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:

Matt Cutler (Blocknative) On Making Sense of Blockchain Mempools (EP.266) Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Matt Cutler, the founder and CEO of Blocknative joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Matt's entrepreneurial history and path to founding Blocknative
How he came to see blockchain transaction data as a big opportunity for his company
How blockchain mempools work and why they are important
The types of customers that are monitoring blockchain network data and how this data is actionable
Matt's views on blockchain scalability across L1s and Ethereum L2s
What is on the horizon for Blocknative

To learn more about Blocknative visit their website.

Sponsor notes:

This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.
This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto.

Weekly Roundup 12/03/21 (Square is now Block, Crypto Basel, Cowen's Regulatory Projections) (EP.265) Dec 03, 2021

Show notes

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

Art Basel is now a crypto event
Is the crypto industry culturally relevant?
Jack Dorsey leaves Twitter
Will Twitter become more censored
Square renames itself Block
Celcius CFO is arrested
Fidelity launches a Bitcoin ETF in Canada
David Marcus is leaving Facebook
Regulatory projections from Cowen
BadgerDAO hacked

Content mentioned:

Cowen's analysis of the regulatory headwinds in crypto

Sponsor notes:

This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime
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

Karim Helmy and Brandon Bailey (Galaxy Digital) on Standardizing Miner Accounting (EP.264) Nov 29, 2021

Show notes

Galaxy Digital Mining Associate Brandon Bailey and Research Associate Karim Helmy join the show to cover a new accounting methodology for Bitcoin miners. In this episode:

Galaxy's new miner margins accounting methodology
Brandon and Karim origin stories in mining
How the randomness-based miner fingerprinting works
How Karim thinks about miner depreciation schedules
Why the Bitcoin e-waste paper understates the expected lifetime of Bitcoin ASICs
S9s are still a quarter of the Bitcoin network
Why Karim and Brandon created the new accounting framework
The differences between marginal, direct, and total cost of production for BTC miners
Does the sell side capably cover Bitcoin miners?
What you would expect to see for marginal and total cost of production for established Bitcoin miners
Why miners focus on marginal cost rather than total in their storytelling
Major bottlenecks preventing the addition of new hardware
Why hashrate may not converge to price in the near term
Why the chip shortage advantages incumbents in Bitcoin mining
Why Kazakhstan is scaling back their Bitcoin mining
Why mining manufacturers do not get priority access to the best foundry capacity
Why established miners will be able to mine Bitcoin at favorable rates for the near and medium term
Why of the accounting identities Galaxy would prioritize when evaluating public mining companies
How Galaxy arrived at a 3 year depreciation period for the average mining unit
What advice Brandon and Karim would give you public market analysts evaluating mining companies

See the full write up and sample model here.

Sponsor notes:

This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto
OurCrowd analyzes companies across the global private market, selecting those with the greatest growth potential, then brings them to you. Get started at OurCrowd.com/otb

Weekly Roundup 11/26/21 (El Salvador's Bitcoin Bond, who we are thankful for, Big Poultry causing inflation?) (EP.263) Nov 26, 2021

Show notes

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

Coinbase acquires Breadwallet
El Salvador's Bitcoin City
Is El Salvador's Bitcoin Bond worth buying?
New merch on the website
Midwest tungsten releases a new shape
Is India banning crypto again?
Miners coming back online in China
The OCC, FDIC, and Fed will release cryptoasset guidance in 2022
Saule Omarova's nomination to run the OCC has fallen through
Jerome Powell will keep helming the Fed
Elizabeth Warren blames inflation on Big Poultry
ConstitutionDAO crashes and burns
Insider trading doesn't just apply to securities
Who we are thankful for

Merch: onthebrink.shop

Sponsor notes:

This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime
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

James McGinniss (David Energy) on Mining as a Load Resource (EP.262) Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

We sit down with James McGinniss, CEO and Cofounder of David Energy to talk about Bitcoin's role in the energy transition and how Bitcoin mining is a useful source of flexible load for increasingly renewable grids. In this episode:

The fundamental change happening in the US grid today
What distributed energy resources are and why they are important
Why DERs are catching on in California
Why bitcoin allows load to move to supply
Why better metering improves the prospects for demand response
How demand response works nationwide
Why there's a fundamental tradeoff between uptime and power prices
Why Bitcoin is the best demand response resource
The prospects for other location agnostic load resources
Do better batteries obsolete Bitcoin mining as a grid balancer?
How David Energy is working with Bitcoin miners
Why Bitcoin miners should trade mining uptime for cheaper power
Are grid operators designing programs for bitcoin miners?
Why there's a longer tail of energy assets that miners should take advantage of

Sponsor notes:

This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.
This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto.

Weekly Roundup 19/11/21 (Keep Innovation in America, ConstitutionDAO, Chaum's Quantum FUD) (EP.261) Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

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

ConstitutionDAO
Why you can't smelt tungsten
Breaking down the Keep Innovation in America Act
The SEC denies the Vaneck Bitcoin Trust
Crypto.com buys the naming rights to the Lakers arena
The US Marshalls are auctioning BTC seized from Bitconnect
Is Gerald Cotten deceased?
Load ze quantum FUD
Is David Chaum right about Bitcoin's quantum FUD?
What fraction of Bitcoins are quantum vulnerable?
Can stablecoins be rendered run-proof?
Sweden and Norway agitate against PoW
Why banning Bitcoin mining can be counter productive
What does the DAO do if they win the Constitution?

