On The Brink with Castle Island

Tether's interventionist actions and regulatory immunity, SEC's court loss to Grayscale and its future implications, lack of reported deals in cryptocurrency industry and SEC's ongoing litigation with Binance

Topics discussed include: Bitcoin halving, Republican Presidential debate, Coinbase and Circle relationship, challenges faced by USDC, Tornado Cash founders charged, defense strategy in the case, and Adderall debate in prison.

Darshan Vaidya, founder of Credora, discusses the crypto credit markets, risk management in tradfi versus crypto markets, and Credora's approach to protect customers from idiosyncratic risk. They also talk about the challenges and solutions in accessing credit in the crypto market, scalability and transparency in capital deployment, the need for more banks and regulatory clarity in the industry, and the profit motive for banks in the crypto market.

In this episode, Matt and Nic discuss the geographic distribution of USDC and USDT, the dollarization of blockchains, Helium's phone plan, SBF heading to jail, the fine imposed by Dubai regulators on OPNX, Argentina's Libertarian presidential candidate, the need for a new theme song for the SEC, the ongoing Prometheum saga, Better Market's situation, Coinbase's approval to offer Bitcoin and ETH futures, and the settlement between FTX and Genesis.

Matt and Nic are back with more news and deals. In this episode:  Matt's op-ed in Coindesk SAB121 is still bad SEC scope creep We investigate PayPal's stablecoin  Why would PayPal want to issue a stablecoin?  What does PYUSD mean for Operation Choke Point for 2.0?  Why PYUSD is being launched on Ethereum Crypto as a flashpoint for state versus federal banking oversight The Fed's new crypto oversight program Banks still can't issue stablecoins in the US Ryan Salame reemerges What will become of Ryan Salame's restaurant empire?  SBF will indeed be prosecuted on campaign finance violations SBF's trial will not be televised LK-99 did NOT replicate   Content mentioned in this episode:  Matt in Coindesk, Congress, Not the SEC, Should Set U.S. Digital Asset Policy Zach Wong, A comprehensive explanation of SAB 121 and how it prevents safe crypto custody Sponsor notes: Coin Metrics STATE OF THE NETWORK: DeFi’s Double Edged Sword - Unpacking the Features & Risks of DeFi Lending  In our new special insights report, we utilize a balance sheet like methodology to contextualize the health of DeFi lending protocols through the lens of two recent exploits on Aave and Curve Finance

Matt and Nic are back for more deals and news. In this episode:  Nic's early Do Kwon experience Reflecting back on Terra/Luna  The SEC charges Richard Heart and HEX  Is the SEC's case against Richard Heart flimsy?  Does the SEC deserve praise for coming after HEX?  Kyle Davies thinks he's immune from prosecution because he gave up his US citizenship Who's behind the BALD rugpull?  Implications of the Curve hack  We look at Tether's asset portfolio  Kenya suspends Worldcoin operations in the country Is there an account firm choke point?  Ethereum future ETFs are filed Judge Rakoff dissents from the Torres doctrine  Content mentioned:  CIV white paper on Cryptodollars Sponsor notes:  STATE OF THE NETWORK: Decoding the Digital Dollar — Unraveling the Risks of Stablecoins In our new special insights report, CM lays out the key fragilities of stablecoins and how on-chain and market data can help monitor these risks for the future of digital dollars to materialize

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Nic's issues editing the show Why Washington is attacking PoR  Why Big 4 audit firms aren't working on PoR  The Financial Innovation and Technology in the 21st Century bill (FIT) passes out of committee in the House  Six Democrats defect and support the bill The Stablecoin bill reaches an impasse because the White House  Why stablecoins being limited to the banks is a paradox  The SEC settles with Quantstamp SBF gets a gag order because he released Caroline Ellison's diaries  SBF did actually pay for his legal defense with stolen FTX customer money  The UK gets embroiled in a banking scandal due to Nigel Farage  We digest the room temperature ambient pressure superconductor news  Nic's pickleball injury   Content mentioned:  Nic in Fortune, The crypto industry is embracing self regulation. It’s time Washington gets on board   Kathleen Breitman in Fortune, Ben McKenzie needs a hug: The ‘OC’ star’s crypto book is an ill-informed flop   Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics STATE OF THE NETWORK - From Orange Groves to Orange Gold  In this special edition of State of the Network, we are excited to share a new report that translates the legal language of securities framework for digital assets into objective, measurable criteria from “on-chain” data  

In this episode, we hosted Richard Meissner, CTO of Safe, to illuminate the state of adoption of smart contract wallets following the roll out of ERC-4337 (an effort to standardize account abstraction on Ethereum). Our conversation covers: The limitations of smart contract wallets in a multi-chain universe Account recovery and hybrid custody using traditional institutions Combining account abstraction with intents and AI Worldcoin's use of Safes and adoption of smart contract accounts Find additional content by Safe on account abstraction here.

Matt and Nic are back with more deals and news. In this episode:  Was XRP discovered or created? The saga of Otter 841 Matt’s wildlife trouble More SAB121 chaos Rep Ritchie Torres sends Gensler a tough letter What is the Torres Doctrine? Terraform labs has a new CEO Our theories for why Nasdaq pulled the plug on their crypto custody business The IRS is auditing the crypto rich in PR We bring back our triple threat segment Content mentioned Matt’s thread on SAB121 Bloomberg’s profile on Customers Bank We enjoyed the Fidelity Digital Assets Q2 Signals Report. BitMEX Research had a thoughtful article about Gary Gensler's CFTC days Kathleen Breitman in Fortune, Ben McKenzie needs a Hug Sponsor notes: Coin Metrics’ State of the Network: Currents Shift After SEC v. Ripple Summary Judgment In this issue of State of the Network, we provide a data-driven overview of digital asset markets after a milestone ruling in SEC v. Ripple case

Matt and Nic are back with a huge week in the markets. In this episode:  Ripple gets a key win in their summary judgment versus the SEC Implications for XRP holders Implications for exchanges and other tokens Prometheum’s denials about their ties to the CCP don’t hold water How Prometheum is a Potemkin platform Alex Machinsky has been arrested Arkham’s tokensale and doxing snafu The Lummis Gillebrand bill gets a facelift and incorporates PoR The prospects for the Lummis Gillebrand bill Updates on the piping plovers Why Threads isn’t going to make it Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics’ State of the Network: Spot On - From Trusts to Spot ETFs In this issue of State of the Network, we dive deeper into Grayscale’s trusts and discuss the evolution of the digital assets investment landscape with the anticipated arrival of spot ETF’s