On The Brink with Castle Island

Alex Thorn, the head of research at Galaxy Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Alex’s career path and the insights that led him to diving into the crypto space Perspectives on Dogecoin and whether this is an enduring phenomenon Considerations for Doge market infrastructure and the status of the network from a technical standpoint The state of the crypto venture market and how Alex sees this evolving To learn more about Galaxy Digital visit their website. Follow Alex on Twitter @Intangiblecoins Sponsor notes: Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.  

Nic and Matt are back for an insane week. In this episode:  Tom Brady is a Bitcoiner Elon betrays us Do virgin coins exist? Binance under investigation by the DOJ Bitwise launches the BITQ ETF Palantir thinks about buying Bitcoin Diem partners with Silvergate We break down Tether's questionable reserves 46 million Americans own BTC Elon's bad tweet New FUD dice just dropped The changing Bitcoin energy mix landscape Content mentioned in this episode:  Nic Carter in Coindesk, The Virgin Bitcoin Fallacy Nic on Bloomberg/What'd You Miss This episode supported by:  Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Katie Chase, the Chief Operating Officer of Coin Metrics joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Katie’s time leading blockchain initiatives at Fidelity and how the firm approached early R&D efforts Her point of view on the historical barriers to institutional adoption of cryptoassets and how that is changing How Coin Metrics is addressing the data needs of large financial institutions Why risk management is an overlooked area and how CM’s Farum product addresses the needs of exchanges and brokerages To learn more about Coin Metrics visit coinmetrics.io Sponsor notes: Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Nic and Matt return for another huge week of deals and news. In this episode:  The Chamber of Digital Commerce publishes a Proof of Reserve whitepaper Why Proof of Reserves matter Popular critiques of PoR Coin Metrics raises a Series B from Goldman Sachs Galaxy acquires BitGo How do you pronounce 3LAU? NYDIG brings Bitcoin to banks through FIS global NYDIG continues their ascent Paypal considers a stablecoin DCG commits to another GBTC repurchase NY state explores a Bitcoin mining moratorium Why a ban in NY would be counterproductive Could Ripple actually win their case against the SEC? New FUD dice are in Content mentioned in the episode:  The Chamber's PoR whitepaper Nic in the Harvard Business Review, How Much Energy does Bitcoin Actually Consume? This episode supported by:  Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Noah Buxton and Jeremy Nau from accounting firm Armanino LLP join the show once again to discuss the launch of the Chamber of Digital Commerce's new whitepaper on Proof of Reserves, which they contributed to. In this episode:  What was the purpose of the paper by the Chamber? What problems does it solve? History of PoR and Armanino When did Armanino first get into it? why? What's involved in a PoR? Why include an audit firm? Why exchanges are so reluctant to do PoR How trustless and fraud-proof is the process? what are the pitfalls? What are the prospects for protecting privacy in PoR? Other related engagements that Armanino is undertakin How do you expect the industry to respond to it? Different procedures that PoR refers to The semantic drift of PoR Armanino's PoR Taxonomy Why accounting firms have an important role in PoR

Nicholas Gregory, CEO of CommerceBlock, joins the show to talk about their new statechain implementation, Mercury. In this episode:  Origins of CommerceBlock Nicholas' prior career in martial arts Nicholas' underground MMA club in NY Did Roger Ver take the most expensive BJJ lesson ever? The purpose of CommerceBlock's Mainstay system The difference between OpenTimestamps and Mainstay How sidechains evolved from the original vision and where they are today What can Bitcoin learn from Ethereum? Nic's rundown of privacy-enhancing technologies Centralized mixers versus coinjoin versus statechains for privacy How statechains allows you to send a UTXO without an on-chain transaction Trust drawbacks and caveats in using statechains CommerceBlock's Mercury statechain implementation Statechains as virtual opendimes Synergies between statechains and Lightning Nicholas' thoughts on Bitcoin scalability Statechain timelines Sponsor notes: Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Matt and Nic return for deals of the week, joined for the first time by new member of CIV Ria Bhutoria. In this episode:  An update on Matt's Turkey problem Will Matt create OTB Turkey Jerky? Will Matt tase the Turkeys? Is monetizing stranded natural gas good for the environment? Elon 'proves Bitcoin's liquidity' Elon admits to having a personal Bitcoin position Nexon announces a $100m Bitcoin buy Is US Bank getting into Bitcoin custody? German regulators warn about Binance's equity tokens Do NFTs make sense for collectible card trading game studios? Genesis originates $20b worth of new loans Content mentioned in this episode Square and Ark Invest, Bitcoin is Key to an Abundant, Clean Energy Future [pdf] Fidelity and BBH, Applying Subcustody to Digital Assets This episode supported by:  Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Andrew Steinwold, the founder of Sfermion, an investment fund focused on investing in themes surrounding the metaverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Andrew’s journey in the cryptoasset industry and how we came to see the Metaverse as an investable theme How NFTs are a critical infrastructure component for the metaverse Views on the evolution of digital property rights How Andrew views investing in cryptocurrencies vs. NFTs vs. equity The companies that are best positioned to build the infrastructure for the metaverse To learn more about Andrew follow him on Twitter @AndrewSteinwold and subscribe to his newsletter, Zima Red.   Today’s episode is brought to you by: Aave: Aave is a decentralised, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi. Copper: Copper is the global provider of blockchain infrastructure solutions for institutional investors who are actively trading digital assets. Head over to www.copper.co/clear-loop to learn more.

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode:  43% capital gains taxes? Are decentralized storage networks reaching fruition Binance US hires ex-Comptroller Brian Brooks Matt's Turkey problem A Turkish exchange apparently exit scams Scott Minerd has a new target for Bitcoin Bernstein isn't worried about Bitcoin's energy consumption Ark Invest thinks Bitcoin is an incentive for renewables How much did Bitcoin hashrate really collapse? What did we learn from the Xinjiang shutdown? Why hashrate is hard to estimate Xinjiang is more renewable than you think Content mentioned in this episode:  Alliance Bernstein, Is Bitcoin ESG Friendly for Equity Investors? Square and Ark Invest, Bitcoin is Key to an Abundant, Clean Energy Future [pdf] This episode supported by:  Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Nick Neuman, the CEO of multisig software provider Casa, joins the show to discuss how to harden your Bitcoin custody setup. In this episode:  Nick's own journey to Bitcoin and to becoming CEO of Casa Casa's design philosophy The merits of native multisig on Bitcoin Casa's decision to stay Bitcoin-only Nick's experience raising capital as a Bitcoin-only startup Is it easier to be a Bitcoin-only startup today? How complicated is multisig? Why Casa recommends the usage of multiple brands of hardware wallets Why self-custody matters Nick's vision for the future and how private keys will power the decentralized web Nick's responses to common criticisms of Casa The purpose of Casa's new subaccounts feature Sponsor notes: Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.