On The Brink with Castle Island

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

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