On The Brink with Castle Island

Nic and Matt return for news and deals. In this episode:  CZ must stay in the US until sentencing The SEC is looking into Binance US In kind versus cash creations for ETFs The Major Questions Doctrine FDIC scandal keeps rumbling Is there a world where GBTC doesn't get converted? Elizabeth Warren versus Subway Content mentioned in this episode: Austin Campbell tweet on Treasury letter Coin Center b...

Vivek Ramaswamy is a Republican candidate for President in 2024. In this episode we sit down to dig into his crypto policy proposals:  Vivek's keynote in Ft Worth Vivek's crypto platform and how that derives from his convictions Vivek's view on Bitcoin mining Is Choke Point 2.0 real? Is banking a utility? 'Choke Point 6.0' and how it goes beyond just crypto and banking Does the suppression of spee...

Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode. In this edition:  Fidelity files for an ETH spot ETF The SEC sues Kraken Javier Milei wins – and prospects for dollarization Stablecoins versus dollar liabilities in emerging markets Prediction markets do well in the Argentine election We digest the OpenAI scandal and reflect on corporate governance Do we need a new McCarthyism directed at effective...

We sit down with Mike Cahill , CEO of Douro labs, to talk Pyth's retroactive airdrop and launch. In this episode: A brief history of Pyth What was the problem with legacy oracles before Pyth How is Pyth is technically differentiated from other oracles The importance of introducing confidence intervals into prices How does Pyth achieves cross chain data delivery Disintermediation in the oracle mark...

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Tail risks with the Bitcoin ETF Are SBF's parents off the hook? The FDIC is embroiled in scandal Should Marty Gruenberg step down? Tokenized bank deposits versus stablecoins What's wrong with the third party doctrine SAB121 under pressure Content mentioned in this episode: Fidelity Digital Assets, Understanding Proof of W...

The boys join forces with Alex Thorn of Galaxy Brains for a special live episode at the Pubkey bar in NYC. In this episode:  Galaxy's Beimnet Abebe joins for market color Bloomberg's James Seyffart opinions on Bitcoin ETF prospects  The WSJ/Hamas affair Audience Q&A  With special thanks to the Galaxy team for organizing and Thomas Pacchia for hosting

Anthony DeMartino, the co-founder and CEO of Trident Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Anthony's background in the banking industry and his path to founding Trident Digital. Digital asset lending markets and how Trident is innovating in this category. Trident's US Treasury product and how he is going to market. The state of the U.S. banking system and the status of the FDIC insur...

Matt and Nic return for another episode of news and deals. In this episode:  WSJ bounty updates Will Euro stablecoins take off? SBI and Standard Chartered start a crypto infrastructure fund SEC opens talks with Grayscale over the GBTC conversion Kraken is exploring the creation of an L2 SEC staff can't own crypto FTX 2.0 prospects CME OI flippens Binance Nouriel Roubini is launching a token Sponso...

Adam Guren , the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hunting Hill joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Adam's career journey and the path that led him to found Hunting Hill in his late 20s. How he discovered cryptocurrency and the initial digital asset products that he traded. The initial market structure for trading closed end digital asset products and the challenges that it presented...

Devin Walsh , executive director of the Uniswap Foundation joins the show. In this episode: Proposing and setting up the Uniswap Foundation The Foundation's priorities and role in growing the Uniswap ecosystem Uniswap v4 hooks as a new primitive for developers to unlock efficient innovation Supporting developers and researchers on Uniswap via grants Fostering education and participation in governa...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: What happened to mimblewimble Where Nic's bounty program stands What's the deal with Binance's proof of reserve? The SEC takes down Safemoon Hester Pierce criticizes the SEC's approach to LBRY Did the SEC violate the administrative procedures act by issuing SAB121? The SEC comes from Paypal How will MSTR fare post Bitcoin ETF...

Brandon Mulvihill the co-founder and CEO of Crossover Markets joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Brandon's career in the FX industry and the path to founding Crossover Markets ECNs and how this market structure came to evolve in the FX market The opportunity to bring ECNs to the digital asset market The CrossX platform and how this product is impacting the digital asset trading landscape...