Content mentioned in this episode:

David Andolfatto, Run Proof Stablecoins
Derek Hsue and Larry Sukernik, I Pledge Allegiance

Sponsor notes:

This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime
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

Kevin Anetsberger (Midwest Tungsten) on the Midwest Tungsten Story (EP.260) Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

Nic and Sean sit down with Kevin Anetsberger, General Manager at Midwest Tungsten, to cover their journey as a business and their entry into the crypto industry In this episode:

The history of Midwest Tungsten
How Midwest got its start making metal steam
Industrial applications of tungsten
Tungsten's physical properties and how that makes it suitable for industrial applications
Military applications of tungsten
Where Midwest Tungsten sits in the supply chain
How Tungsten is actually refined and formed, given that it's impossible to smelt
The upper limits to tungsten formed objects, and where the constraints derive from
Why a 14 inch cube is actually the largest size Midwest can actually make
How Kevin came to work in the tungsten industry
Where is tungsten mined?
Have the supply chain disruptions affected Midwest Tungsten
How Midwest Tungsten resisted offshoring
Why Midwest Tungsten began selling collectibles
Who has bought the cubes historically
Was this the largest spike in demand for the tungsten cubes ever?
How the company came to accept Bitcoin and make the NFT
Is Midwest Tungsten holding the Bitcoin they have earned in cube sales?
Is tungsten safe to handle?
Where Kevin falls on the cube vs sphere debate
What is the optimal cube size?
Why Midwest chose to sell the cube NFT
Other metals that Kevin likes
What about Osmium?

Sponsor notes:

This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.
This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto.

Weekly Roundup 11/12/21 (Inflation hits 6.2%, Discord dithers on Web3, Is is really about the supply chain?) (EP.259) Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

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

Circle launches an early stage venture fund
SEC targets American CryptoFed DAO LLC
The SEC references Nic's paper on DeFi risks
Should DeFi teams be more aggressive in disclosing admin key risks?
What would a DeFi disclosure regime look like?
BlockFi files for a spot Bitcoin ETF
Bitwise withdraws its futures-based ETF
NYC mayor Eric Adams says NYC schools should teach about cryptocurrency
Miami will airdrop BTC to residents
Inflation prints at 6.2% annualized
Why the 'supply chain' explanation for inflation obscures the underlying dynamics
Is inflation really a supply chain issue?
Real interest rates are as low as they were in the 1970s
Why we have entered monetary repression
Discord dithers on Web3
BrinkDAO
Could tungsten rods in space improve on nuclear weapons?

Content mentioned in this episode:

SEC, Statement on DeFi Risks, Regulations, and Opportunities
Michael Greenwald, The Digital Asset Olympics
21Shares, Q3 Report
Nic Carter and Linda Jeng, DeFi Protocol Risks

Sponsor notes:

This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime
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

Brannin McBee (Core Weave) on moving from GPU mining to specialized compute (EP.258) Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

Core Weave cofounder and CSO Brannin McBee joins the show to talk GPU mining and high performance computation. In this episode:

Details on the Core Weave's latest fundraise
Core Weave's hybrid data center model which combines Ethereum mining and generalized computation
Transitioning from just crypto mining to the specialized compute market
Why the hyperscale cloud providers aren't always suitable for firms with specialized computation needs
The nature and size of Core Weave's GPU and CPU fleet
How Core Weave services clients in VFX and rendering, machine learning, and blockchain
Why Core Weave was able to build a generalizable computational fleet
Why the demand for VFX/rendering-based compute is accelerating
How film studios are going from capital intensive on-prem computation to outsourcing it to cloud providers
How Core Weave is able to achieve a high utilization rate for their GPUs
How Core Weave is working on open sourcing GPT-3
Why you can't access scale compute at conventional providers
How Core Weave is managing Ethereum's transition to Proof of Stake
When Brannin expects the final merge to occur
How the market for GPU mining will change over time
How NFTs are a new source of demand for large-scale compute
Core Weave's attitude to Ethereum development
Did Ethereum move away from some of its original principles?
How proof of work was a strong distributive force during the early days of Ethereum
Are miners less positively inclined towards the network now that their business model has an expiration date?
Brannin's attitude towards MEV today
Brannin's thoughts on Ethereum's security model as it moves towards PoS
Does the abundance of capital make PoS more vulnerable than PoW?
Why diseconomies of scale for electricity procurement protected PoW networks
Why rendering PoW 'synthetic' in PoS makes it easier to pull off an attack
How Core Weave pursues sustainability in their operations

Sponsor notes:

This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.
This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto.

Weekly Roundup 11/05/21 (Do stablecoins need bank charters, Mayors taking salaries in Bitcoin) (EP.257) Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

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

The President's Working Group report on Stablecoins comes out
Should stablecoins really require a bank charter?
Would a red wave in the midterms be good for the crypto industry
Two congressmen ask the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF
The TungstenDAO buys the Midwest Tungsten 14 inch cube
Where was the Neeraj kitchen photo taken
Tarantino is auctioning off uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will take his salary in Bitcoin
Tungsten's industrial uses
Should you count native tokens as an asset on your balance sheet?

Sponsor notes:

This show supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions. For more information see coinbase.com/prime
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

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