On The Brink with Castle Island

We sit down with Ohio Senate Candidate Josh Mandel to cover his race, platform, and Bitcoin advocacy.  Josh’s political origins and why he is running for Senate in Ohio Josh’s time as Ohio state treasurer and his Ohio state checkbook initiative Why Josh pioneered Ohio’s acceptance of Bitcoin for tax payments How Bitcoin values mirror American values Why Bitcoin support ought to stay nonpartisan The state of the Ohio primary and Josh’s prospects The political prudence of making Bitcoin such a key cornerstone of Josh’s platform Learn more about Josh Mandel's platform at joshmandel.com. 

Matt and Nic return for a post-conference episode. This week we cover:  The FDIC asks banks to go slow on crypto integrations Blackrock is studying cryptoassets and invests in USDC Blockchain.com partners with the Dallas Cowboys Virginia will allow state chartered banks to custody cryptocurrency Balaji’s decentralization inflation index winner is announced Why this current CPI print is misleading Blockstream Block and Tesla are mining Bitcoin with solar Celcius shuts down their retail-facing lending product in the US Is Peter Thiel wrong on Ethereum valuation? Will Elon be able to buy Twitter? Takeaways from Bitcoin 2022 Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

In the second episode in our modular blockchain mini-series, we sat down with John Adler, the inventor of optimistic rollups and co-founder of Fuel and Celestia. Fuel is the fastest execution layer for the modular blockchain stack. The technology enables parallel transaction execution and offers flexible throughput and the highest security required to scale. FuelVM offers developers a superior experience and the ability to go beyond limitations faced by the EVM and other virtual machines.   In our conversation, we discuss: The importance of data availability for maintaining censorship resistance Fuel as a modular execution layer with configurable consensus, data availability, and settlement Why Fuel Labs is building the entire blockchain stack to offer the best possible developer and user experience How FuelVM supports parallel transaction execution and other notable improvements over EVM To learn more about some of the concepts we cover, here are a few incremental resources John mentions in the episode. John Adler: Wait, it’s all resource pricing? John Adler: Secure Off-chain Data Availability for Rollups John Adler: FuelVM Bootcamp Follow John on twitter and Fuel on Github Intro/outro track: OmgKirby #664 (used with permission)

Socket Supply Co founder and CEO Paolo Fragomeni joins the show to discuss what web3 is and isn't – and what it should be. In this episode:  Paolo's start writing modem software and BBS in the pre-modern web days  What delineated web 1.0 from web 2.0 The single request that really made web 2.0 possible  How today's web is limited by incumbents  When did web 3.0 really emerge? What distinguishes it from 2.0?  Best definitions of web3?  State of the web in terms of centralization and prospects from here  How the internet has flip flopped between centralization and decentralization  What will push users towards web3?  Moxie's comments on web3 and whether they have any merit  What Paolo is building at Socket Supply  Why p2p is so fundamental  How to get started with Socket Supply  Read about Socket Supply in Coindesk and on their website.  Intro/outro music: Ocarina #986 (used with permission) 

