On The Brink with Castle Island

Nic and Matt return with deals and news of the weak. In this episode:  Nic and Matt happen to buy the same book Nic's article on why the US should embrace stablecoins and credibly neutral crypto-financial infrastructure Our theory on why NYDFS went after Tether Can the US successfully disrupt itself as the administrator of financial infrastructure? Coinbase IPO prospects Coinshares adds transparency to their Bitcoin ETN and the prospects for Proofs of Reserves How Proofs of Reserves can ward off regulation Arca takes an activist stance towards Gnosis What recourse do jilted tokenholders have? Publicly traded energy companies are mining Bitcoin with stranded natural gas Matt's suggestion for a Bitcoin-themed sequel to Armageddon The single most impactful way you can help Bitcoin Nic's theory about the effect of a fee-transaction count oscillation on Ethereum How fees are a regressive tax on users Content mentioned in this episode:  Nic in Coindesk, The Crypto-dollar Surge and the American Opportunity Larry White in Alt-M, Should the US Government Create a Token-based Digital Dollar? Electronic Frontier Foundation, It's Past Time for Coinbase to Issue Transparency Reports Nic in Coindesk, The Last Word on Bitcoin's Energy Consumption Coin Center, Are Regulators Poised to Demand Cryptocurrency Address Whitelisting? Probably Not Tyler Winklevoss, The Case for $500k Bitcoin

Kyle Davies, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Kyle’s perspectives on layer one blockchain protocols and how smart contract platforms are evolving The decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, and where Kyle sees the biggest opportunities The blurring of the lines between centralized and decentralized finance platforms Learn more about Three Arrows Capital: https://www.threearrowscap.com/ Follow Kyle on Twitter @kyled116

Aditya Palepu and Frédéric Fortier, the cofounders of DerivaDEX, join the show to talk about DEXes and prospects for their future development, and to introduce their own project. In this episode:  How Adi and Fred chose to build a Dex Why traders tend to love Dexes despite their shortcomings Dexes versus noncustodial exchanges Adi and Fred's Dex taxonomy and where they fit into that How Derivadex plans to decentralize the operation of their orderbook Are today's AMM-style Dexes sufficient? How the Derivadex team is thinking about the shape of the liquidity mining distribution curve How the distribution curve actually affects which users end up owning a piece of the DAO Why Derivadex struck a more pragmatic approach than certain other Dexes – and how they're going after CeFi users Why the team opted for USDT as the default collateral type The lessons Derivadex took from the MakerDAO exploit Their approach to capitalizing an insurance fund For more, see this introduction to DerivaDEX.

Nic and Matt cover news and deals of the week. In this episode:  FTX acquires Blockfolio for $150m DCG announces a $100m investment in Foundry, a mining subsidiary Fidelity files with the SEC for a Bitcoin fund – and what this means for other asset managers Why large asset managers have not built products around Bitcoin just yet The INX situation explained Why security tokens might actually make sense The Boston Fed is evaluating 30 different blockchains for their digital dollar project Do exchanges owe depositors their forked coins? How will NYDFS react to the Wyoming SPDI? The Fed signals a more inflationary environment Can you use whisky as a SoV?

Zachary Kelman, managing partner at Kelman Law PLLC, joins the show to shed light on the FATF – it's origins and its current mandate – the travel rule, and what the industry can expect from these developments. Covered in this episode: Zach's prior career in bank compliance and how he decided to focus on Bitcoin How Zach noticed the blurring of lines between stopping crime and politics for bank AML Why overseas payments in the correspondent bank system are expensive What the Travel Rule actually means Why Zach thinks Bitcoin compares favorably with the default correspondent banking system Why banks freeze out certain sectors even without a specific ban or prohibition How Coins.ph moved the needle for financial inclusion in the Philippines The history of the FATF and its original mandate and intent Why the FATF's recommendation could possibly bifurcate the bitcoin market How the end of the Cold War might have influenced the creation of the FATF What Fukuyama's End of History has to do with financial crimes enforcement Will the decline of the US-led international order mean organizations like the FATF will have a reduced ability to police global finance Zach's thesis that western Europe might end up being a haven for the crypto industry How the FATF recommendations actually get enforced at the local level How the FATF black and graylists change bank behavior Why NYDFS has so much control over global finance How bank behavior in the US is often more norm based than couched in law Why a rise of nationalism could advantage Bitcoin  

