On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic are back with news and deals of the week. In this episode:  On The Brink is now on Farcaster The pitfalls of Web3 social The boys have problem with seed phrases Optimistic rollups on Bitcoin are now possible?  ETF flow updates GBTC and Mt Gox flows  Why the halving may not be bullish SEC vs Debt Box  Why we think an Ethereum ETF is unlikely SAB121 update The Treasury rebukes the WSJ's...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  OPNX is very sadly shutting down  Is jail good for you?  GBTC outflows are declining Solicited versus unsolicited treatment of ETFs The Bitcoin L2 space is heating up The latest on COPA  We revisit the Satoshi is the NSA conspiracy  SAB121 stuff The DoE's Bitcoin mining data collection emergency What's happening with Farca...

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Where is the FTX tungsten cube? FTX will make a 100% recovery for creditors FTX 2.0 is not happening The Genesis Digital Assets mystery Tether's blockbuster quarter Chris Larsen hacked New legislative developments on SAB121 Bitcoin Season 2 is underway The Biden admin is requesting information from Bitcoin miners How anti...

Matt and Nic are back with a celebratory 500th episode. In this episode:  ETFs are off to a rocky launch with the GBTC premium trade closing Bitwise launches real time transparency for their ETF holdings Fraud in the metals market versus Bitcoin The boys confront some fake news Is there light at the end of the tunnel for GBTC redemptions? Nic's spat with Bloomberg The US is selling $130m of BTC se...

Bridge CEO and Co-Founder Zach Abrams joins us for an episode chronicling the explosion of stablecoin volume and how Bridge is building critical infrastructure. In this episode:  Zach's origin story and how he arrived at building Bridge Bridge's core products today and how clients use their APIs Future issuance of stablecoins Key global use cases for stablecoins today Evolution of the stablecoin m...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Our plans for episode 500 Jamie Dimon thinks Satoshi might return and vanish the bitcoins or increase the 21m cap  Howard Lutnick goes to bat for Tether  Chevron doctrine is challenged in SCOTUS Dunking on Tether Truthers Coinbase vs SEC resumes  Coinhares acquires Valkyrie The relationship between GBTC and spot BTC BTC ETF...

Matt and Nic are back for a historic week in the history of Bitcoin. In this episode: Spot ETF approved and starts trading Why day 1 flows might disappoint but longer term flows could materialize Day 1 price action review The GBTC conversion effect ETF scoreboard after one day of launch The SEC's multiple SNAFUS in their ETF launch Gensler's grudging approval and his questionable logic Commissione...

Matt Hougan , the CIO of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss:   Spot Bitcoin ETFs are approved! The process to get to this point. The competitive landscape for the 11 products that were approved by the SEC on Wednesday.   BITB , the Bitwise spot product which is the low cost option in the market. How it works and when it will trade.   Bitwise's plan to donate 10% of...

Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian of Blockchain Coinvestors join the show. In this episode we discuss the Blockchain Coinvestors 2024 Predictions . To learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors: Website Webinar

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Matrixport's bearish ETF take The DoJ drops campaign finance charges against SBF Goldman and JPM are authorized participants for the ETF Where will the fees settle out for the major Bitcoin ETFs Nic's vanity license plate story Do we still believe in tungsten Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics State of the Network's 2024 Outlook I...

In this episode, we host Nitya Subramanian , founder and CEO of Capsule , which is building cross-application embedded wallet infrastructure. We discuss: Outstanding challenges with web3 onboarding How applications are integrating parts of the wallet experience How Capsule helps developers give their end users the key privileges Why interoperability is crypto's key superpower How Capsule simplifie...

Matt and Nic return for the last week of 2023. In this episode: South Shore bar pie Our 2024 resolutions Was Barry Silbert the main character Bitcoin miners had a good year ARK is selling their GBTC holdings The Cointucky Derby Will an ETH ETF be a fast follow? Will ETF sponsors sue the SEC over cash create for ETFs? Nic and Matt's 2024 predictions for stablecoins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, NFTs, a...