Andrew Myers and Brock Petersen of Satoshi Energy join the show to cover how Bitcoin mining monetizes renewables. In this episode we cover:  Andrew and Brock’s origin story How Satoshi Energy develops sites and infrastructure for miners Is Satoshi Energy explicitly renewable focused? How mining with intermittent renewables can be economical How Bitcoin mining improves the economics of renewables The merits of the behind the meter approach How using Bitcoin as an offtake improves the economics of renewable generation assets The role of demand response as renewables account for more generation Does Bitcoin actually incentivize renewable generation? Is the future of Bitcoin mining vertically integrated? What does the interconnection queue tell us about the future of renewables? Book recommendations Sponsor notes: Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Mora et al rears its head again Chris Larsen and Greenpeace team up to try and eliminate PoW from Bitcoin  Who is the protagonist in the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit?  Rep. Stephen Lynch introduces the ECASH Act  Axie Infinity suffers a $625m hack   Is there any debate remaining about the utility of Bitcoin?  Circle selects BNY Mellon to custody their own assets  Grayscale mulls a lawsuit against the SEC over their continued ETF disapproval Can the government create a truly private CBDC? Rep. Tom Emmer and Sen. Ted Cruz look to ban CBDC creation  Is the SEC obliquely regulating AMM LPs out of existence?  When will Bitcoin be sovereign scale?  Seed stage bets on aspiring members of congress Content mentioned: Martin Wolf in FT, A New World of Currency Disorder Looms Bloomberg, Ukraine's Crypto Banker Describes how the War is Changing His Life Bloomberg, Crypto Miners in Texas Face Approval to Energize Hurdle Sponsor notes:  Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Ben Gagnon, the Chief Mining Officer at Bitfarms, joins the show. In this episode we cover: Bitfarms' journey to the public markets in the US Ben's early efforts in flared gas mining How immersion cooling could provide operational efficiencies  Bitfarms' site selection methodology  How Bitfarms secures power originally built for now-departed industries  How Quebec overbuilt electrical infrastructure  The benefit of miners locating themselves in Quebec and scooping up stranded power  How Bitfarms took over a shuttered hockey stick factory  Why Bitfarms is so keen on stranded hydro  How Bitfarms curtails their power usage – and why curtailment makes sense  Finding excess power in Argentina and Paraguay  Does Bitfarms have a low carbon intensity mandate?  Why being pro-renewable is a good business decision  Why Bitfarms isn't focusing on Texas right now  How Bitcoin is the most efficient way to monetize stranded energy assets Bitfarms' criteria for compelling energy resources  The progress of the Bitcoin Mining Council and the bettering of transparency in the mining space  Where Ben sees room for improvement in the mining sector  The lack of standardization in reporting and valuation around mining firms  The flaws in Digiconomist's estimates of Bitcoin's energy consumption  Issues with academic claims that Bitcoin miners produce significant quantities of e-waste Why Bitcoin ASICs are more recyclable and have long lifespans  The academia and press to policy pipeline  Content mentioned:  Ben in Bitcoin Magazine: We Need to Talk About the Not Science Behind Digiconomist Ben in Bitcoin Magazine: We Need to Talk About the Climate Problem in Bitcoin Mining Sponsor notes: Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io  

Michael Sonnenshein and Craig Salm of Grayscale Investments join the show. In this episode we discuss: Grayscale’s filing to convert GBTC to an ETF and their advocacy campaign. The comment process (details at: www.grayscale.com/comment) Reactions to the Biden Executive Order. Grayscale’s product lineup and the future of active vs. passive crypto products. The metaverse, NFTs and other areas of interest for crypto asset managers. To learn more about Grayscale visit www.grayscale.com

Matt and Nic return for more deals and news. In this episode:  Brink Nation is officially moving to GM.xyz Did blockchains 2.0 make fundamental scaling improvements? Is ESG over? Nic surrenders his eyeball sovereignty to Clear A secret trick to get through the Miami airport Bloomberg analysts think a spot ETF could be approved summer 2023... pending SEC developments Would the SEC have to gain control over crypto exchanges to approve an ETF? Florida will accept corporate taxes in BTC Terra is buying up to $10b in Bitcoin Will seigniorage shares stablecoins ever work? The USD is the unit of account for 99% of all stablecoins Are the Democrats fracturing along crypto lines? Russia mentions accepting Bitcoin for energy payments The NYT repeats the misleading per-transaction energy cost analysis Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Jon Birnbaum, COO of Domain Money, a new investment platform, joins the show. In this episode, we discuss: History and launch of Domain Money Jon’s path into fintech and then the digital asset industry Dimension of access to investing for the retail market Domain’s product offering across crypto and equities Developing new metrics to help consumers think through investing Learn about Domain Money here.