On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: USDC gains ground on USDT Stable liquidity is sticky Why fiat-backed stables are still more censor resistant than bank deposits Do stablecoins make L1s unforkable Will the emergence of crypto prime brokers pressure crypto yields? Voyager files for Chapter 11 Should investors also be clients of lending firms they invest in? Circle's origins as a spot crypto broker 3AC files for Chapter 15 Genesis confirms they had 3AC exposure and DCG absorbed the losses EU agrees on tentative MiCA regulation MiCA avoids the PoW ban Did the EU write model stablecoin regulation? The WSJ pushes back at Gary Gensler on the spot BTC ETF The SEC's double standard in metal ETFs versus a BTC ETF Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Dave Balter and Jim Myers, the founders of Flipside Crypto join the show. In this episode we discuss: The early insights that led to the launch of Flipside Crypto Current market conditions and how Dave compares that to the dot com era The proliferation of NFTs and how the SaaS market will change as a result of this technology How Flipside prioritizes new blockchains ShroomDK, Flipside's latest product release To learn more visit www.flipsidecrypto.xyz

Matt and Nic return for the news and deals in another tumultuous week. Matt is snubbed by Coin Metrics Nic gets sort of cancelled on Twitter by the Bitcoin hardliners Nic is not a Bitcoin Maximalist Is there a positive, non-maximalist vision of Bitcoin? BlockFi update Our case for wallet-based passwordless authentication CIV's 3AC takes from last week start to be independently confirmed What trade kicked off 3AC's issues? We reminisce over the stolen bike saga BVI and Singapore regulators act on 3AC Coinflex loses money on Roger Ver's BCH trades Matt's Roger Ver story Matt's prior Up In the Air career Grayscale's GBTC ETF application is denied Grayscale sues the SEC Compass mining leadership departs Solana launches a phone North Korean hackers allegedly hack the Harmony bridge for $100m Razzlekhan may have actually hacked Bitfinex The Crypto Queen is on the FBI most wanted Content mentioned: Nic on Medium, Setting the Record Straight Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Blake King, power markets engineer at Galaxy, formerly of Oak Ridge national lab and ERCOT, joins us to talk about how changing grids are accommodating an influx of load from Bitcoin miners. In this episode: Why the grid is undergoing a radical transformation today Blake's background in electrical engineering, power system modeling, and renewable development The origin of Blake's papers on bitcoin mining and the grid Bitcoiner misconceptions about mining? Why Bitcoin is not a battery Why you can't just arbitrarily add load to the grid Why Bitcoin mining does not generally increase energy prices during scarcity or peak load Why rational actors curtail or sell power during scarcity events Are grid planning models correctly estimating the risk of furloughing thermal generation? Is it possible to make the green energy transition as currently envisioned? Why renewable generation requires more transmission How renewable generation costs are increasingly upfront as compared to thermal generation Are bitcoiners overrating the importance of controllable load? Why Bitcoin miners may be over ambitious in terms of modeling ancillary service payments Are ancillary markets going to increase in size with more renewable generation? Economic demand response versus formal ancillary services Different types of ancillary services products Why load resources are able to bid out thermal generation in ancillary services markets How exactly Bitcoin miners get signals to curtail their load during scarcity events Does being a load resource imply 'voluntary' curtailment? Why miners owe it to the grid operator to be transparent in their breakeven price and operating plans How weather in Texas could affect block arrival times in Bitcoin Why the commodification of ASICs would increase the integration of the renewable energy sector and bitcoin mining Why ERCOT hit the pause button on the addition of new mining loads ERCOTs level of sophistication around Bitcoin mining Will miners toggle between Bitcoin, green hydrogen, and other location-agnostic uses of power? Do the economics of green hydrogen make sense relative to BTC mining? Content mentioned in this episode: Bitcoin Mining and the Grid, Part I and Part II Intro and outro used with permission: Ocarina #968

