On The Brink with Castle Island

Brian Flynn, the founder and CEO of Rabbit Hole, a platform for driving customer acquisition for decentralized finance protocols joins the show. In this episide we discuss: Brian’s path to cryptoassets and the spark that led him to founding Rabbit Hole Views on NFTs and the use cases that we will see in the coming years Thoughts more broadly on the categories of decentralized finance that are the most enduring and likely to capture value How customer acquisition works now in DeFi and where Rabbit Hole is solving problems To learn more about Rabbit Hole visit their website and follow Brian on Twitter @Flynnjamm

Nic and Matt return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode:  Is Bitcoin more reliable than Fedwire? Are stablecoins already superior to legacy infrastructure? Tether-Tron transactions exceed Tether-Ethereum The social utility of trading wholesale energy One chapter in the Tether saga closes Is the Tether story over? The ultimate takeaway from the Tether saga Square buys more Bitcoin Nic evangelizes bitcoin to his hairdresser A bitcoiner joins the Federal Reserve How big will a Bitcoin ETF be on approval? Why exchanges are prudent to delist BCH and BSV

Namebase founder and CEO Tieshun Roquerre joins us for a discussion of Handshake, decentralized DNS, and issues with the current system of domains. In this episode:  The core technical problem with DNS today Why a blockchain for a decentralized DNS system makes sense How Satoshi anticipated blockchain-based DNS with BitDNS Could a global PoW blockchain system accommodate all of the world's domains? How Handshake learned from Namecoin, ENS, and other attempts from blockchain based DNS and alternative root zones The distinction between ENS and Handshake Handshake's origin and launch – and how it ended up with such diffuse governance Where the nexuses of control are in the Handshake ecosystem How Handshake PoW security works The merits of embracing ASICs How the distribution of domains works What you can actually do with handshake domains The growing interoperability between handshake and decentralized storage like Sia

Andy Edstrom, a financial advisor and Head of Institutional at Swan Bitcoin joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Andy’s new book Why Buy Bitcoin and why he embarked on writing a book about Bitcoin His path to understanding Bitcoin through the lens of an RIA His views on the prospects of a new Bretton Woods or Plaza Accord style arrangement in the coming years Prospects for an exchange-traded Bitcoin fund in the United States Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset and the outlook for more MicroStrategy style moves   To learn more about Andy visit his website, check out his book or follow him on Twitter at @edstromandrew

Core Weave chief strategy officer and former energy trader Brannin McBee joins the show to talk about the grid meltdown in Texas and the impact of renewables on the grid. In this episode:  Brannin's history in energy trading and energy analytics How his firm survived a 95% collapse in the price of natural gas – and how that presaged his work in the crypto space How Brannin's firm Core Weave alternates between mining ETH and monetizing GPUs through high-performance compute How wholesale power trading works – and how it provides valuable informational signals to the grid How the US grid is arranged – and how the energy mix has changed in the last decade How coal has been marginalized in the last decade through natural gas and renewables Why energy is not globally fungible Why forecasting wind is so difficult – and how that complicates including wind into the grid How renewables trade off reliability against carbon impact How increasing the share of wind and solar destabilizing the grid Why increasing units of

Nic and Matt break down the headlines in yet another week of ATHs. In this episode:  Our cured meat scandal We dissect crypto mafias Necessary conditions for a corporate mafia to form Microstrategy's speculative attack on the dollar How the corporate adoption story took us by surprise Is there a goodwill dividend for buying bitcoin? Is buying bitcoin a bitcoin strategy? Nic's 50k road trip to Tahanis in Ontario Coin Metrics' partnership with Bitgo and KPMG Verge has a year-long reorg Is Coinbase fairly priced at $77b pre-IPO? Should Coinbase be worth more than Goldman? OFAC reminds us that it exists The implications of OFAC compliant mining How the tulip bubble is a Calvinist conspiracy Content mentioned in this episode:  Smithsonian Mag, There Never Was a Real Tulip Fever CM announces a partnership with BitGo and KPMG Coinbase pre-IPO shares trading at $77b

Teddy Fusaro, the President of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The new Bitwise DeFi Index Fund The decentralized finance opportunity set and the narratives driving the space Teddy’s career path to cryptoassets and joining Bitwise The prospects of a Bitcoin ETFs Cured meats To learn more about Bitwise visit their website.

