On The Brink with Castle Island

Minnesota Representative and House Whip Tom Emmer joins the show once again to talk about the policy sea change in Washington and recent legislative successes. In this episode: The House passes Emmer's anti-CBDC bill Trump's embrace of crypto and what that means Why some Democrats and the White House have changed their tone on crypto Congress votes to repeal SAB121 in defiance of Biden's veto thre...

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: The Senate votes to repeal SAB121 Which Democrats defied Biden on SAB121? Chuck Schumer breaks with Warren Paul Ryan's pro-stablecoin comments on Bloomberg CME is launching a spot crypto exchange The State of Wisconsin owns over $100m of Bitcoin ETFs Pump.fun exploited MEV exploiters arrested by the DoJ What's up with Roar...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  The SAB121 repeal bill passes the House with 21 Democrat votes Biden threatens to veto SAB121 repeal Trump endorses crypto Is Gensler a liability for Biden? A scandal deepens at the FDIC Senator Warren defends the embattled FDIC chair Robinhood gets a Wells Notice from the SEC Is FTX really offering over 100% recovery to cre...

Will Peck, Head of Digital Assets at WisdomTree re-joins the show. In this episode we discuss: WisdomTree's journey in digital assets and the firm's strategy in the area. Views on the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Will's views on tokenization and how the firm is approaching this category. WisdomTree's New York Trust Charter and the opportunities that the license opens up. The e...

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode:  Matt get's 2nd in Jeopardy at ETH Boston We reminisce over Nic's 2020 holiday quiz Ian Cain's Senate candidacy in MA CZ get 4 months in prison The significance of '4' Did CZ deserve his sentence? Roger Ver arrested for tax fraud Tough week of outflows from the ETFs The chilling effects of the DoJ Samourai case Coinbase reports earnin...

Ian Cain , republican candidate for U.S. Senate in the state of Massachusetts against Elizabeth Warren joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Ian's personal background and path to politics. How he became interested in emerging / blockchain technology. Qubic Labs and fostering a startup ecosystem in Massachusetts. The on-chain municipal bond project in Quincy, MA. The key issues that MA voters...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: CIV's new stablecoin survey What happened with Runes? Lawsuit against the SEC's dealer rule New capital gains tax proposal How would taxing unrealized gains work? Two SEC lawyers leave in connection with the DEBT Box scandal The founders of Samourai wallet are arrested and charged by the DoJ Morgan Stanley close to permitting...

Chris Harmse, co-founder and VP of Revenue at BVNK joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Chris' career and the path to founding BVNK. The origin story of BVNK and how the company has evolved over time. The key drivers behind the adoption of stablecoins. Segmenting the stablecoin market. Interest bearing stablecoins and the impact that this category will have on the overall market. Tokenized...

In this episode we sit down with Alexei Zamyatin , the founder of  Build On Bitcoin (BOB). Topics covered:  Why EVM-compatibility is important for Bitcoin and Bitcoin L2s Merge mining and fostering adoption of Bitcoin L2's Why now for the Bitcoin Renaissance BitVM, use cases, and unlocks for Bitcoin

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Dubai is underwater The Lummis Gillebrand stablecoin bill and its prospects Do stablecoins affect the US' ability to make sanctions? Avraham Eisenberg has been found guilty for the Mango markets hack Stablecoins as proto CBDCs Do stablecoins disintermediate commercial banks?  What do the 13F filings tell us about ETF flows...

Cynthia Lo Bessette and Matt Horne of Fidelity Digital Asset Management join the show. In this episode we discuss: The history of digital asset innovation at Fidelity . The decision to operationalize a digital asset-management capability under Fidelity 's Asset Management business unit. The launch of the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF and the path to getting this product to market. How Bitcoin ETFs are curr...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Our reactions to the CPI print The SEC announces its intention to sue Uniswap Sen Warren doesn't like the stablecoin bill Howard Lutnick weighs in on stablecoins again Saylor's core dev funding controversy Sponsor notes: An Introduction to the Solana Network In Coin Metrics  State of the Network  Issue 254, we provide a data-...

Quinn Thompson, founder and CIO of Lekker Capital , joins the show. In this episode:  Launching Lekker Capital Quinn's investment strategy with Lekker Using crypto instruments to take a view on macro trends The significance of the move in the 10year How unusual is it to cut rates when inflation is running hot Is inflation the lesser of two evils? Why an inflationary reset is the only way out of ou...

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: How risky is Eigenlayer? The SEC is asking for public comment on ETH ETFs Is the US government about to liquidate $2b worth of Silk Road Bitcoin? Goldman wealth management CIO doesn't like Bitcoin WSJ is back with a Tether hitpiece Fed Governor Chris Waller says crypto is good for the dollar Nic and David Hoffman are fight...

David Hoffman of Bankless and Bankless Ventures returns to the show. In this episode we discuss: What Bankless Ventures has been focusing on, including Bitcoin Layer Twos. Eigenlayer – what originally attracted David to the project.   The Eigenlayer value chain and the emerging categories of projects building in this ecosystem. Liquid Restaking Tokens, Actively Validated Services and how these pri...

Miller Whitehouse-Levine and Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund join the show. In this episode we discuss: Beba, an American apparel company based in Waco, TX and the DeFi Education fund have filed a complaint against the SEC, challenging the agency's pattern of regulation via enforcement. The specific's of Beba's airdrop campaign. The Debt Box case and the pattern of behavior that the ca...

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Was SBF's 25-year sentence too lenient? Beba vs SEC Coinbase motion to dismiss is dismissed Coinbase notches a win vs the SEC over their Wallet product SDNY v Kucoin Ripple vs SEC Will MSTR ever converge to the fair value of their Bitcoin? North Korea allegedly hacks Blast's Munchables farm How did Blast persuade the hackers...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Nic's Columbia scandal Stablecoin growth ETH Foundation subpoena from the SEC ETH ETF prospects Blackrock releases their tokenized Treasury product with Securitize Are private blockchains obsolete? Fidelity amends their ETH ETF prospectus to add staking Japan's pension fund is learning about Bitcoin More GBTC outflows More...

Jeff Lunglhofer, the Chief Information Security Officer at Coinbase joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Jeff's background and what attracted him to joining Coinbase. How Coinbase approaches cybersecurity risk. The impact of the Bitcoin ETF and the custodial business at Coinbase. How users should protect themselves via multi-factor authentication. Phishing and how to protect oneself from th...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of ATHs. In this episode: ETH's Dencun upgrade goes live Is ETH stuck between two different stakeholder groups? Is Traeger going to hold Bitcoin? Saylor is still buying Bitcoin Nigeria holds two Binance executives for a $10b ransom A UK judge in the COPA case has determined that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Why the COPA v CSW case matters Blackrock will buy Bi...

Nic and Matt return for a week of blockbuster price action and new ATHs. In this episode:  ETF flows recap Warren favorite Katie Porter loses her primary in CA Super Tuesday recap  Are crypto PACs working?  Why the Ohio senate race matters for crypto  State AGs amicus brief in Kraken v SEC The WSJ is accused of defamation in their Tether coverage Were Signature and Silvergate wrongly accused?  Ari...

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Funding rates in crypto Blockbuster ETF flows Bitcoin Renaissance BitVM opening the overton window Remembering PlusToken SBF is "too autistic" to go to jail The 3ac boys have another fake fundraise announcement Genesis reaches a settlement proposal The DOE's demand for information from miners has been halted for now Should...

Guy Young , the founder of Ethena , rejoins the show to give us an update on Ethena and to discuss the nature of crypto interest rates. In this episode: Reflections on the Ethena launch ETH funding rates versus ETH ETF expectations Funding rates on crypto native exchanges versus CME Why Ethena versus doing the cash and carry trade At what point does Ethena start to drive down funding rates The his...

Crusoe CEO and Co-Founder Chase Lochmiller joins us for an episode sharing an update on improving the efficiency of power production with on-site digital infrastructure. In this episode: Solving the broken links between supply (flaring, renewables) and demand for energy (BTC, high performance compute) Engineering a portfolio of applications to pair with different sources of energy Aligning economi...

Nic and Matt are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Wireless outage in the US Russia's space weapons and Rods from God  Will the market like the cubes once again?  Brink nation farcaster update  Our ETH ETF skepticism Circle leaves Tron Revolving door between SEC and biglaw Whip Emmer's letter to the OMB The ECB's very bad, no good Bitcoin blog Reddit hold Bitcoin and ETH ...