On The Brink with Castle Island

In this episode I sit down with David Thompson, managing partner at Cooper & Kirk. We cover the emergence of Operation Choke Point 2.0 and what recourse can be sought by the industry. In this episode:  Cooper & Kirk's track record and reputation The story of Choke Point 1.0 and how Cooper & Kirk helped end it How was OCP 1.0 resolved?  Why Cooper & Kirk wrote their recent white paper on OCP 2.0 Differences between Choke Point 1.0 and 2.0  Inconsistencies in FDIC Chair Gruenberg's Congressional testimony Why David thinks that a complaint on due process grounds might be the best option for affected firms  Relevant constitutional protections  How OCP 2.0 might resolve The fate of the SPDIs Possible violations of the Administrative Procedures Act by the Fed How SCOTUS might rule on this issue  Further reading:  Cooper & Kirk: Operation Choke Point 2.0: The Federal Bank Regulators Come For Crypto

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals.  Cooper and Kirk’s white paper on Operation Choke Point 2.0 How bank regulators put crypto-facing banks in a catch-22 SBF charged with bribing a Chinese official Is Sam funding his legal defense with funds purloined from FTX users? The CFTC charges Binance with operating an unlicensed derivatives exchange Binance execs haz no confidence in their geofencing How did the CFTC get their hands on CZ’s Signal history The SEC shuts down Beaxy Microstrategy buys another $150m worth of Bitcoin NASDAQ is aiming to launch their crypto custody platform in June What’s the deal with McHenry’s stablecoin bill? House Democrats would make issuing a stablecoin effectively illegal Elizabeth Warren is “building an anti-crypto army” Are DAOs unincorporated associations or general partnerships? Is the SPDI dead in the water? Did the FDIC Chair perjure himself in front of Congress this week? What’s the deal with the SigNet sale? Is dedollarization happening? Content mentioned: Cooper & Kirk whitepaper on Operation Choke Point 2.0

Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The banking crisis and Operation Chokepoint 2.0 The decisions facing the Fed and the second order impacts of Fed policy How the cryptocurrency industry has evolved post FTX Prospects for stablecoin and market structure regulation in the digital asset industry The bitcoin futures market The launch of the Bitwise Bitcoin Strategy Optimum Roll ETF (BITC) To learn more about Bitwise visit www.bitwiseinvestments.com and follow Matt on Twitter.  

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Matt’s turkey trouble continues Nic’s vespa problem Nic’s latest Choke Point 2.0 article Did the government destroy Signature on purpose? Who is the main architect of Choke Point 2.0? Why was Signature closed when PacWest and First Republic were given time? The Catch-22 in NY banking law Who has recourse in the Signature situation? Why we won’t be going offshore The SEC announces charges against Justin Sun and celebrity endorsers The SEC sends Coinbase a Wells Notice FTX creditors recoup $460m from Modulo Capital Reps Emmer and Soto introduce the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act The White House report is hostile to crypto Matt’s Hong Kong conspiracy theory Is the EU racing ahead of the US in terms of regulation? The XRP case is nearing summary judgment Bitwise announces their futures ETF $BITC We read some of our podcast reviews Content mentioned: Nic in Pirate Wires, Did The Government Start A Global Financial Crisis In An Attempt To Destroy Crypto?

Jamil and Nick, co-founders of Gamma.io, join us on the show to discuss: Lowering the barrier to inscribing NFTs on Bitcoin Why creators and collectors are excited about NFTs on Bitcoin Designing a trustless Ordinals marketplace that aligns with its unique culture The emerging collecting and trading culture on Bitcoin and it's key differences  

Nick Hansen is the cofounder and CEO of Luxor, a Bitcoin mining pool. He joins to talk to us about his excitement around ordinals and inscriptions, and how Luxor is thinking about the opportunity. The history of ordinals and how Luxor got started in the space How Luxor mined the first 4MB block in Bitcoin Luxor’s decision to acquire Ordinalhub and their intentions with the project Risks Luxor incurred by mining the first 4MB block Transaction standardness versus validity How ordinals increase the overall quantity of Bitcoin blockspace The risks of out of band fees to Bitcoin Does Bitcoin already have MEV? How does the block reward decay make reorgs more likely? Where Luxor sees opportunity in ordinals Have inscriptions had a material impact on miner rewards? The effect of inscriptions on fees Transacting with PSBTs versus standard NFT marketplaces Nick’s confidence in the long-term persistence of Bitcoin state Why it’s virtually impossible to purge state in Bitcoin Are ordinals and inscriptions a violation of the implied Bitcoin social contract? Have inscriptions inadvertently ossified Bitcoin at the protocol level?

Matt and Nic are back to cover a dramatic week in crypto. Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn also joins to provide market color. In this episode:  Bitcoin’s price action in response to the bank runs USDC recovers its peg FTX crime family news Signature bank is shut down somewhat arbitrarily What happened with Silvergate? Is Operation Choke Point 2.0 real? Blockchain Association FOIA’s federal banking regulators Are macro funds dipping their toes back into Bitcoin? Crypto Banks are gutted Was Signature solvent when it was shut down? Will Signet be sold off in the Signature auction? What was the importance of SEN and Signet? First Republic secures $30b in deposits What happened with Silvergate and the FHLB? Galaxy Digital’s head of research Alex Thorn joins the show Arbitrum announces their airdrop

Matt and Nic are back for another tumultuous week of news and deals. In this episode:  Nic’s Vespa crisis FTX crime family update Grayscale’s oral arguments go well against the SEC in the GBTC case Binance.US wins the right to buy the Voyager assets in court NYAG sues Kucoin and alleges that ETH is a security Silvergate is undergoing an orderly wind-down of the bank Why did Silvergate really collapse? Why are regulators trying to precipitate bank runs? Structural issues explaining why Silvergate’s deposits were so correlated SVB experiences a bank run Are the Silvergate and SVB difficulties warning sights that the Fed’s rate regime can’t last? Content mentioned:  How Banks Fail, by Austin Campbell

Matt and Nic are back for another tumultuous week of news and deals. In this episode:  Nic’s Vespa crisis FTX crime family update Grayscale’s oral arguments go well against the SEC in the GBTC case Binance.US wins the right to buy the Voyager assets in court NYAG sues Kucoin and alleges that ETH is a security Silvergate is undergoing an orderly wind-down of the bank Why did Silvergate really collapse? Why are regulators trying to precipitate bank runs? Structural issues explaining why Silvergate’s deposits were so correlated SVB experiences a bank run Are the Silvergate and SVB difficulties warning sights that the Fed’s rate regime can’t last? Content mentioned:  How Banks Fail, by Austin Campbell

Rob Hamilton, Founder and CEO of AnchorWatch, discusses his journey into Bitcoin, the origins and applicability of Miniscript in custody markets, the state of Bitcoin core development, and his involvement in the Ordinals project. The podcast explores the potential future applications of ordinals and inscriptions in the Bitcoin ecosystem.