On The Brink with Castle Island

Luxor COO and CPO Ethan Vera and Guzman Pintos join the show to talk about their relaunched data product, Hashrate Index and other trends in mining. In this episode:  The history of the firm Why Luxor created the hashrate index How Luxor gathers data on ASIC pricing and creates their time series charts ASIC pricing dynamics Are sell side analysts correctly pricing ASICs on the balance sheets of public miners? Why different efficiencies of miners have traded differently in the last 2 months How constraints on rack space affect the demand for older ASICs Why so many ASICs can’t leave China Is there still residual black market mining in China? Kazakhstan’s under-reported mining crackdown Are ASIC development cycles slowing? Are miners still front-running their clients with prop mining? Are Bitcoin miners trying to acquire Bitcoin or do they want to hedge their exposure Are derivatives becoming more popular among miners? The maturation of the Bitcoin mining derivatives market Why prior hashrate derivatives haven’t worked Multiple based analysis for public miners Why there is a ‘public market arbitrage’ for miners Why incentives exist for public miners to be highly acquisitive Do miners care about long term fee budget? 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 the last episode of 2021. In this episode:  Someone makes an unauthorized Nic NFT Microstrategy buys more BTC Blake Masters sells a political NFT Why do gamers and artists hate NFTs? We look back at our 2021 crystal ball predictions Best predictions of 2021 Our outlook for crypto policy in 2022 Our favorite OTB episodes of the year We look back at the Token Daily 2019 crystal ball predictions What it’s like to be in crypto for an entire decade Midterm implications for the crypto industry Our favorite OTB episodes of 2021 Content mentioned: Tokendaily, 2021 Crystal Ball  Sponsor notes:  Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting 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  

Gabe Frank and Robert Masiello, the founders of Arcade, a financial services platform for NFTs join the show. In this episode we discuss: Gabe and Robert’s origin stories in the crypto industry and the path that led them to founded Arcade The similarities in the market structures for bitcoin in the early years and NFTs today The role of MPC custody in the crypto markets How they think about the various L1 chains that will host NFTs The OTC trading landscape for NFTs Peer to peer vs. peer to pool NFT lending models How the lending market will evolve with great data / pricing functionality The product roadmap for Arcade over the next year   To learn more about Arcade visit their website. Sponsor notes: This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.  

Matt and Nic return for a festive Christmas eve roundup. In this episode:  Reevaluating our intro song Jack Dorsey’s web3 beef What’s on our Christmas list Is PoW inherently high-fee? We steelman the Jack Dorsey and the pro web3 arguments Is there a paradox in web3? We advance a model of tapered token issuance for web3 The downsides of token issuance to early adopters Is Liz Warren right about corporate greed causing inflation? Radioshake releases a defi token Is Bitcoin ownership too concentrated? Bitcoin is dispersing while equities are concentrating Will there be a revolt among the staffers at the SEC? Content mentioned:  Nic Carter and Lucas Nuzzi in Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin's Proof of Work is Well Worth its Fees Paul Vigna in WSJ, Bitcoin’s ‘One Percent’ Controls Lion’s Share of the Cryptocurrency’s Wealth Sponsor notes:  Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto  

Anders Larson, head of strategic finance at U.S. Bitcoin Corp, joins us to talk about how miners make decisions and allocate capital. In this episode:  The Wharton class of 2018 Are Bitcoin miners clogging up the chip supply chain? Why Bitcoin miners are 'tier 2' customers at foundries The scale of US BTC operations in terms of hashrate Why US BTC has been so quiet historically How US BTC targets renewable energy Which renewables are easiest to find Is there any truth to the story of Bitcoin improving the economics of renewables? Why ASIC depreciation is slowing, and how that affects the viability of different energy sources The relationship between Bitcoin's carbon intensity and ASIC depreciation period Can ASICs last for 5 years? How does US BTC think about uptime on their units? Why lower uptime means that you have cheaper power due to demand response How US BTC thinks about hashrate growth and why they are more conservative than their competitors Why Chinese hashrate is not completely eliminated The state of affairs in Kazakhstan How Anders thinks about political risk in mining How policy logic informs selective mining bans and mining subsidies How Anders sees miners vertically integrating with energy firms How Anders thinks about proposed state bitcoin mining bans in places like NY Why mining bans in the West are often counterproductive The relationship between energy consumption and civilizational progress How Anders thinks about the energy cost debate Whether the CBECI hashrate distribution estimates are reliable Why the US having a large share of hashrate isn't something to be concerned about How mining could become a states rights issue Does US BTC project fee growth in their models? 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 This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  A glitch in the CoinMarketCap data feed causes disturbances in the crypto industry  AscendEX is  hacked last week to the tune of $77 million Coinbase urges the SEC to approve NYSE Arca’s application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund  Bitwise launches a blue-chip NFT fund A bipartisan group of Senators write a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the crypto provisions in the infra bill The Myanmar government in exile official adopts Tether, while the Junta government de-dollarizes  Matt takes the giving pledge The Open Markets Institute spreads a lot of FUD Can the boys lift a 230 pound tungsten cube?  Sponsor notes: This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting

Alex Wilson, co-founder and CEO of The Giving Block joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Alex’s path in the blockchain space, from consulting to founding The Giving Block The landscape of charitable giving, and how the company is assisting charitable organizations The pain points that charities face when accepting donations Perspectives from the donor’s perspective and why donating cryptocurrency is so compelling How the company came to launch its campaigns To learn more about The Giving Block visit their website or follow the company on Twitter. Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto  

Matt and Nic return for deals and news of the week. In this episode:  Are cubes a suitable holiday gift? Best crypto Xmas gifts Bitcoin purchases we regret The House Financial Services committee holds a hearing Our Congressional hearing MVP Brian Brooks' evolution SBF kicks off shoegate Takeaways from the House hearing EOS holders reject a payment to Block One Block One's weird pivot to Bitcoin Greyscale says 26% of American adults own Bitcoin Governance difficulties in Dfinity Will SWIFT survive American sanctions on Russia Impenetrable Sushiswap drama Those landfill Bitcoins are still lost Content mentioned:  Brian Brooks' testimony before the House Financial Services Committee The Economist, The Explosion in Stablecoins Revives a Debate around 'Free Banking' WSJ, Crypto, NFTs and Tungsten Cubes: A Guide to Giving Cash in 2021 Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting

Matt Cutler, the founder and CEO of Blocknative joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matt’s entrepreneurial history and path to founding Blocknative How he came to see blockchain transaction data as a big opportunity for his company How blockchain mempools work and why they are important The types of customers that are monitoring blockchain network data and how this data is actionable Matt’s views on blockchain scalability across L1s and Ethereum L2s What is on the horizon for Blocknative To learn more about Blocknative visit their website. Sponsor notes:  This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up. This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto.        

Matt and Nic return for deals and news. In this episode:  Art Basel is now a crypto event Is the crypto industry culturally relevant? Jack Dorsey leaves Twitter Will Twitter become more censored Square renames itself Block Celcius CFO is arrested Fidelity launches a Bitcoin ETF in Canada David Marcus is leaving Facebook Regulatory projections from Cowen BadgerDAO hacked Content mentioned:  Cowen's analysis of the regulatory headwinds in crypto Sponsor notes:  This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It’s secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting