On The Brink with Castle Island

Latest Episodes:

Jeremy Welch (Kraken) on Contemporary Proofs of Reserve (EP.283) Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Kraken chief product officer Jeremy Welch joins the show to cover Kraken's newly announced Proof of Reserve procedure. In this episode:

Why bring back PoR?
What distinguishes today's proof of reserve from the procedure Kraken undertook back in 2015
Why haven't exchanges done PoR historically?
What Kraken's PoR actually proves to depositors
The role of Armanino in Kraken's PoR
What happens when a depositor verifies their PoR
How Kraken protects user privacy in PoR
The trustlessness of the PoR procedure
What regulators can gain from a PoR
How Kraken clients can benefit from PoR
How Jeremy expects other exchanges to react

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

See more on Kraken's PoR here

Weekly Roundup 02/04/22 (Wormhole hack, PoR is back, Boston Fed pilots a CBDC, TX miners shut down) (EP.282) Feb 04, 2022

Show notes

Tom Brady retires to focus on NFTs
Was Satoshi interested in altcoins?
Our thoughts on startups raising 69.420m
The Solana-Ethereum bridge is hacked for over $300m– and then bailed out by Jump Capital
Was Vitalik's warning about cross-chain interoperability prophetic?
Is the cross-chain vision dead?
Kraken revives their Proof of Reserve – after 7 years
Why do exchanges avoid Proof of Reserves?
Bitcoin developers at the MIT DCI are building the Boston Fed's CBDC pilot program
How whaling was the predecessor to venture capital
Gamestop launches an NFT marketplace

Content mentioned in this episode:

MIT News, MIT experts test technical research for a hypothetical central bank digital currency
Bloomberg, Biggest Texas Bitcoin Miner Shuts Down Ahead of Cold Blast
Bloomberg Quicktake, This State is Becoming America's Crypto Capital
Kraken, Proof of Reserves

Sponsor notes:

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

Cherie Hu (Water & Music) on the evolving role of web3 in music (EP.281) Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

In the first episode in our web3 music series, Cherie Hu, founder of Water & Music, sits down with Ria to talk about transitioning Water & Music into a research DAO and Cherie's thoughts on the growing interest of musicians in crypto. We discuss:

How Cherie found a niche covering the intersection of music, technology, and now web3
The decision to formalize the Water & Music community into a research DAO harnessing the wisdom of the crowds
The shortcomings of early experiments with music and crypto and how the recent approach differs
The salient macro factors contributing to enthusiasm and experimentation with music NFTs, DAOs, and social tokens
The pushback against music NFTs by skeptical fans and artists

Paul Sztorc (Drivechain) on Bitcoin Security Budget and the Importance Merge Mining (EP.280) Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Veteran Bitcoin commentator and inventor of Drivechains Paul Sztorc joins the show to talk Bitcoin's sustainability and the role of merged mined side chains. In this episode:

Why Paul is the 'Steely Dan' of Bitcoin
Revisiting 'Measuring decentralization'
Revisiting Paul's argument on Proof of Stake being veiled PoW
Why you should roll your own statistics
Concentration of power in miners and mining pools
Is PoW worthless if it isn't challenged?
How Bitcoin energy FUD is based on neo-malthusianism
The Julian Simon / Paul Ehrlich wager
Why none of our resources are finite
How climate change diplomacy is neo-colonial
Why and when innovation happens
Why Paul is a critic of Bitcoin development culture
Paul's critique of Stock to Flow
Why Bitcoin culture is static
Why Bitcoin needs more satire
Bitcoin fees are 80-100x less than those of Ethereum
Why BTC fees are not sustainably high
Why Bitcoin fees and security budget need to grow over time
Can you just wait for more confirmations if security spend declines
Are fees destined to be effectively 0 through the creation of more blockspace?
The history of Drivechains /BIP300
Does merge mining make it more expensive to run a node?
Do we know how to upgrade Bitcoin Core today?
The relevance of sidechains and merge mining to Bitcoin today
Was Satoshi into altcoins?
Would more sidechain development have inhibited the growth of Ethereum?
Does BIP300 solve the problem of the Bitcoin security budget?
Why you can't reduce blockspace to increase security budget?
Update on Drivechains

Content mentioned in this episode:

Truthcoin, Security Budget in the Long Run
Truthcoin, Security Budget II, Low Fees, and Merged Mining
Truthcoin, Measuring Decentralization
Truthcoin, Nothing is Cheaper than Proof of Work
All about Drivechains/ Bip300/301

Sponsor notes:

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

Weekly Roundup 01/28/22 (Putin warms to Bitcoin mining, Wonderland's Quadriga connection, Libra/Diem shutters) (EP.279) Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

