On The Brink with Castle Island

Nicholas Gregory , CEO of CommerceBlock , joins the show to talk about their new statechain implementation, Mercury . In this episode:  Origins of CommerceBlock Nicholas' prior career in martial arts Nicholas' underground MMA club in NY Did Roger Ver take the most expensive BJJ lesson ever? The purpose of CommerceBlock's Mainstay system The difference between OpenTimestamps and Mainstay How sidech...

Matt and Nic return for deals of the week, joined for the first time by new member of CIV Ria Bhutoria. In this episode:  An update on Matt's Turkey problem Will Matt create OTB Turkey Jerky? Will Matt tase the Turkeys? Is monetizing stranded natural gas good for the environment? Elon 'proves Bitcoin's liquidity' Elon admits to having a personal Bitcoin position Nexon announces a $100m Bitcoin buy...

Andrew Steinwold, the founder of Sfermion , an investment fund focused on investing in themes surrounding the metaverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Andrew's journey in the cryptoasset industry and how we came to see the Metaverse as an investable theme How NFTs are a critical infrastructure component for the metaverse Views on the evolution of digital property rights How Andrew vie...

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode:  43% capital gains taxes? Are decentralized storage networks reaching fruition Binance US hires ex-Comptroller Brian Brooks Matt's Turkey problem A Turkish exchange apparently exit scams Scott Minerd has a new target for Bitcoin Bernstein isn't worried about Bitcoin's energy consumption Ark Invest thinks Bitcoin is an incentive f...

Nick Neuman, the CEO of multisig software provider Casa , joins the show to discuss how to harden your Bitcoin custody setup. In this episode:  Nick's own journey to Bitcoin and to becoming CEO of Casa Casa's design philosophy The merits of native multisig on Bitcoin Casa's decision to stay Bitcoin-only Nick's experience raising capital as a Bitcoin-only startup Is it easier to be a Bitcoin-only s...

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Nic's feud with the NYT How Lysenkoism fits in Issues with the contemporary press Coinbase does the biggest direct listing of all time Is COIN a trojan horse for Bitcoin? Coinbase mafia? The best thing about Coinbase being public Gary Gensler finally confirmed as SEC chairman Our thoughts on Hester Pierce's token safe harbor...

Dmitry Tokarev, the cofounder and CEO of Copper joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Dmitry's path to crypto and the pain points that led him to starting Copper How Dmitry sees the competitive landscape and how legacy financial firms are reacting How MPC enables Copper to quickly add support for new blockchain platforms Views on what it's like to hire in a rapidly growing startup Outlook fo...

The Block's Director of Research Larry Cermak and Research Analyst Mike Rogers join the show to talk through their latest report on stablecoins. In this episode:  Why the Block chose to focus on stablecoins for this report Larry and Mike's opinion on why stablecoins are so disproportionately dollar-based China's influence in the Tether market The history of Tether and why it attained so much tract...

Matt and Nic are back for deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Nic 'debates' Steve Hanke Update on the FUD Dice Nic attempts to send a wire to Poland NYDIG raises more capital and adds more insurance companies to their roster Coinbase Q1 earnings are out Grayscale wants to roll GBTC into an ETF Tom Brady is launching an NFT platform Peter Thiel's comments on Bitcoin The DC/EP may come wit...

Matthew Mežinskis, creator of the Crypto Voices Global Monetary Base project joins the show to discuss how Bitcoin stacks up against sovereign currencies. In this episode:  The difference between base money and broad money Why Bitcoin should be compared to base money and not the broad money supply How exchanges are serving as proto free banks – and why they might end up becoming transparent fracti...

Jeth Soetoyo, the founder and CEO of Pintu, a cryptoasset brokerage based on Indonesia joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Jeth's path to the cryptoasset industry and his journey from Consensys to business school to founding Pintu Views on stablecoin adoption and how Jeth and team are approaching this with their Rupiah Token project The Indonesian market and how Pintu is approaching this m...

Nic and Matt return for news and deals of the week. In this episode:  A crisis with our dice manufacturers Visa will enable USDC settlements on their payment network Paypal turns on Bitcoin payments for 29m merchants Are Paypal transactions actual Bitcoin expenditures? Sillvergate working with Fidelity to provide Bitcoin-backed loans SEC charges LBRY with securities law violations Are founders tak...

Rafael Cosman, cofounder and CEO of TrustToken, joins the show to talk stablecoins and TrueFi , their non-fully collateralized lending protocol. In this episode:  TrustToken's various stablecoins that they administer The real-time stablecoin attestations TrustToken has done with Armanino How a real time attestation works Why the USD is so disproportionate in market share among stablecoins Why DeFi...

James Davolos, VP and portfolio manager at Horizon Kinetics , joins the show to make the case for inflation and to explain their Inflation Beneficiaries ETF, ticker $INFL. In this episode:  How Horizon and Murray Stahl were one of the earliest asset managers to put client assets in GBTC How Horizon's value approach landed them at a Bitcoin allocation James' reaction when Horizon first made the Bit...

Nic and Matt are back for another blockbuster week. In this episode:  How Nic ended up being labeled the most violent person on Earth Fidelity files for their Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF The significance of Fidelity's filing today Can the GBTC product actually be redeemed by a majority of shareholders? Amendments to the GBTC charter Odds of the SEC finally seeing the light on the ETF Why an ETF approv...

Dan Tapiero, the Managing Partner or 10T Holdings joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Dan's pre-crypto career as a macro manager and entrepreneur and the path that led him to founding 10T Holdings The institutional narrative for Bitcoin and cryptoassets and how this thesis interplays with gold Views on layer one smart contract platforms and how to think about value accrual on these network...

Michael Greenwald is a former U.S. Treasury official with expertise in sanctions programs and using USD infrastructure to promote policy objectives. In this episode:  What the weaponization of the dollar really means How sanctions mechanically work How Treasury and the State Dept carry out sanctions The risk of sanctions wearing blunt as a tool  The growth of sanctions post 9/11 How sanctions agai...

Nic and Matt return for another week of deals and news. In this episode:  We announce onthebrink.shop What was Robby Gutmann from NYDIG rumoring on our recent episode? Morgan Stanley opens up their platform to Bitcoin funds A new taxonomy for NFTs Bridging the gap between NFT fans and skeptics Why NFTs are not bearer assets and are liabilities of an issuer We break down a popular thread debunking...

Dennison Bertram and Raf Solari, the founders of Tally join the show. In this episode we discuss: Dennison and Raf's career journeys into crypto and to founding Tally The current state of DeFi and how they think about an emerging taxonomy of projects Views on how voting and user interaction with DeFi protocols are evolving Comparison to legacy financial services like proxy voting How Tally is enga...

Robby Gutmann, CEO and Co-founder of NYDIG , and Co-founder of Stone Ridge, joins the show to talk about his firm's Bitcoin and digital asset ambitions. In this episode:  The origins of NYDIG and Stone Ridge NYDIG's product suite and differentiation  NYDIG's deliberate pro-Bitcoin stance  Why Bitcoin is such a compelling opportunity to Robby Bitcoin's pace of development  How much attention NYDIG...

Nic and Matt return for another intense week of deals. In this episode:  New Bitcoin FUD dice? Is there any new Bitcoin FUD? Beeple sells an NFT for $69m Are NFTs art or the autograph? The missing link for NFTs – where do you show off your NFTs and demonstrate status? One issue with NFTs and IP Is NY Life getting into crypto? Norwegian oil billionaire embraces Bitcoin DCG buys back GBTC to bring i...

Zac Prince, CEO and Cofounder of BlockFi joins the show once again to discuss BlockFi's newly announced Series D financing and to discuss market dynamics. In this episode:  Announcing the Series D round of financing Growth of revenues and clients on the platform How BlockFi classifies itself in the taxonomy of banking, fintech, and brokerage Market worries around the GBTC discount Why did GBTC fli...

Matthew Le Merle, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era and Blockchain Coinvestors joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matthew's views on The Rise of Generation C and some of the trends he foresaw ten years ago Views on the GameStop / WSB saga and what this portends for the financial markets in the years to come The state of the cryptoasset market and the infrastructure that is bein...

David Vorick, the cofounder and CEO of Nebulous, the firm developing the Sia network, joins the show once again to talk about the growth of decentralized cloud storage. In this episode:  Skynet reaches its 1 year anniversary Dweb versus Web3 Current capacity and utilization of the Sia network Where Sia stacks up in terms of the decentralized storage networks by usage How the internet ended up mass...

Matt and Nic are back. In this episode: More cured meats drama The Singapore sovereign wealth fund invests in Anchorage Will they or wont they - Goldman edition Bitcoin completes Paypal's original vision Schwab looks to add support for crypto Kings of Leon NFT Are NFTs the first truly mainstream application of blockchains? Are today's centralized public blockchains just a return of private blockch...