On The Brink with Castle Island

Latest Episodes:

Weekly Roundup 03/04/22 (Sanctions chaos, Ukraine's crypto fundraiser, remonetizing gold, web3 geofencing) (EP.293) Mar 04, 2022

Show notes

Nic and Matt return for another wild week. In this episode:

OTB theme music controversy
Is Bitcoin a risk off asset
Ukraine raises crypto to fund the war effort
Why Ukrainians were better positioned to deal with a banking sector failure
The U.S. cuts Russia out of SWIFT (mostly)
Can the U.S. pull the SWIFT deplatforming again?
Will gold be remonetized?
Metamask, Infura, and Opensea are banned in Iran and Venezuela
Why the cost of running a full node matters
Can NFTs be securities?
Is Russia evading sanctions with crypto?
Powell's comment on multiple reserve currencies

Content mentioned:

JP Schnapper-Casteras in the New Atlanticist, Here's why crypto won't save the Kremlin from sanctions
Jon Sindreu in the WSJ, If Russian Currency Reserves Aren't Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock

Sponsor notes:

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Blake Masters on Inflation, CBDCs, and Setting a Pro-Crypto Agenda (EP.292) Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

We sit down with Blake Masters, COO at Thiel Capital, coauthor of Zero to One, and 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona.

Why Blake is running for Senate in Arizona
Blake's experience running Thiel Capital and what led him to politics today
Does Congress need more business expertise?
Where Blake falls on the spectrum of being pro vs anti crypto
Where Blake gets his info regarding the crypto industry
USA vs Chinese policy on Bitcoin
Should the US pursue a strategic Bitcoin reserve?
Does cryptocurrency impair the US' sanctions-making ability?
Will the government maintain its sanctions-making ability in perpetuity?
How crypto and Bitcoin could shore up the U.S. dollar
Can the Fed solve climate or racial equity issues?
Are the MMTers in power?
Is the U.S. facing a genuine risk of default?
Leftist explanations for inflation and why they are unsatisfying
Where the Covid-related stimulus payments warranted?
Dealing with Big Tech deplatforming and whether Section 230 is sufficient
Can decentralized internet applications compete with Big Tech platforms?
Are legislative solutions sufficient to Big Tech oligarchies?
Blake's view on stablecoins and how they should be regulated
Should the government be following China's lead on CBDCs?

Learn about Blake's platform.

Brandon Arvanaghi and Bryce Crawford (Meow) on Bringing DeFi yields to Institutions (EP.291) Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Meow CEO Brandon Arvanaghi and CTO Bryce Crawford join the show to cover crypto yields and how they make them accessible to corporate treasuries. In this episode:

The origins of the name
Bryce and Brandon's backgrounds
The purpose of getting access to crypto yields while staying in dollars
How Meow manages risks in DeFi protocols
Are crypto yields fundamentally mispriced?
Where crypto yields ultimately come from?
The risk free rate of crypto yields
The relationship between fragmented exchange environments and the cost of capital in crypto
Why smart contract risk differs between chains and its effect on yields
Why yields compressing will be a sign of the institutionalization of crypto
The emergence of undercollateralized lending on DeFi, and which protocols the Meow leadership is most excited about
Do DeFi yields face the risk from declining subsidies from token issuance
Why institutional tooling is still lacking in DeFi
The emergence of the crypto scene in Miami
Projections for the future of DeFi
Visions for the future of Meow

Sponsor notes:

Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io

Weekly Roundup 02/24/22 (Russia and SWIFT, DAO hacker identified, Trudeau backs down) (EP.290) Feb 25, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Nic return for another insane week of news and deals.

Russia invades Ukraine
Will Russia get kicked off SWIFT?
Are there alternatives to SWIFT?
Laura Shin identifies the alleged DAO hacker
Is Bitcoin's privacy fundamentally broken?
Chainalysis demixes Wasabi transactions
Was the DAO hacker even guilty of a crime?
Should blockchains be private at the base layer?
Wyoming introduces a state stablecoin
Miami grapples with the fallout of Miamicoin
Do turkeys hibernate?

Sponsor notes:

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Leo Lucisano (Decentral Park Capital) on Regulatory Predictions for 2022 (EP.289) Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

Leo Lucisano of Decentral Park Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Leo's regulatory predictions for 2022 and the beliefs that informed his blog post.
Views on how DeFi would evolve in the face of a harsher treatment from the SEC.
The emerging crypto lobby and how this will shape future elections and also policy.
Lending, derivatives and other financial products in a central and decentralized context.
How Decentral Park Capital is investing across the landscape.

To learn more about Decentral Park visit their website.

