On The Brink with Castle Island

John Palmer, the CEO of CBOE Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: John’s career and the path that led him to CBOE Digital. The history of CBOE Digital, including the acquisition of ErisX and the company’s recent funding round. CBOE Digital’s product approach. The regulatory landscape in the United States and how CBOE is positioned vs. offshore unregulated venues. The impact of the FTX fraud on the broader market. Upcoming product and company plans. To learn more about CBOE Digital visit CBOEDigital.com

In this episode, Ria is joined by Robert Miller, Steward at Flashbots, which is a research and development organization with the aim to reduce the negative externalities and risks posed by MEV, or maximal extractable value. We cover: The MEV supply chain and how it’s evolved as Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake The new challenges and risk vectors that have emerged as a result of the transition, notably around decentralization and censorship resistance The tools Flashbots has proposed and implemented in response, such as Flashbots Auction, MEV Geth, MEV Boost, and the open sourcing of these tools to foster a competitive market The risk posed by exclusive order flow and cross domain MEV in centralizing block building The latest endeavor of the organization to decentralize block building using a new network - SUAVE (the single unifying auction for value expression) Research mentioned:  Order flow, auctions and centralisation - Quintus  Flashbots – The Good, Bad and the Ugly of MEV

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Tether collapse scenarios The wrapped Bitcoin issue Ria and others are named Forbes 30 under 30 Sam is still not in jail Sam’s hidden media strategy How Sam could be positioning himself for the case Was FTX really a case of negligence or was it fraud? Sam is muddying the waters Sam Trubucco is our bad boy of the week Should the US really annex the Bahamas? Members of CT are running around Nassau looking for Sam Should the US be pressuring the Bahamas for more action here? Beto returns his FTX donation The CFTC met with FTX 10 times The SEC’s culpability in the FTX scandal The Farmington Bank acquisition scandal Did Sam Trubucco and Caroline really not know about the malfeasance? SBF is throwing his former colleagues under the bus Kyle Davies’ embarassing attempted comeback What’s the fate of the charity boxing match? Casa rolls out support for Ethereum Binance rolls out a Proof of Reserve - but it has issues Content mentioned:  NYMAG, Interview with SBF 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

Mahesh Ramakrishnan of Escape Velocity joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mahesh’s career in traditional financial services and the path that led him to launching Escape Velocity. The decentralized wireless market and how it is likely to evolve. How tokenized protocols and USD stablecoins are likely to play a role in this evolution. How incumbents are positioned in this emerging category. Views on FTX and how that impacts the market more broadly. To learn more about Escape Velocity visit www.EV3.xyz.    

Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mike’s thoughts on FTX and the unfolding fraud case. His views on crypto market structure and how it is likely to evolve in the face of the FTX collapse. The regulatory landscape and the path forward for spot market regulation. Views on the MPC custody landscape and advances in zero knowledge cryptography. To learn more about BitGo visit bitgo.com  

Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode:  Liz Warren writes her first good letter ever? SBF is striking a defiant tone Sam’s new letter to employees Is the Alameda/FTX situation really that complicated? Sam’s parents bought tens of millions worth of Bahamas property The Bahamas steps in and seizes some funds Should the US annex the Bahamas? Should the US use ‘extraordinary rendition’ on SBF? Is this the death of meme rounds of financings? Semafor reports on SBF without disclosing that he was an investor Was FTX ‘just a classic bank run’? Why don’t journalists understand that the FTX situation was fraud? Where are the Bahamas prosecutors in all this? Further contagion in the crypto lending market What is to become of DCG? Could Grayscale use Reg M to do GBTC redemptions? NY Governor Kathy Hochul finally signs a moratorium on Bitcoin mining OkX launches a Proof of Reserve Who are we thankful for? 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

Travis Scher, co-founder of North Island Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis’ investing career including his tenure at DCG and his path to founded North Island Ventures. How Travis initially met SBF and his reasons for passing on the deal. Analysis of the bankruptcy process and the likely second order impacts. How this event will change the early crypto VC landscape. To learn more visit northisland.ventures and follow Travis on Twitter.

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt’s blog post, ‘It’s Time to Grow Up’ The Alameda - FTX relationship was always sketchy Would FTX ever have been able to go public? Why don’t we have decent disclosure for token emissions? How do we put this crisis to use? John Ray’s Day 1 filing about the state of affairs at FTX So what in the hell happened to the client funds at FTX? Will funds donated to politicians be clawed back? What’s wrong with utilitarianism? How effective altruism is like Stalinism One theory on how Alameda lost money on Luna Some lending firms kicked out Alameda after the summer credit crisis Is Serum forking out coins which are due to FTX creditors? Why has the DOJ been so passive so far? We introduce some new bad boys Su Zhu and Kyle are trying to redeem themselves Do Kyle and Su have a new venture underway? Rep. Tom Emmer is elected as the GOP Whip in the House Will the Republican led House subpoena Gensler? Content mentioned in this episode: Matt Walsh in Medium, It’s Time to Grow Up FTX CEO John Ray’s Day 1 filing 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

Garrett Weaver, the co-founder and CEO of Juke joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Garrett’s career as an entertainment industry executive and the path that led him to starting Juke. How Hollywood intellectual property works and how blockchains can open up revenue opportunities for studios. The use cases for NFT technology and the innovation on the horizon in the industry. To learn more about Juke visit www.juke.io Read about Juke's launch   

Nic and Matt return for one of the craziest weeks in crypto history. In this episode:  Coin Metrics makes a key on-chain discovery regarding FTX’s insolvency Will Castle Island buy the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena? What in the hell happened to FTX/Alameda? How big is the hole in FTX’ balance sheet Was FTX/Alameda insolvent as early as Q2? How this is reminiscent of the Bitfinex/Tether transaction? What did CZ see that caused him to catalyze the attack on FTX? How did FTX pass an audit? Who will be affected by the FTX collapse? How this will affect the already impaired crypto lenders We revisit some of the recent departures from FTX/Alameda This explains why FTX was bailing out the lenders in Q2 Will FTX US be firewalled off here? Could this crisis have been forecasted? Did Sam perjure himself in front of Congress? Gensler’s responsibility in the FTX fiasco Su Zhu is trying to do a redemption arc Why is Su Zhu surfing? Possible regulatory consequences What are the midterm consequences for crypto? A failure of corporate governance at FTX Some venture funds were attesting to the solvency of FTX while withdrawing funds FTX is selectively processing withdrawals to Bahamanian entities Silver linings from the crisis Proof of Reserves is having a moment Sam’s crypto agenda in DC is thankfully dead SBF was somehow an LP in Sequoia and Paradigm Setting the record straight on Tom Brady 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