Matt Walsh sits down with BlockFi CEO Zac Prince to cover turmoil in the crypto lending markets and how BlockFi is handling the crisis. In this episode: Is the contagion among lenders over? Was Three Arrows excessive risk taking or fraudulent? BlockFi's relationship with Three Arrows Does BlockFi still have 3AC exposure? BlockFi's plan to maintain all of their products and keep them operational What differentiates BlockFi's risk management from Celsius Asset liability matching Duration management The duration of BlockFi's loans The structure of the interest account product and why withdrawal periods are up to 7 days Did regulation work to stem any of the risk in the crypto markets? Shift from a borrower's market to a lender's market The effect of capital destruction on interest rates in crypto Why crypto interest rates are going up BlockFi's deal with FTX How the crypto lending market will change Zac's message to BlockFi clients and to the industry Content mentioned in this episode BlockFi's risk management disclosures BlockFi fee schedule FT: Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows fails to meet lender margin calls

Matt and Nic return for a fiery episode of deals and news. In this episode: Is miner selling backed up by the on-chain data? Is Massachusetts open to pro-crypto legislation? FTX provides credit support to embattled crypto lenders Why private market transactions do not constitute bailouts in the pejorative sense Was 3 Arrows just a case of too much leverage and bad trades, or was it fraud? Does the 3AC situation stray into criminal territory? There were significant harms stemming from the 3AC scheme Kyle's infamous On The Brink appearance and his special request Did GBTC bring down 3AC? Are we entering the PvP era of crypto twitter? The story behind 3AC's yacht Solend requisitions user funds Wartime versus peacetime governance in DeFi South Korea puts a travel ban on Terraform labs employees DYDX is leaving Ethereum and moving to their own chain The relationship between lender balance sheets and GBTC Is there a case to be made for winding down GBTC? How to think about the GBTC trade today How the 3AC GBTC trade is like LTCM How to think about the "macro" Is the 'crypto hedge fund that also does VC' obsolete? Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

In this episode, host Ria sits down with the co-founders of Starkware, Eli Ben-Sasson and Uri Kolodny to discuss how the team is leveraging STARKs, or validity proofs, to unlock a magnitude increase in scalability. We discuss: The differences between Starkex and Starknet and how the two will converge Enabling functions and applications that cannot be built on monolithic layer 1s Why data availability is important to zk rollups and the trade offs of different approaches Simultaneously solving for computational integrity and inclusive accountability To learn more about Starkware, visit their website. Intro and outro used with permission: Collage #346 by Daniel Allan

Nic and Matt are back for a truly chaotic week in the markets. In this episode: Is DeFi's transparency a vice? We reconsider the need for a lender of last resort? We debrief on Consensus How will the Celsius situation resolve? Fidelity doubles down on digital assets Is the Fed trapped by inflation? Was the Celsius situation foreseeable? Where does the next marginal buyer come from? Another crypto lender goes down Class action lawsuit launched against Binance US Circle is launching Euro coin Bill Gates dances on our grave Content mentioned in this episode: All Falls Down, by Nic Carter and Allen Farrington [pdf] On Impossible Things Before Breakfast, by Nic Carter, Allen Farrington, and Ross Stevens Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Nic and Matt are back for news and deals of the week. In this episode: Greetings from a very hot Consensus in Austin Our takeaways from the Lummis/Gillibrand bill What the NY state mining moratorium means for miners The Central African Republic lays out its plans for Project Sango Custodia Bank is suing the Fed for sitting on their master account application Binance fires back at Reuters We break down a NY Times article on early bitcoin mining NYDFS issues new standards for NY-regulated stablecoins Were the inflation truthers correct about CPI metrics? Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

The original roundup cast return for a covid-stricken episode. In this roundup: The boys are laid low with Covid (again!) Nic recounts his visit to Norwegian parliament Nic recaps the Oslo Freedom Forum Are we on the brink of L2 summer? Former Opensea PM is arrested on wire fraud/insider trading charges Is there an insider trading standard for non-securities? Korean prosecutors summon all Terraform Labs staff Biden admin looks to lower the emissions footprint of Bitcoin Two ways for the US Government to lower the emissions of Bitcoin Does banning an asset make it worth less? Do we need net neutrality for power? OneRiver's ETF application is denied How the SEC can unlock $6b worth of value to Bitcoin investors Crypto firms settle in for winter Fidelity Digital Assets is doubling their headcount Nic's affiliate merch scandal Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter