On The Brink with Castle Island

Guy Young, founder and CEO of Ethena, talks about the design of synthetic stablecoins and their use of staked ETH as collateral. They discuss the challenges faced by previous stablecoins, the correlation dynamics between ETH yield and funding rates, and the possibility of adding Bitcoin as collateral. They also explore the shrinking supply of stablecoins, the impact of traditional finance yield, and the differences between PayPal's stablecoin and their traditional product.

Walter Isaacson, biographer of Elon Musk, Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Su Zhu jailed in Singapore, and Bharat Ramamurti discuss topics like Elon Musk's potential Twitter acquisition, tungsten obsession, FTX solvency, Ethereum's security, OCP 2.0 architect departing White House, and Bitcoin lab leak. Coinbase gets a license in Singapore.

Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The SEC's approval of Ethereum Futures ETFs Bitwise's launch of AETH, The Bitwise Ethereum Strategy ETF and BTOP, the Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF. The current state of play as it relates to Bitcoin spot ETF filings. The SEC's approach and posture given the Grayscale court case. The current lay of the land in the institutional market as it relates to digital asset products. To learn more about Bitwise visit bitwiseinvestments.com

David Phelps, co-founder and CEO of jokerace and a prolific writer, discusses alternative ways to incentivize users and distribute decision making power, the limitations of tokens for governance, and the power of co-creation in unlocking creativity. They also delve into the concept of being in a post-token world and the importance of personal contribution and involvement in co-creation.

AI causing unemployment for IB associates, blockchain-based sneakers, Nic's Vespa catastrophe, Gensler's HSFC hearing and controversy, made up airlines, FTX trial starting next week

Topics discussed include the Bitcoin security budget debate, Tether's resumption of lending operations, SBF's parents involvement, stablecoin legislation in HK, and a comparison of experiences in Singapore and New York.

Henri Stern, CEO and co-founder of Privy, joins us to discuss: The contradictory functions that wallets serve Offering in-app non-custodial embedded wallets Balancing the trade offs of security versus convenient recovery How customers are customizing their embedded wallet experience The decision to build third party wallet connectors and embedded wallets

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode. We review Singapore and Token 2049 Singapore food reviews Is crypto pivoting to Asia? Singapore bans the 3ac boys from the Securities industry for 9 years The offshoring of dollar stablecoins Stablecoins are becoming interest bearing Fortress is hacked and acquired by Ripple SEC versus Stoner Cats Sentiment is turning against John Ray III We review Arthur Hayes' party in Singapore How involved was Joe Bankman in FTX? Genesis is ceasing trading operations 19 hour flights Content mentioned in this episode: Nic's Token 2049 Keynote (slides) Bloomberg, How Sam Bankman-Fried's Elite Parents Enabled His Crypto Empire

Peter Johnson, Co-head of Venture at Brevan Howard Digital, discusses stablecoins, their rise, predictions, and the advantages of transacting in stable currencies. They explore the role of blockchains like Tron, the similarities between stablecoins and offshore US dollars, and the potential impact of CBDCs on stablecoins. They also discuss Tether's dominance and speculate on the potential runner-up to the US dollar.

Martin Carrica, cofounder of Mountain Protocol, discusses creating a permissionless interest-bearing stablecoin, regulatory options in Bermuda, reinsurance similarities to stablecoins, how USDM differs from on-chain T bills, USDM's permissionless structure, and the use of stablecoins in emerging market fintechs.