Bill Spence and Gregory Beard on The Real Story Behind Stronghold (EP.288) Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Co-chairman of Stronghold Digital Mining Bill Spence and CEO Gregory Beard join the show. Stronghold is a vertically integrated Bitcoin miner that uses waste coal to power their operations – while also remediating this environmentally damaging product. We dive into this fascinating, and counter-intuitive story. In this episode:

Backgrounds of the co-chairmen and how they found the intersection of Bitcoin mining and coal waste mitigation
Bill's personal commitment to the mitigation of coal waste
Why coal waste has been accumulating in PA since the late 1700s
The immense scale of the coal waste and how it continue to affect PA, even though mining no longer occurs
How unremediated coal waste can be understood as a form of class warfare
Why coal waste exists in the first place
Why developments in power plant technology meant that coal waste could be safely combusted
Why aboveground coal waste oxidizes and releases CO2 anyway - as well as other harmful particulates
Why growing grass over the coal waste doesn't solve the problem
Why 2 billion tons of coal waste can't just be moved into landfills
How there are 800 sites in PA and 70 of them are currently on fire
Why Stronghold is vertically integrated, and the advantage this grants them in mining Bitcoin
How Stronghold sends power to the grid in the case of a shortage
Has Stronghold evaluated other high energy intensity loads aside from just Bitcoin
Why Bitcoin is a more suitable load for their energy resources than others
How Bitcoin allows Stronghold to keep their power available at short notice
Stronghold's reaction to criticism in the press and from Washington
Why nothing had been done about the coal waste for 100 years before Stronghold came along Is the future of Bitcoin mining vertical integration?

Sponsor notes:

Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io

Weekly Roundup 02/18/22 (Canadian Truckers, BlockFi settles with SEC, CIV III) (EP.287) Feb 18, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Nic return for a huge week of news and a big CIV announcement. In this episode:

Matt scans the Coinbase QR code ad
The post-Superbowl backlash against crypto ads
Is there any hope for music NFTs
Castle Island announces a third fund
Binance buys a stake in Forbes
Is Circle a bet on interest rates?
Our thoughts on BlockFi's settlement with the SEC
Does the SEC's BlockFi settlement create a regulatory moat for larger lenders?
What happens to DeFi in the wake of the BlockFi settlement?
Canada weaponizes all financial services against truckers and donors
Miners are once again active in Inner Mongolia – with a catch
The etymology of tantalizing

Content mentioned in this episode:

Bloomberg, Castle Island announces Third Fund
CIV on Medium, Announcing Castle Island Ventures III
Hester Peirce, Statement on Settlement with BlockFi Lending LLC

Sponsor notes:

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

Intro and outro track credit: OmgKirby Genesis #326

Matthew Chaim (Songcamp) on collective creation with music NFTs (EP.286) Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

In our second episode in the web3 music mini-series, we spoke with Matthew Chaim, musician and founder of Songcamp and other projects at the intersection of music and web3. We cover how Matthew thinks about:

Helping artists gain control over their creative output
Collective creation and re-imagining the role of fans
Optimizing for resonance versus reach with music NFTs
Discoverability in music NFTs and ways to democratize curation

And much more. We also recommend reading Matthew's writing on these topics at chaim.mirror.xyz.

Intro and outro track: OmgKirby Genesis #326

Jared Nusinoff (Mash) on Remonetizing the Internet with Lightning (EP.285) Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Mash founder Jared Nusinoff joins the show to explain how internet monetization is broken and how lightning-based payments fixes it. In this episode:

Jared's professional history and how he came to work on Bitcoin
Going from an adventure guide to bitcoin
Jared's early entrepreneurial work
Jared's early history sharing music prior to torrents
Why Jared quite Google to found an adventure guide company
How Jared thinks of Bitcoin's MoE/SoV debate
Why internet monetization models are flawed today - and the missing middle
How the technology of payments online directly affects the quality of internet experiences
How Lightning uniquely solves the monetization of quality content online
Jared's view of Lightning's maturity and momentum as a payments infrastructure
How Lightning provides completely novel business models on the internet
How Mash could change the game for internet 'miniapps'

Get started on Mash here and follow Mash on Twitter.

Sponsor notes:

Compass Mining is the world's first and largest online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware, hosting, and ASIC reselling. Start mining your own bitcoin by visiting compassmining.io

Weekly Roundup 02/11/22 (Bitfinex hacked coins recovered, NY Fed attacks Stablecoins, Gofundme bans truckers) (EP.284) Feb 11, 2022

Show notes

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

Kraken brings back PoR
Bitfinex hack money launderers are arrested
The long history of Bitfinex, hacks, Recovery rights, Tether, and LEO
Who is entitled to the recovered BTC from the Bitfinex hack?
The NY Fed attacks stablecoins, and private banknote issuance
Ottawa truckers are banned from Gofundme
Are US Treasuries backing stablecoins stranded liquidity?
Why central bankers attack stablecoins to promote CBDCs

Content mentioned:

NY Fed, The Future of Payments is not Stablecoins

Sponsor notes:

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

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