Dick Bove, senior research analyst at Odeon Capital Group joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Dick’s 52 year career as a research analyst and his path to covering the banking sector The 2008 financial crisis, the measures that were taken, and how this has impacted the banking industry The future of dollar dominance and the rise of China on the geopolitical stage The role of cryptocurrency and the state of awareness in the institutional world Dick’s favorite books and his perspective on the research industry To learn more about Odeon Capital and to access Dick’s research visit www.odeoncap.com

Nic and Matt cover deals and the news of the week. In this episode:  Hawaii announces the Digital Currency Innovation Lab Wyoming's Senate nominee Cynthia Lummis is a Bitcoiner Why Bitcoin values are American values How Bitcoin is mutualistic with the US dollar Evidence that Tether is used for capital outflows from China Kraken creates Kraken Financial to pursue the SPDI in Wyoming Warren Buffett buys gold Our explanation of a new breed of ponzis Where DeFi is and is not compelling to us

Zac Prince, CEO and Founder of crypto lender BlockFi, joins the show once again to talk their recent growth and milestones. Today, BlockFi announced a $50m Series C round of financing, capitalizing on their recent growth. We dive into the fundraise, BlockFi's eye-popping growth, and what is driving interest in the crypto lending space today. In this episode:  Blockfi announces a $50m Series C fundraising round What it was like raising a Series C during covid BlockFi's insane traction and what is driving that growth Zac's big picture vision for the company as a global bank The growth that BlockFi has seen in stablecoins on the platform and the role they play What is really behind the high yields that BlockFi is able to offer The risk profile of lending BTC with BlockFi Zac's taxonomy of stablecoins BlockFi's plan for Tether – and why Zac decided to support it Zac's view of current institutional participation in the lending market How Zac thinks about DeFi and the rise of decentralized lending – and whether it competes with BlockFi What positions BlockFi is hiring for and who they would like to apply

Kyle Powers is the cofounder and CEO of LibertyPay, a Boston business that powers remittances to Brazil and Mexico – settling on Bitcoin, rather than traditional financial rails. LibertyPay has settled nine figures worth of value in its history – and most users never know their transactions are settling via Bitcoin. In this episode:  How LibertyX began with the cofounders standing beside a Bitcoin ATM in South Station in 2014 The origins of LibertyPay and how the cofounders realized that Bitcoin-based remittances were a viable product How LibertyPay determined the most viable channels for their Bitcoin remittance product Why Brazil is a goldilocks zone for Bitcoin-powered remittances In which domains Bitcoin-based remittances outmatch the traditional system Why LibertyPay uses Bitcoin as their bridge currency and not another asset Why obtaining banking in 2014 was such a challenge Whether there was a coordinated attempt to unbank crypto companies in 2014-15 Whether Kyle is optimistic about the future of digital cash Whether XRP will ever grow into its promise as a touted bridge currency Why Kyle views Bitcoin's base layer as more of SWIFT analogue rather than a payments network Why owning Bitcoin gives you exposure to all of its descendants, in the case of a dispute Why Bitcoiners should be excited about stablecoins

Coin Metrics network data product lead Lucas Nuzzi joins the show to help explain how to audit the supply of Ethereum – and other, even more challenging blockchains. Also covered in this episode:  Does the Winklevoss gold asteroid mining talking point have any merit? Are the Winklevii being ironic or sincere The Boston Fed is hiring crypto engineers Why DeFi tokens remind us of PoW launches from 2014 Why we need a new taxonomy for autonomous fair launched DeFi tokens Why DeFi might not herald a resurgence of the ICO phenomenon Microstrategy surprises to the upside Facebook focuses on payments ETH supplygate explained