On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  What’s going on with our merch? Nic’s pitch for pickleball What’s the deal with the leaked GTX pitch deck? What happened at CoinFLEX? Our conspiracy about GTX What’s the latest with the FTX crime family Will FTX or FTX.US be relaunched? SBF says FTX.US is still solvent DOJ takes down Bizlato Genesis is exploring a bankruptcy process Coinbase is pulling out of Japan What was the deal with NEM? What happened with Veritaseum Corporate loyalty programs are getting debased Peter Thiel liquidates his BTC Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Tony Scuderi, the founder of Imperii Partners joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The investment banking landscape for crypto/blockchain companies. How the fundraising environment is evolving in 2023. The impact of FTX on the broader market. How companies backed by FTX are taking action. The M&A landscape. Common pitfalls that founders make when selling their business. To learn more about Imperii Partners visit imperiipartners.com  

Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Strijers joins the show to talk about their new Proof of Reserve rollout. In this episode:  Why Deribit decided to do a PoR  What were the considerations going into it? What made Deribit cautious about the procedure? Which PoRs did Deribit look at for inspiration? Has Deribit received client feedback from the procedure so far? How does Deribit demonstrate asset ownership? Unique among exchanges, Deribit was able to do a PoR for all of your assets, and on a daily basis. How did they manage this?  Why Deribit chose to release the full list of liabilities  How does Deribit achieve end user privacy given the full liability dump? What data, if any, is leaked by the attestation? Did you look at audit firms in terms of supervising the PoR? Why did you go the auditless approach? Does Luuk anticipate moving to ZK proofs for liabilities eventually? How can PoR be improved?  Related episodes:  OTB 180, The Auditor view of PoR  OTB 212, The Proof of Reserve Restoration  OTB 283, Jeremy Welch (Kraken) on Contemporary Proofs of Reserve Related content:  Nic Carter on Medium, The Status of Proof of Reserve as of Year End 2022

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  What’s happening with Proof of Reserves? Will BTC and ETH have another fee crisis? Nishad Singh has met with the SDNY in a proffer session The SEC is investigating VC funds that invested in FTX FTX debtors and the Bahamas announced a cooperation agreement FTX announced that it has recovered over $5 billion in assets thus far Gemini and DCG continue to face off Cameron Winklevoss’ letter to DCG Nexo is raided in Bulgaria for alleged money laundering Robinhood is dropping support for Bitcoin SV DCG is under investigation from the SEC Mike Novogratz wants to punch disgraced crypto titans in the face Crypto charity boxing We review Ace Ventura: Pet Detective SBF starts a Substack Japanese retail sours on crypto Should there be more charity boxing in crypto? The state of crypto podcast sponsors Content mentioned in this episode: Ria on Mirror, Reviving Trust in Crypto Coinbase, 2023 Crypto Market Outlook Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter  

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  A call for on-chain archeology Nic’s scuppered NYE plans More news from the FTX crime family Who is SBF’s mystery bail benefactor? SBF pleads not guilty SBF is prohibited from moving further FTX/Alameda assets SBF had four meetings with White House staffers regarding pandemic preparedness New inductees into the Bad Boys club Nic’s pickleball confession We revisit the 42 yard field goal challenge The Bahamas regulators wrangle with Jon Ray regarding FTX assets The SEC steps in to stop the voyager deal The House fails to elect a speaker NYDFS fines Coinbase $50m for deficient compliance DCG and Gemini’s wrangle India’s new crypto framework What’s happening with the institutionalization of crypto? Content mentioned in this episode: Sean Judge on Medium, Reasons to remain bullish after a year in crypto hell Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Galaxy acquires the Helios miner facility from Argo Consolidating in the miner space  A new bad boy bursts onto the scene  Avraham Eisenberg is arrested in Puerto Rico  Should it be illegal to exploit defi contracts, even if you reach an agreement with the DAO? Craig Wright's case against Peter McCormack SBF is slated to enter a plea  What's the deal with IEX and FTX? Nic's Michael Lewis conspiracy The FTX blockfolio acquisition was mostly financed with FTT The cold snap causes Bitcoin hashrate to decline around 40% in a week  Exchanges are unbundling custody and order matching  Our predictions for 2023 Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter  

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Are stablecoins still a priority in DC? The rise of the FUDfluencer Sam agrees to be extradited Did the SDNY wait for Sam to be extradited to release Caroline’s plea deal? Alameda was siphoning FTX funds from day 1 What’s the deal with Modulo Capital? Is Gerald Cotten back from the dead? Does Flashboys need a new chapter? What is going on with IEX? How did Michael Lewis not figure out something was up at FTX? Sen. Pat Toomey’s stablecoin legislation Core Scientific files for bankruptcy Why the mining shakeout might lead to consolidation The Fed’s stablecoin blog Visa’s autopayments for non-custodial wallets Stablecoins are having a great year Where are the remaining FTX execs? Content mentioned:  Coinbase, Regulating Crypto: How we move forward as an industry from here Visa, Auto Payments for Self-Custodial Wallets Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Minnesota Representative and newly elected House Whip Tom Emmer joins the show for a discussion of the FTX fallout, the House hearings, the SEC’s behavior throughout the process, and developments in the House looking ahead to 2023. Rep. Emmer’s thoughts on the House hearing with John Ray How the FTX collapse was about a failure of centralization How the timing of the SBF arrest was not coincidental - and who had an incentive to stop SBF testifying Why the Bahamian authorities may not have wanted SBF to testify The meaning of Rep. Emmer’s march letter to Gensler and the SEC Chairman Gensler’s role in the FTX scandal Has Gensler been concealing his calendar from the public? Gensler’s poor track record over the crypto crisis Oddly close links between SEC Chair Gensler, FTX, and subsidiary exchange IEX House Republicans will gain the subpoena authority in the next legislative session and what they will do with it What are some of Emmer’s responsibilities in his new role as Majority Whip? The importance of Rep. McHenry taking charge of the House financial services committee What are the prospects for stablecoin legislation? McHenry’s likely crypto agenda for the new session Rep. Emmer’s commitment to financial privacy Senator Warren’s draft legislation and risks to the crypto ecosystem The importance of Rep. Emmer’s Securities Clarity Act Modernizing a securities regulation regime for crypto How are Rep. Emmer’s colleagues reacting to the FTX crisis The role of journalists in assessing the FTX situation Content mentioned in the episode Rep. Emmer & colleagues original March '22 letter to SEC Chair Gensler Rep. Emmer’s annotations of the March letter in response to Gensler's criticisms

Matt and Nic are back for another wild week of news and deals. In this episode:  Is SBF currently interned in a top 5 prison on earth? SBF is finally arrested We enumerate the charges from the SEC, CFTC, and DOJ What kind of sentence could Sam be looking at here? The CFTC’s interesting argument for standing over FTX SBF is charged is campaign finance violations Confirming that Alameda did have latency and other advantages trading on FTX SBF’s parents face growing scrutiny What’s the deal with Gensler’s calendar? Gensler comes under more scrunity for his FTX/IEX meetings Mr. John Ray is a new star of CT We have a new possible category for bad boys McCaffrey resigns from The Block after revealing loans from SBF Elizabeth Warren proposed a hostile anti-crypto bill Do Kwon is reportedly in Serbia The DOJ is reportedly split over charging Binance What’s the deal with the Binance ‘bank run’? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Matt and Nic return for another episode of news and deals. In this episode:  Brink Nation’s surprising fan club in Bali We investigate FTX’s leaked private equity portfolio FTX employees were raising LP money for funds from FTX Why was FTX acting as a fund of funds? What is modulo capital The Michael Lewis - IEX - FTX troika Why did FTX invest $1b+ in Genesis Digital Assets? SBF’s possible incentive to invest heavily in a BTC miner How FTX’s mining investment disadvantaged other BTC miners Who has the size to buy up FTX’s private equity portfolio? Sam and Caroline secure high powered attorneys The Boston Globe’s Caroline Ellison article We correct the record on BlockFi Restating the core issues with 3AC Democrats are criticizing Gensler for his inaction on FTX What’s the deal with Sam’s subpoena? What’s the deal with the Coindesk most influential Does PoS make Ethereum a security? What’s the deal with the Castle Island merch store? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter