On The Brink with Castle Island

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**On The Brink with Castle Island**

Hosts Matt Walsh and Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures explore news and deals in the public blockchain space and talk to some of the leading experts in the industry. Learn more and stay up to date at CastleIsland.vc and follow on twitter @CastleIslandVC

Latest Episodes:

Brooke Pollack (Hutt Capital) on the Blockchain Fund of Funds Landscape (EP.342) Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

Brooke Pollack, the founder of Hutt Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Brooke's career journey and path to founding Hutt Capital
The events that led him to seeing that crypto/blockchain was going to be an industry with dedicated venture managers
The institutional limited partner landscape
The narratives that have captured the most institutional mindshare
Views on the optimal fund structure for crypto/blockchain managers
The DeFi landscape
Views on NFTs as a foundational building block for future businesses.

To learn more about Hutt Capital visit www.huttcapital.com and follow Brooke on Twitter

Weekly Roundup 08/19/22 (Treasury Activated Soft Fork, Coinbase vs Vitalik, do BTC miners censor?) (EP.341) Aug 19, 2022

Show notes

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

NYMag writes a long piece on 3AC
Is OTB a 'crypto fanboy podcast'?
Are we up against the nation state 'final boss'?
3AC boat name reveal
The Toyota Century rumors are true
Revelations about 3ACs FX days
Did 3AC actually owe the Mafia money?
The 3AC Deribit deal
A new 3AC supporter dials in to the show
Machinsky was trading Celsius customer deposits
The Galaxy BitGo acquisition falls through
Dragonchain settles with the SEC
Hodlnaut files for creditor protection
Genesis reorganization
Tornado cash developer arrested in Amsterdam
Are Bitcoin miners filtering transactions for OFAC?
Will Coinbase censor Ethereum at the protocol level?
Vitalik suggests slashing Ethereum if they comply with OFAC at the protocol level
Would Coinbase ever abandon their staking business?
The effect of MEV on the centralization of PoS vs PoW
End of the merge rally?

Content mentioned in this episode:

NYMag, Inside the Crash of Three Arrows Capital

Sponsor notes:

Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Uddhav Marwaha (Friktion Labs) on Building Durable Portfolios through DeFi (EP.340) Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Uddhav Marwaha, co-founder and CEO of Friktion Labs, joins us to discuss Friktion's approach to a full stack portfolio management platform in defi. We cover a plethora of topics, including:

The opacity surrounding defi yields and distinguishing fleeting opportunities from sustainable sources of income
Using options overwriting and basis strategies to generate more durable returns and provide portfolio protection across market conditions
In-housing core tooling such as Friktion's RFQ system (Channel RFQ) and an exotic options DEX (Entropy) to unlock time and cost efficiencies

Friktion's emphasis on demystifying complex products and deconstructing sources of risk and yield in crypto differentiate it from the pack. To complement the data and analytics within the application, the team frequently publishes research breaking down complex topics.

Weekly Roundup 08/12/22 (Tornado Cash OFAC'd, Dai reconsiders USDC, Merge scheduled) (EP.339) Aug 12, 2022

Show notes

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

Underwhelming Taproot adoption
Tornado Cash gets sanctioned by OFAC
Is Tornado a better mixer than coinjoin
Why the Tornado Cash sanctioning is the first of its kind
How much of the liquidity in Tornado Cash was illicit?
Are we at a turning point in financial privacy?
Why was Tornado Cash specifically targeted and not other mixers
Account-based versus UTXO systems and their effect on your ability to segregate funds
Can you really sanction a blockchain or smart contract?
The crypto wars of the 90s continue
Is Ethereum the biggest crypto platform for privacy today?
Is Dai at risk from USDC?
The Merge finally gets a launch date
BlackRock launches a Bitcoin spot trust

Sponsor notes:

Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Weekly Roundup 08/05/22 (BlackRock jumps in, CFTC oversight bill, ETH PoW forks?) (EP.338) Aug 05, 2022

Show notes

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

Is there any hope for ETH PoW forks?
Is Ethereum unforkeable?
More 3AC shenanigans of the week
The 3AC Toyota Century situation
The 3AC boys have some unexpected supporters
A bipartisan bill proposes giving the CFTC oversight over the spot market
What's up with the croissant diet
NYDFS fines Robinhood Crypto
Michael Saylor steps down from this CEO role at Microstrategy
The SEC charges 11 individuals involved in the Forsage ponzi
The other Nick Carter is in trouble for endorsing Safemoon
Another cross chain bridge is hacked
What happened with this Solana wallet hack?
Matt loses the tip of his finger
Coinbase partners up with Blackrock

Sponsor notes:

Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Weekly Roundup 07/29/22 (Physical NFTs, SEC investigates Coinbase, Stablecoin Legislation) (EP.337) Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

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

Damien Hirst's physical NFT project
Why you need a bridge between the physical and the digital world for certain NFTs
Why physical NFTs provide advantages to collectors and brands
Libra/Diem spawns Aptos and Sui
Coinbase is under SEC investigation
Pat Toomey criticizes the SEC
What is in the bipartisan stablecoin bill?
Squabbles over Voyager's Chapter 11 plan
The UK inches towards recognizing cryptocurrency as property
More 3AC shenanigans
How 3AC was and wasn't like LTCM
3AC liquidators will try to force cooperation
Tether reduces their commercial paper holdings
Matt starts a Tether conspiracy
Harmony mulls a post-hack bailout