3 arguments Is there a paradox in web3? We advance a model of tapered token issuance for web3 The downsides of token issuance to early adopters Is Liz Warren right about corporate greed causing inflation? Radioshake releases a defi token Is Bitcoin ownership too concentrated? Bitcoin is dispersing while equities are concentrating Will there be a revolt among the staffers at the SEC? Content mentioned:  Nic Carter and Lucas Nuzzi in Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin's Proof of Work is Well Worth its Fees Paul Vigna in WSJ, Bitcoin’s ‘One Percent’ Controls Lion’s Share of the Cryptocurrency’s Wealth Sponsor notes:  Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, ove

Anders Larson, head of strategic finance at U.S. Bitcoin Corp, joins us to talk about how miners make decisions and allocate capital. In this episode:  The Wharton class of 2018 Are Bitcoin miners clogging up the chip supply chain? Why Bitcoin miners are 'tier 2' customers at foundries The scale of US BTC operations in terms of hashrate Why US BTC has been so quiet historically How US BTC targets renewable energy Which renewables are easiest to find Is there any truth to the story of Bitcoin improving the economics of renewables? Why ASIC depreciation is slowing, and how that affects the viability of different energy sources The relationship between Bitcoin's carbon intensity and ASIC depreciation period Can ASICs last for 5 years? How does US BTC think about uptime on their units? Why lower uptime means that you have cheaper power due to demand response How US BTC thinks about hashrate growth and why they are more conservative than their competitors Why Chinese hashrate is not completely eliminated The stat

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  A glitch in the CoinMarketCap data feed causes disturbances in the crypto industry  AscendEX is  hacked last week to the tune of $77 million Coinbase urges the SEC to approve NYSE Arca’s application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund  Bitwise launches a blue-chip NFT fund A bipartisan group of Senators write a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the crypto provisions in the infra bill The Myanmar government in exile official adopts Tether, while the Junta government de-dollarizes  Matt takes the giving pledge The Open Markets Institute spreads a lot of FUD Can the boys lift a 230 pound tungsten cube?  Sponsor notes: This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circl

Alex Wilson, co-founder and CEO of The Giving Block joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Alex’s path in the blockchain space, from consulting to founding The Giving Block The landscape of charitable giving, and how the company is assisting charitable organizations The pain points that charities face when accepting donations Perspectives from the donor’s perspective and why donating cryptocurrency is so compelling How the company came to launch its campaigns To learn more about The Giving Block visit their website or follow the company on Twitter. Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto  

Matt and Nic return for deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Are cubes a suitable holiday gift? Best crypto Xmas gifts Bitcoin purchases we regret The House Financial Services committee holds a hearing Our Congressional hearing MVP Brian Brooks' evolution SBF kicks off shoegate Takeaways from the House hearing EOS holders reject a payment to Block One Block One's weird pivot to Bitcoin Greyscale says 26% of American adults own Bitcoin Governance difficulties in Dfinity Will SWIFT survive American sanctions on Russia Impenetrable Sushiswap drama Those landfill Bitcoins are still lost Content mentioned:  Brian Brooks' testimony before the House Financial Services Committee The Economist, The Explosion in Stablecoins Revives a Debate around 'Free Banking' WSJ, Crypto, NFTs and Tungsten Cubes: A Guide to Giving Cash in 2021 Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public

Matt Cutler, the founder and CEO of Blocknative joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matt’s entrepreneurial history and path to founding Blocknative How he came to see blockchain transaction data as a big opportunity for his company How blockchain mempools work and why they are important The types of customers that are monitoring blockchain network data and how this data is actionable Matt’s views on blockchain scalability across L1s and Ethereum L2s What is on the horizon for Blocknative To learn more about Blocknative visit their website. Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto.        

Matt and Nic return for deals and news. In this episode:  Art Basel is now a crypto event Is the crypto industry culturally relevant? Jack Dorsey leaves Twitter Will Twitter become more censored Square renames itself Block Celcius CFO is arrested Fidelity launches a Bitcoin ETF in Canada David Marcus is leaving Facebook Regulatory projections from Cowen BadgerDAO hacked Content mentioned:  Cowen's analysis of the regulatory headwinds in crypto Sponsor notes:  This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting