On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, discusses the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and Bitwise's low-cost option. They also talk about their plan to donate profits, evolving market structure, and the potential for Ethereum ETFs.

Matthew LeMerle and Mitch Mechegian from Blockchain Coinvestors discuss their 2024 predictions including the growth of stablecoins, factors influencing the price of Bitcoin, the potential impact of ETF approval on the RIA channel, the regulatory landscape of the cryptocurrency industry, and the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence.

This week's podcast covers Matrixport's bearish ETF take, the DoJ dropping campaign finance charges against SBF, Goldman and JPM becoming authorized participants for the ETF, where fees will settle for major Bitcoin ETFs, Nic's vanity license plate story, and more

Nitya Subramanian, founder and CEO of Capsule, discusses outstanding challenges with web3 onboarding, how applications are integrating parts of the wallet experience, Capsule's help for developers to give end users key privileges, the importance of interoperability in crypto, how Capsule simplifies transaction signing, and how Capsule's infrastructure complements smart contract wallets.

Barry Silbert, a main character for Bitcoin miners, discusses the good year for Bitcoin miners and the potential approval of an ETH ETF. The hosts also share their 2024 predictions for stablecoins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, NFTs, and adoption. They discuss the debate between Solana and Ethereum, the BSA's constitutionality, and the possibility of the 3AC boys being apprehended in 2024.

Jill Gunter, co-founder of Espresso, discusses their mission to help L2 rollups decentralize, the role of sequencers in rollups, trading centralized revenue for decentralization, and the potential of blockchain-based payments.

Ryan Selkis, co-founder and CEO of Messari, discusses the regulatory landscape, institutional market, failures of the SEC, and Messari's roadmap in 2024. They also talk about the evolution of the 'crypto theses' report, the role of Michael Sanichan and Craig Salm in the ETF conversation, regulatory issues and industry activism, building Massari, and the launch of new protocols and comparison with Ethereum.

Hosts discuss tree falling on house during storm, funding deals in crypto industry, inscriptions frenzy on various blockchains, and the new super PAC Fair Shake promoting pro-crypto members in Congress.

Dan Tapiero, founder and Managing Partner of 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners, discusses the state of the crypto market post-FTX collapse, the impact of Bitcoin ETF on fund flows, the market for growth and secondary investing, and 1RT's strategy. He emphasizes the importance of a minimum viable ecosystem and the dominance of US dollar stable coins.

Andreas Tsamados, Founder of Fileverse, discusses the need for a decentralized file sharing platform. Topics covered include the state of decentralized file storage, token models, and the Fileverse roadmap for the coming year.