BlockFi Chief Risk Officer Rene Van Kesteren joins the show to explain how crypto lender and brokerage BlockFi engages in risk management. In this episode: Rene’s career trajectory and the path that led him to joining BlockFi The mechanics of how BlockFi offers interest bearing accounts The borrowing and lending market structure How BlockFi thinks about counterparty risk The reason why rates on U.S. Dollars are higher for stablecoins vs. dollars in a bank account How margin calls work Differences and similarities in market structure in ‘traditional’ vs. cryptoasset markets The biggest misconceptions about BlockFi and crypto lending in general To learn more about risk management at Blockfi visit: https://blockfi.com/how-blockfi-handles-risk-and-security To learn more about BlockFi’s products visit: www.blockfi.com  

Repeat guest Zach Kelman joins the show to break down the contemporary effects of Operation Choke Point from his perspective as a lawyer having worked in compliance and regulatory for large financial institutions. In this episode:  The (pre)history of Choke Point – and how it wasn't a bolt from the blue  How Choke Point was mechanically enforced against the banks  Why industry-wide politicization of financial services is a poor policy to pursue  How Choke Point lasted far beyond its original mandate Have banks been permanently politicized as a result of OCP?  How Choke Point's effects are being felt in the crypto industry What to expect on an ongoing basis Prior episodes in the Choke Point 2.0 series  Iain Murray (Competitive Enterprise Institute) on the history of Operation Choke Point Amber Scott (Outlier Canada) on crypto-bank relationships in Canada

Nic and Matt return for one of the most explosive weeks in the history of the podcast. In this episode:  How Nic ended up at war with the Dogecoin fans CIV closes a $50m fund Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl Should responsible CFOs own Bitcoin on their corporate balance sheets? Bitcoin on the balance sheet as a signaling mechanism BNY Mellon announces support for Bitcoin The St Louis Fed is writing articles about DeFi Nic orangepills Central Bankers Our guesses for the first central banks to adopt Bitcoin Nigeria contemplates a Bitcoin ban Mastercard is supporting cryptocurrency on their networks – what does this mean? The Bitcoin energy debate Can you compare Bitcoin to Visa? Are Christmas lights wasteful Content mentioned in this episode:  Nic in Coindesk, What Bloomberg Gets Wrong About Bitcoin’s Climate Footprint St Louis Fed, DeFi coverage Nic on Bloomberg, Bitcoin's Impact on the Environment  

Edan Yago, product lead at Sovryn, talks us through the prospects for DeFi on Bitcoin. In this episode:  Edan Yago's origin story How Edan became disenchanted with the Bitcoin community's ambition Did Bitcoiners compromise on an original vision of adopting successful alternative technologies? Is Bitcoin sufficiently expressive to be a functional base layer for smart contracting? Was the original vision of sidechains abandoned? The state of the art in trustless sidechains Is the perfect the enemy of the good with Bitcoin? Is Lightning "worse is better"? Is Bitcoin hamstrung by the pursuit of perfection? Why compromising on trust assurances has been a boon for Ethereum Why native smart contracting on Bitcoin is superior to using wrapped Bitcoin on Ethereum Do rollups break composability for DeFi? Is DeFi subsidized by token issuance and liquidity mining? What can Bitcoiners learn from Ethereum? Thoughts on other Bitcoin L2s like Blockstack Update on Rootstock/RSK and why Sovryn is building on it What Sovryn is

Galen Wolfe-Pauly, cofounder of Tlon, joins the show to give us an update on Urbit in light of the politicization of internet infrastructure. In this episode:  The purpose of Urbit How the power of internet oligopolies has been recently revealed in the last few months Does the internet of today resemble the internet of 1994? The problem with having a single ToS/legal system for major internet platforms What's new with Urbit since our last Urbit episode in 2019 How hosting makes Urbit much more user friendly Urbit's governance system and how it contrasts from the feudal model on Twitter Galen's political taxonomy for Urbit - and where galaxies and stars fit in to this How internet platforms are like living in Vegas Whether users literally own their handles on internet platforms The politicization of internet infrastructure How resistant is Urbit itself to deplatforming at the infrastructure level Whether there is any irony in Urbit offering hosting for users Galen's view on data portability legislation The ne

Nic and Matt return for another jam packed week. In this episode:  Our reflections on Saylor day Is Ross Stephens the 2021 Bitcoin MVP? NYDIG bursts onto the scene Visa's overlooked crypto API pilot for banks Is hashrate moving to the US? Nic's ongoing spat with the Wall Street Journal Bitcoiin 2gen gets taken down by the SEC Soulja Boy's ENS name gets lost in Coinbase's vaullts IBM finally abandons 'enterprise blockchain' How will public markets treat Coinbase equity? India contemplates a crypto ban Content mentioned in this episode:  Bitcoin Masterclass with Michael Saylor and Ross Stevens Stone Ridge, 2020 Shareholder Letter Visa's API pilot for banks Nic's response to the WSJ piece NYT, As Bitcoin’s Price Surges, Affluent Investors Start to Take a Look Balaji Srinivasan, Why India Should Buy Bitcoin

Amanda Fabiano, the Head of Mining at Galaxy Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Amanda’s path to finding her passion in the mining sector Her role in leading Fidelity’s mining initiatives Her views on the Bitcoin mining value chain and the categories that are most compelling Thoughts on the future of off-grid mining in the USA To learn more follow Amanda on Twitter or visit www.galaxydigital.io

Boaz Sobrado, data analyst and the founder of whynotcuba.com  joins the show to talk about trends in Cuban Bitcoin adoption. In this episode:  How Boaz came to start an ecommerce company in Cuba and how Bitcoin became relevant to him The structure of Bitcoin trading markets in Cuba How Bitcoin currently trades in Cuba Drivers of Bitcoin adoption in Cuba Why Cuba until recently hasn't been known as an important jurisdiction for Bitcoin Why Cuba doesn't show up in the typical proxies for bitcoin usage Why internet penetration in Cuba is accelerating Bitcoin adoption How Bitcoin is incorporated into the remittance flow in Cuba How the Cuban regime thinks about and talks about Bitcoin The history of Cuba's three simultaneous sovereign currencies How the sovereign currency transitions are a means for the government to acquire hard currency at the expense of savers The key factors supporting a wave of Bitcoin adoption in Cuba today How Bitcoin markets permit the pricing of the black market peso rate Content menti

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Our view on the Robinhood/Gamestop affair Why 'rebuilding the financial system from scratch' is a good idea, actually Could the brokerages deplatform Bitcoin financial products too? Will FTX be the last Gamestop market standing? Nic's reflections on the Mike Green / Grant Williams debate We correct the record on certain claims made in the debate We settle the question of inflation in the 40s We declare a truce between bitcoiners and goldbugs Another ETF filing Ray Dalio starts to come around on Bitcoin Content mentioned:  The Grant Williams Podcast, Both Sides of the Coin: A Civilized Bitcoin Debate OTB Episode, What Keeps Stablecoins Stable OTB Episode, The Market Effects of Stablecoin Issuance Ray Dalio, What I Think of Bitcoin Sponsor notes: Withum is a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory and accounting firm committed to helping our clients be more profitable, efficient and productive in today’s complex business enviro

Economics professor at Charles University Ladislav Krištoufek joins us for a discussion centered on his new paper, On the Role of Stablecoins in Cryptoasset Pricing Dynamics. In this episode:  How Ladislav began covering crypto markets in 2013 Ladislav's research agenda as it pertains to the crypto markets Why the quality of so much Bitcoin academia is dubious The academic-practitioner gap and how to close it How Ladislav came to write his newest paper Methodological details How to interpret the findings in the paper Whether issuance of stablecoins affects the price of bitcoin Ladislav's critiques of the Griffin and Shams paper Key takeaways from Ladislav's paper Ladislav's ultimate explanation for stablecoin issuance Other papers Ladislav recommends on stablecoins Also mentioned:  'What Keeps Stablecoins Stable?', OTB discussion with Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj Is Bitcoin Really Untethered? by Griffin and Shams

Nic and Matt cover an insane week of deals and market turmoil. In this episode:  The Biden admin freezes the Treasury guidance on unhosted wallets Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expresses her concern about cryptocurrency for terrorist financing Bitcoin as a monetary escape valve The real reasons behind Treasury's concern about Bitcoin The prospects for monetary repression in the US Prospects for Chris Brummer as the new head of the CFTC Blackrock warms to Bitcoin Our point by point 'debunking' of the anonymous blog post on Tether Why Tether critiques are so popular Why a Tether implosion would emphasize Bitcoin's value proposition We explain the Bitcoin 'double spend' How Bitcoin settlement is probabilistic Content mentioned in this episode:  Nic in NYMag, What Explains Bitcoin's Resurgence? On The Brink, Interview with Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj The Bit Short: Inside Crypto's Doomsday Machine Kraken, On Tether, Journalists Defy Logic

Iain Murray, VP of Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the history of Operation Choke Point, a 2011-2015 program used to exclude legal businesses from banking led by the DoJ and FDIC. In this episode:  How Iain Murray came to be one of the main historians of Operation Choke Point The roots of Choke Point in the crackdown on poker sites in 2011 How Choke Point was started on a whim by two midlevel DoJ lawyers in 2011 How OCP targeted completely legal but politically disfavored industries How mechanically the DoJ was able to get banks to comply with their informal guidance Why the closed nature of banking means that alternatives financial service providers for these industries couldn't be created How bank consolidation meant that OCP was easier to instrumentalize How successful was Choke Point in marginalizing targeted industries? Did OCP have buy-in from the highest levels of the Obama administration? How regulations should have implemented the rules they sought to crea

Nic and Matt return for another explosive week. In this episode: The bike saga enters its final chapter Sci Hub tries Handshake Is Choke Point returning? We break down the Bakkt SPAC FinCEN extends the comment period for its notice of proposed rulemaking Gemini announces a credit card with crypto rewards What Gary Gensler as SEC Chairman means for the industry Prospects for a Bitcoin ETF under a Gensler SEC The OCC creates a national crypto bank charter One reason why Miami could make it as a tech hub We discuss the latest NYT article on losing coins Content mentioned in this article Nic Carter in Coindesk, Twitter, Trump, and the 'Private Company' Fallacy FinCEN extends its comment period OCC, OCC Conditionally Approves Conversion of Anchorage Digital Bank Brian Brooks in the FT, Get Ready for Self-Driving Banks