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

Fidelity's Wise Origin spot Bitcoin ETF is denied
Putin walks back the central bank ban on mining
NY isn't processing BitLicense applications
Facebook is selling their IP being Diem/Libra to Silvergate
Ripple buys out their Series C Investors
Google's cloud division makes a blockchain push
A DeFi protocol founder is revealed to be a former Quadriga executive
Are anonymous developers the future?
Ark comes out with their Big Ideas for 2022

Content mentioned:

Ark's Big Ideas 2022
Bloomberg, Putin Backs Crypto Mining Despite Bank of Russia's Hard Line

Sponsor notes:

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

Chris King (Eaglebrook Advisors) on Digital Assets and the RIA Industry (EP.278) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Chris King, Founder & CEO of Eaglebrook Advisors, a digital assets SMA platform, join the show. In this episode, we discuss:

Eaglebrook's Series A announcement
Chris' path into the digital assets space and the origins of Eaglebrook Advisors
Crypto penetration in the RIA and asset management space
Inflection points in the market over the last couple years that have put a spotlight on solutions for RIAs and asset managers
Key parts of the SMA solution that offer advantages for end clients
Eaglebrook's new product launches in 2022

To learn more about Eaglebrook visit their website.

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

Will Peck (WisdomTree) on Crypto Asset Management (EP.280) Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

Will Peck, the head of digital asset at WisdomTree joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Will's path to WisdomTree and how the firm began researching digital assets
How WisdomTree is approaching exchange traded products in the public blockchain ecosystem
Views on the Bitcoin futures ETF products vs. the proposed spot products
Views on the various Bitcoin ETF proposals and the prospects of an SEC approval in 2022
Views on tokenization of investment products
How 'legacy' asset management firms will face increased competition from digital asset early adopters

To learn more about WisdomTree visit their website.

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 01/21/22 (Congressional PoW hearing, Walmart's Metaverse, Twitter NFTs) (EP.279) Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

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

We cover the witness selection for the House energy hearing on Bitcoin mining
The SEC goes to war with its employee union
The SEC rejects the Skybridge Bitcoin ETF proposal
GBTC is trading at a 30% discount
Walmart is building its own metaverse
Twitter rolls out NFT avis
Crypto dot com's ad copy
We correct the record on Ari Juels' Congresional testimony on PoW

Content mentioned in this episode:

Ari Juels' congressional testimony
The House Energy Committee's memo on Bitcoin mining
The House Hearing 'Cleaning up Cryptocurrency'

Sponsor notes:

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

Daniel Roberts (Iris Energy) on Sustainable Bitcoin Mining (EP.278) Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

In this latest installment of the mining miniseries, Iris Energy cofounder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts joins us to talk through their approach to mining. In this episode:

How Dan came to work in mining
Backgrounds of the Iris executive team
Which thinkers influenced Dan in his Bitcoin journey
Why Iris focuses on sustainable energy and on only entering energy markets where they will not drive prices up for households
How Iris chooses geographies to operate
How Iris found abundant underutilized power in British Columbia
Why Iris' entry to British Columbia actually drives down energy prices for regular households
Why Bitcoin mining has better location agnosticism than aluminum smelting or hydrogen production
How Bitcoin miners are more flexible loads than other datacenters
How Iris is geographically diversified in Canada, Texas, and Australia, and why geographic diversification is so important
How flexibility from Bitcoin mining replaces peaker plants burning fossil fuels
Why the oversupply of power is an issue for many power markets
Are Western miners being sufficiently responsible in finding low carbon energy sources
How Dan thinks about political risk at the state level
Can the world accommodate Bitcoin's power consumption growth if the price goes up tenfold?
What plateauing efficiency gains for ASICs means for Iris
Why Iris doesn't see itself as a pseudo Bitcoin ETF and does not seek to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet

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 01/14/22 (Crypto-dollarization in Turkey, Dorsey's Bitcoin Legal Defense fund, Banning CBDCs) (EP.277) Jan 14, 2022

Show notes

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

Matt loses the podcast audio
New Turkey drama
Rep Emmer introduces a bill banning a retail focused CBDC
Nic releases a song with Gramatik
The story behind the Scribbler song
We investigate Fan Controlled Football
Paypal looks to build a stablecoin
Several banks issue the USDF stablecoin
Crypto-dollarization in Turkey
Why dollarization fails
Jack Dorsey starts a Bitcoin developer legal defense fund
Justin Sun is a Grenadan diplomat

Content mentioned

Nic's song with Gramatik, Just a Scribbler
WSJ, Turks Pile Into Bitcoin and Tether to Escape Plunging Lira

Sponsor notes:

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com
Corporations and institutions can allocate cash into Circle Yield to gain crypto lending exposure and earn superior returns compared to traditional markets. It's secured, overcollateralized and built on the leading dollar digital currency. Visit circle.com/yield to book a meeting