Hong Fang , President of OKX, joins the show to to announce their twelfth consecutive monthly Proof of Reserve attestation and to discuss how their PoR implementation has changed over time. Covered in this episode: OKX's brand refresh Why OKX chose to launch their monthly PoR attestations a year ago The importance of PoR today and who is asking for it Which PoRs they looked at for inspiration How...

Seth Priebatsch , the founder and CEO of Groma joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Seth's entrepreneurial journey, including the founding story of LevelUp. His ambitions with the founding of Groma, a company building a real-estate backed cryptocurrency. The tokenization of real-world assets, including the steps that Groma is taking to launch a REIT security that will be represented on-chai...

Matt and Nic return for a big week of news and deals. In this episode:  Has there been a vibe shift?  Sen Tillis and Hickenlooper introduce the PROOF Act Is there a lack of crypto-native auditors?  Liz Warren's plan to interfere with crypto audits  What's going on with the WSJ, Warren's letter, and Hamas' crypto donations?  The WSJ is refusing to update their claims  ETF momentum is picking up  Wh...

Mike Higgins of Hidden Road joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mike's career and the path to joining Hidden Road Overview of Hidden Road and the prime brokerage category The market structure for digital asset trading and settlement The launch of Route28 and the value proposition for institutional customers The regulatory landscape and the path that Hidden Road has pursued for licensing ac...

Amanda Tuminelli of The DeFi Education Fund joins the podcast. In this episode we discuss: Amanda's background and path to joining The DeFi Education Fund The IRS "broker" rulemaking process and its potential impact on DeFi The SEC's "Exchange" rulemaking process DEF's amicus briefs on SEC vs. Coinbase Patent trolls in the DeFi ecosystem Links to content discussed on this episode: protectdefi.org...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  The Cointelegraph SNAFU  The NYAG sues Gemini, Genesis, and DCG  The FTX trial isn't going well for Sam  The latest with FTX clawbacks Elon files an amicus brief in a case against SEC Sen Warren's latest anti-crypto letter  Chainalysis debunks the WSJ's false narrative about crypto financing for Hamas Larry Fink supports Bit...

Nic travels to Bermuda to sit down with the Premier, Hon. E. David Burt to discuss digital asset policy and the emerging crypto ecosystem on the island. In this episode: The origins of the Digital Asset Regulation in Bermuda Catalysts that have led crypto firms to take Bermuda seriously as a domicile Premier Burt's evangelization of Bermuda regulation on the crypto circuit Why Bermuda is a good pl...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Holland versus the Netherlands  The end of Pax Americana Ditching the 'stablecoin' term Why synthetic USD is not the next Luna Caroline Ellison testifies SBF wanted to be president How Teneo worked with Singapore to apprehend Su Zhu Will criminal charges ever be leveled against the 3AC principals? Lightning is getting more...

Guy Young , the founder and CEO of Ethena , joins the show to talk crypto-backed stablecoins.  How Ethena began with an Arthur Hayes blog post The origins of synthetic stablecoins on Bitmex The difference between Hayes' Nakadollar and the Ethena design Why synthetic stablecoins have failed in the past and how Ethena addresses this How staked ETH as the underlying collateral opens up a new design s...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  OTB gets some critical feedback The boys cover Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk biography Is Elon going to turn around the Twitter acquisition? Bourgeous capitalism We review Lewis' Going Infinite SBF was tungsten pilled Su Zhu is jailed for contempt of court in Singapore Is FTX solvent again thanks to Anthropic? Does ETH futs...

Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The SEC's approval of Ethereum Futures ETFs Bitwise's launch of AETH , The Bitwise Ethereum Strategy ETF and BTOP , the Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF. The current state of play as it relates to Bitcoin spot ETF filings. The SEC's approach and posture given the Gra...

David Phelps is the co-founder and CEO of jokerace and a prolific writer. He joins the podcast to discuss:   Why tokens are not optimal for effective governance   Alternative ways to incentivize users and distribute decision making power   How we solve for retaining users versus just attracting them   Composability and evolving from user generated content to user generated apps

Matt and Nic return for deals and news. In this episode:  Is AI going to cause unemployment for IB associates? Blockchain based sneakers Tungsten business cards What's happening with OTB merch? Nic's Vespa catastrophe Gensler's HSFC hearing How Gensler is the Tonya Harding of crypto Made up airlines What's going on with Huobi? FTX trial starts next week Content mentioned in this episode: Merch: on...