In this episode, we sit down with Jill Gunter , co-founder of Espresso , to discuss: Espresso's original mission and the challenges of building a privacy solution Shifting direction to focus on building infrastructure to help L2 rollups decentralize The role of a sequencer in a rollup and how Espresso intends to decentralize it Trading off centralized sequencer revenue for decentralization and per...

Ryan Selkis , the co-founder and CEO of Messari joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The regulatory landscape and how the industry should be prioritizing policy initiatives. Grayscale, GBTC and the evolution of exchange traded products. The institutional market and the impact of a Bitcoin ETF. The many failures of the SEC with regards to crypto policy in the USA. Messari's roadmap in 2024 T...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Matt's tree crisis The Jamie Dimon Elizabeth Warren nexus Is there a really a revolving door between crypto and the government? Warren's latest volley of letters Promethian gets authorization to start trading We recap the inscriptions frenzy A new Super PAC is raised The BVI issues a seizure of the 3AC assets Zooko steps awa...

Dan Tapiero, the founder and Managing Partner of 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners joins this show. In this episode we discuss: The state of the crypto/blockchain markets since the FTX collapse. The impact of the Bitcoin ETF on fund flows in the industry. The market for growth and secondary investing. The LP landscape and how allocators are thinking about the sector. 1RT's strategy and the cat...

Andreas Tsamados, the founder of Fileverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Andreas' academic background and path that led him to starting Fileverse An overview of Fileverse and the ambitions of the project. Why a decentralized file sharing platform is necessary and better than a centralized option for certain customer types. SAFE multi-signs The state of decentralized file storage. Tok...

In this episode, we host Nick Neuman , CEO of Casa to discuss their recent stablecoin launch and: Casa's value proposition How customers use Casa The decision to expand beyond Bitcoin to Ethereum The rationale behind supporting stablecoins Building custody tools for security versus convenience Nick's views on experimentation on Bitcoin Further reading: Protect your stablecoins: Hold USDC and USDT...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Coinbase's positioning ahead of the ETF Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick acknowledges their Tether role Where do we stand on cash creation versus in-kind creation for the Bitcoin ETF? Coinbase launches an RWA hub in Abu Dhabi Kucoin settles with the state of New York Do Kwon is staying in Montenegro a bit longer Coinlist settles an...

Itai Turbahn , the co-founder and CEO of Dynamic joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The mission of Dynamic and the how the company is enabling seamless web3 log in experiences. Breakout applications in the web3 category. An overview of Passkeys and the impact that this technology will have on both web2 and web3 log in experiences. Account abstraction and the innovation that is likely to e...

Brian Foster, Global Head of Wholesale at Coinbase, joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Brian's career and the path that led him to joining Coinbase. An overview of the Coinbase business model and how the company is segmented. The evolution of the Coinbase Institutional business. The Wholesale business at Coinbase and how the company is positioned with brokers, banks and ETF issuers. Views...

In this episode, we sit down with Rowan Stone who leads Business Development at Base – the layer-2 network on Ethereum launched by Coin base earlier this year. Rowan expands on: The decision to build  Base using Optimism's OP stack and the "Superchain" vision The vectors of centralization in L2 networks and the path to decentralization Early use cases on Base across DeFi, loyalty and the creator e...

Matt and Nic return for deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Chainalysis Geography of Crypto adoption Jamie Dimon comes out against crypto – again Our vote for Time Person of the year The AICPA announces their stablecoin attestation framework Do Kwon is being extradited to the US Nubank is getting into crypto Rep McHenry is retiring Content mentioned in this episode: Chainalysis Global Cr...

Kim Grauer, director of research at Chainalysis, joins the show to talk about their 2023 Geography of Crypto Adoption report. In this episode:  The difficulty of ascertaining reliable illicit finance data for crypto Why Chainalysis started publishing the Geography of Crypto report Why emerging markets dominate in terms of crypto adoption How Chainalysis devised their methodology What the variables...

Ruud Smets and Marc de Kloe of Theta Capital join the show. In this episode we discuss: Theta 's initial foray into the world of blockchain focused venture funds and hedge funds. The process of educating institutional limited partners on this emerging technology. How the Theta team segments the investable opportunities in the blockchain industry. Views on fund capacity and securing allocations in...