On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic cover the top stories of the week. In this episode:  An update on our office plant River Financial raises a seed round, and our thesis on Bitcoin financial institutions Microsoft ION launches on mainnet Private keys as private property Wisdomtree's commodity ETF... feat. Bitcoin Another ICO bites the dust Former CFTC chairman Giancarlo says Ripple isn't a security XRP... was it created or discovered? What cryptodollars mean for utility tokens

David Nage, Principal and Head of Strategic Relations at Arca joins the show. In this episode we discuss: David’s experience in the family office channel and his path to the crypto industry His upcoming FO256 family office virtual conference on June 24th Podcasting and content creation as a complement to investing in the blockchain industry To learn more about David check out his Base Layer podcast and follow him @DavidJNage  

Ryan Rabaglia has had a colorful career trading forex, equity, and oil before making his way into the cryptocurrency markets. He's witnessed crypto develop from a niche, uninvestable curiosity to a liquid and financialized global asset. Now Managing Director and Global Head of Trading at OSL, one of the largest digital asset brokerages in the world, Ryan has a unique view of crypto markets. We invited Ryan on the show to talk his personal journey to crypto, how he established himself at a leading digital asset platform in Hong Kong, and of course his market color on the dollarization of crypto markets, and how Tether is understood and used in Asia. In this episode:  Ryan's journey from commodity trading to Bitcoin Ryan's explanation for Tether's explosive growth since March How funds play the Tether arbitrage game The compression of margins in OTC desks Where Tether's accumulated credibility derives from Whether there is a perception that Tether would resist regulators if it came to a fight Whether cryptodollars are forcing out BTC as reserve collateral How March 12 was a catalyst for the growth of Tether The growth of alternative use cases for Tether outside of inter-exchange settlement Why traders prefer dollars, regardless of jurisdiction Follow Ryan on Twitter. About OSL: OSL is an Asia-based digital asset brokerage that provides a global counterpart network with a suite of institutional products and services. OSL's capabilities include industry-leading over-the-counter trading with access to large pools of liquidity, systematic RFQ, exchange and custody services for institutions and professional investors. OSL is part of BC Group, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong. Learn more about OSL at osl.com.

Matt and Nic review the stories of the week, featuring special guest Christine Sandler, head of Sales and Marketing at Fidelity Digital assets. Christine joins the show to discuss Fidelity's newly-released survey of institutional investor attitudes on digital assets. We talk about what FDAS is up to, client enthusiasm for the asset class, and how institutions are thinking about it today. Also covered in the episode:  The Web3 dream – does it require blockchains? Bank Frick adds support for USDC Rebranding stablecoins to cryptodollars Bitcoin Billionaires is greenlit for a movie Other events in Bitcoin history which are movie worthy Three Arrows owns 6.26% of GBTC The fate of the GBTC 'premium trade' and the in-kind contribution Stephanie Kelton's NYT op-ed and unspoken constraints on MMT Coinbase is at a crossroads  

Mark Casady, cofounder and General Partner at Vestigo Ventures, and former Chairman and CEO of LPL Financial joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mark’s career in financial services and the path that led him to becoming CEO of the world’s largest independent broker-dealer The evolution of the financial advice industry Mark’s thesis on Fintech and founding Vestigo Ventures Blockchain and cryptoassets in the broader world of fintech To learn more about Vestigo Ventures visit their website, and follow Mark on Twitter @MSCasady

So far on the crypto-dollarization miniseries, we've covered Tether's stability mechanics, we've heard from traders and OTC desks using the asset, but we haven't heard from the issuers of the stablecoin itself. To give us insight into how they run the system, Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, joins the show. In this episode:  The factors behind the outflow of BTC and inflow of ETH to Bitfinex Fork futures for ETH 2.0? Bitfinex' policy on staking on behalf of users The principal-agent problem inherent in exchange staking Whether the growth of crypto dollars threatens native collateral like BTC and ETH Paolo's explanation for the growth of tether after March 12th 2020 The advantages of cryptodollars over the current financial system Why Tether opted to list on 7 different blockchains (note: this was recorded before Tether listed on OmiseGo) Paolo's view on the claims that Tether is clogging Ethereum How Tether Gold works Could Tether go from $9b to $100b – what the constraints to scaling are Tether's ability and willingness to surveil transations Tether's business model in a negative rate world How Paolo deals with the pressure of being the public figurehead for Tether Stay up to date on the growth of Tether's capitalization here.

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. In today's episode: Avanti Bank's raise and Wyoming's Special Purpose Depository Institution regulation GBTC eating up the new supply Bloomberg's commentary on Bitcoin Hester Pierce is re-nominated to the SEC The prospects for blockchain games The Section 230 debate, and how that intersects with Web3 Social media and digital property rights The continued normalization of Bitcoin as a global macro asset

Apolline Blandin, cryptocurrency research lead at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, joins the show. In this episode:  The Cambridge AltFin research agenda The motivation behind the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index How they determine Bitcoin's electricity consumption How Bitcoin's energy usage can be understood in context The genesis of their new geographical mining estimates Why high granularity estimates of mining location are so important to determine its energy mix How and why Bitcoin hashpower migrates on a seasonal basis Why there is so much spare hydro capacity in Sichuan and Yunnan Surprising country-level findings The most defensible academic approaches Apolline has seen so far Why the per-transaction cost estimates of Bitcoin are misleading The prospects for wind, solar, and natural gas for bitcoin mining

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry, featuring special guest Matt Hougan, global head of research at Bitwise. In today's episode: Tagomi is acquired by Coinbase Matt Hougan's response to Goldman's bearish note What wealth managers are saying about Bitcoin today Light at the end of the tunnel in the CSW saga? BitClave's punishing SEC settlement Calibra rebrands A new paper on Bitcoin Vaults

Dan Matuszewski, Principal and Co-Founder of CMS Holdings joins the show once again. Since he last appeared, the market has been through some gut-wrenching turmoil, and Tether (one of the subjects of the first episode) has tacked on a casual $5B in market cap. Dan, alongside his colleagues at CMS, has also joined the Crypto Twitter fray. In this episode: Why Dan relented and started a twitter account Dan's explanation for the massive growth of Tether since March Whether there is non-crypto business occuring in Tether What we can expect for the Tether-denominated futures markets if it trades below par How Dan thinks about using Tether on Omni versus Ethereum versus Tron What Dan makes of the rise in CME open interest