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...

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...

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 domain...

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-trade...

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 altern...

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 Taha...

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....

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...

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 a...

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...

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 pl...

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 abando...

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.g...

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 a...

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 clai...

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 ho...

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...

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 Poi...

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 G...

Matthew Gould, co-founder and CEO of Unstoppable Domains joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matthew's path into the cryptocurrency industry and the insight behind launching Unstoppable Domains. How Matthew sees the opportunity for blockchain-based domain systems. Tradeoffs between the various layer-one blockchains that are addressing this opportunity. Views on single sign-on and potential...

Nic and Matt return for another week of ATHs. In this episode:  Coindesk acquires Tradeblock The OCC says that banks can use public blockchains and stablecoins We digest the OCC letter Potential drawbacks to the new OCC guidance Has Brian Brooks had the most successful regulatory term in recent memory? The Treasury's comment period expires Does the Treasury even have the authority to pass these ne...

Travis Schwab, the founder and CEO of Eventus Systems, a company specializing in trade surveillance, joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis' entrepreneurial journey and path to starting Eventus Systems How he came to see cryptoassets as a market opportunity Thoughts on current market structure, the role of exchanges, and the institutional readiness of this market How trade surveillance...

Matt and Nic return for the first roundup of 2021. In this episode:  Why some funds might be buying Bitcoin at year end Are Ripple fans buying Bitcoin? Are fair launches obsolete? Vaneck files for a new Bitcoin ETF CME futures are officially the most liquid futures market BitGo pays a fine to OFAC Exchanges start delisting XRP Will exchanges face repercussions for listing securities? Why being a s...

Brian Venturo is the CTO of CoreWeave , the largest North American GPU miner, which also doubles as a cloud infrastructure firm for general computation. In this episode:  How Brian went from hobbyist Ethereum mining to wielding a fleet of 50,000 GPUs How Core Weave was able to cheaply acquire GPUs from insolvent mining farms The implications of the Ethereum DAG file growing beyond 4 GB and its eff...