On The Brink with Castle Island

Latest Episodes:

Blake King (Galaxy Digital) on Mining, Transmission, and Curtailment (EP.362) Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

For another episode of the mining miniseries, Nic sits down with Blake King, power markets engineer at Galaxy Digital, for his second OTB appearance. In this episode:

Blake reacts to the White House OSTP report on crypto mining
Does mining actually reduce the incentive for utilities to build additional transmission?
How transmission building decisions get made
How are ERCOT planners taking the price of Bitcoin into account?
The merits of proactive transmission construction
Why the existence of strong property rights makes transmission much harder to build
Can Bitcoin be understood as the electrification of gold?
Is there really 17-25 GW worth of Bitcoin miners in the process of connecting to the Texas grid?
How should we think about interconnection and load queues
Why would ERCOT exaggerate the planned scale of Bitcoin mining in Texas?
Do miners using renewables "not count" because they displace other consumers of renewable energy?
Why Blake expects the $/MWh revenue for Bitcoin to continue to trend down over time
Are Bitcoin miners forcing grids into grid scarcity events?
Economic curtailment versus formal demand response
Are Bitcoiners overestimating the importance of demand response for miners?

Content mentioned in this episode:

Bitcoin Mining and the Grid, Part I and Part II
Part I of Blake King on the show: OTB 330
White House OSTP report on Bitcoin Mining

Intro and outro: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Weekly Roundup 10/13/22 (FASB accounting rules update, Warren's letter to Texas, Howey's orange groves) (EP.361) Oct 14, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Nic are back for another week of deals and news. In this episode:

What is XEN and why is it driving up ETH fees?
Bittrex settles with OFAC
SEC is investigating Yuga labs
Mango and Binance Smart Chain are hacked
The FASB settles on fair value accounting for cryptoassets
Warren writes a letter to Texas about mining
Coin Center is suing OFAC

Sponsor notes:

Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Rob Behnke (Halborn) on Public Blockchain Cybersecurity (EP.360) Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

Rob Behnke, co-founder and CEO of Halborn joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Rob's career journey in the cryptocurrency industry and the insights that led him to founding Halborn.
The 2017 ICO era and the security issues that plagued many projects.
How Halborn approaches engagements with DeFi ecosystem participants.
How centralized financial services companies are engaging with DeFi and how these firms think about cybersecurity.
How Rob and his co-founder Steven Walbroehl approached their Series A fundraising process.
Halborn's new suite of software products.

To learn more about Halborn visit halborn.com and follow Rob on Twitter

Jon Charbonneau (Delphi Digital) on Building for Censorship Resistance (EP.359) Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Ria sits down with Jon Charbonneau from Delphi Digital to discuss layers of potential censorship on Ethereum post merge and proposed solutions. We dive into:

The supply chain of block production
The importance of proposer builder separation
Options for avoiding de facto censorship by builders
The road to scaling Ethereum via danksharding
Comparing approaches to data availability

Further reading:

Jon on Substack, Censorship, What Do?

Follow Jon on Substack and on Twitter

Cover image meme credit: Jon on Twitter

Weekly Roundup 10/07/22 (Gensler's theatrics, tokenization picks up, MKR buys Treasuries) (EP.358) Oct 07, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

Kim Kardashian settles with the SEC
Gensler's promotional campaign ruffles feathers at the SEC
Was the SEC indirectly throwing shade at Jake Paul with their video?
Is Gensler cracking down on crypto as part of a bid for Treasury secretary?
Can the industry outlast the SEC?
CBOE signs on to Pyth
Hamilton Lane is tokenizing three funds
GoldenTree invests in Sushi
Should DAOs pursue an LLC wrapper?
Maker is buying Treasuries and IG debt
Should stablecoins pass along interest from treasuries to tokenholders?
Celsius executives cashed out prior to bankruptcy
Starry Night NFTs are on the move
Ark Invest partners to put their active strategies on the Eaglebrook platform

Sponsor notes:

Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Vivek Raman (BitOoda) on Second Order Effects of the Merge (EP.357) Oct 05, 2022

Show notes

Vivek Raman, Head of Proof of Stake at BitOoda joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Vivek's career journey from traditional financial services to the world of public blockchains.
Views on the impact of Ethereum's transition to proof of stake, including his perspective on the new financial products on the horizon.
The path of CeFi as it relates to DeFi and where Vivek sees overlap.
How BitOoda is working with bitcoin miners to manage risk.
The smart contract platform category and how Vivek stays current on the latest developments in the industry.

To learn more about BitOoda visit their website. Follow Vivek on Twitter.

Alexandra DaCosta and David Yi (Aspen Creek) on a New Model for Renewable Mining (EP.356) Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

Alexandra DaCosta (CEO) and David Yi (Chief Commercial Officer) join the show to talk about Aspen Creek Digital Corp.'s fundraise and their model for additive renewable mining. In this episode:

What was it like raising for a mining firm in this environment
David and Alexandra's backgrounds and how the came to cofound ACDC
Why ACDC is pursuing a 'power first' model and what that means
ACDC's wind, solar, and battery approach to energy
Why ACDC focuses on additional, new renewable generation
How mining behind the meter with renewable sources actually works
Why intermittency of wind and solar is not a dealbreaker for Bitcoin miners
The merits of going behind the meter for a Bitcoin miner
The importance of the Inflation Reduction Act for renewables
Industries are becoming more location agnostic overall
Are Bitcoin miners doing a sufficiently good job of disclosures around their energy mix?
What is the feasibility of batteries at grid scale?
Are Bitcoin miners interfering with the market signal indicating where transmission should be built?
How Aspen Creek pairs demand response with renewable incentivization
How Aspen Creek affects power prices paid by households

Aspen Creek's fundraise announcement
ACDigitalCorp website

Intro and outro music: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Weekly Roundup 09/30/22 (CFTC comes after Ooki/bZX, the Fed abandons CFTC ambitions, the convenience yield of stables) (EP.355) Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode:

What caused the Pound Sterling to sell off?
Deglobalization picks up
Stirrings of a sovereign debt crisis emerge
Explaining Deribit's insider-led down round
Can the market recover before Do Kwon, Machinsky, and 3AC are dealt with?
Celcius' Machinsky steps down
Brett Harrison leaves FTX US
7 states issue C&Ds against Nexo
The CFTC goes after Ooki DAO and DAO members
The CFTC serves Ooki through a chatbox and a forum post
How voting in a DAO can cause you to incur personal liability
Why putting a DAO in a 'legal wrapper' might make sense
The Fed will not pursue a digital dollar (for now)
The 'convenience yield' of holding a CFTC
OTB Bingo
Would it be good for Bitcoin to be flippened?

Sponsor notes:

Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Sergey Gorbunov (Axelar) on Blockchain Interoperability (EP.354) Sep 28, 2022

Show notes

Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder of Axelar joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Sergey's path to founding Axelar
His views on blockchain interoperability and the design decisions of Axelar
The different approaches to interoperability that are being attempted in the industry
Views on DeFi composability and the role of privacy on public blockchains
The L1/L2 landscape and how Axelar is positioned

To learn more about Axelar visit axelar.network/

Christine Kim (Galaxy Research) on the merge and what comes next (EP.353) Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Christine Kim from Galaxy Research joins us to discuss the Ethereum Merge and prospects for future protocol development: