On The Brink with Castle Island

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Business
**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:

Nikos Andrikogiannopoulos (Metrika) on blockchain reliability (EP.256) Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

Nikos Andrikogiannopoulos. the founder of Metrika joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Nikos' journey to the blockchain industry and how we came to see the opportunity to found Metrika
How Metrika thinks about monitoring public blockchains for reliability and downtime
Perspectives on the common reasons that blockchains go down
Nikos's perspective on the use cases that are driving blockchain adoption
How Metrika prioritizes the blockchain networks that it covers

To learn more about Metrika visit their website.

Sponsor content:

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.
This show is supported by OurCrowd. Join the fastest growing venture capital investment community at OurCrowd.com/OTB

Weekly Roundup 10/29/21 (FATF publishes guidance, More Tungsten, Facebook is Meta) (EP.255) Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

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

The SEC wants to regulate stablecoins
El Salvador buys 420 BTC
River launches a mining product
Direxion wants to launch a short BTC ETF
The FATF guidance isn't as bad as we thought it might be
Facebook is now Meta
Is 'the metaverse' going to stick around?
We unretire China FUD

Content mentioned:

The NFT Tax Guide
Coin Center, The long-awaited FATF crypto guidance is not as bad as it could have been, but still flawed
Nic in Bitcoin Magazine with Shaun Connell, Miners Are the Optimal Buyers

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

Ray Cline and Shaun Connell (Lancium) on Stabilizing the Grid with Bitcoin Mining (EP.254) Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

Ray Cline, Lancium CTO, and Shaun Connell, EVP Power at Lancium, join the show. We cover the changing Texas grid, several models for renewable based mining, and how miners can serve as a controllable load. In this episode:

Personal backgrounds and crossing the threshold from energy to Bitcoin
Origins of Lancium
Features of Texas grid
Why Texas is so suitable for renewables
How Texas is the 'Saudi Arabia' of renewable generation
Why renewables grew so fast in Texas
Two reasons why prices reach negative prices
Three models for mining
- Grid connected with new gen miners
- Renewable colocation with new gen miners
- Off grid renewable colocation with old gen miners
How different ASIC vintages affect the power price you can tolerate for the units and what interruptibility they can deal with
ERCOT's surplus renewable power
How the Texas grid is splitting in half
How Bitcoin is a 'premium customer' for energy assets
Why miners depreciate their miners over 4-5 years, and not 1-2 years as Digiconomist claims
Are energy producers aware of the importance of Bitcoin mining as an alternative energy buyer?
Introduction to Demand Response
What a Controllable Load Resource is and how Bitcoin miners uniquely satisfy the requirements
History of Controllable Load in ERCOT
Why controllable load is so useful to grid operators
Why Bitcoin miners can be flexible load, and why other industrial consumers of energy cannot
Why the economics of operating an interruptible load as a miner make sense
Are other grid operators looking to build programs for BTC miners?
Do Bitcoin miners decarbonize the Texas grid in the final analysis?
Will Bitcoin mining improve the reliability of the grid?

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 10/22/21 (Proshares ETF launches, CBOE acquires ErisX, FB's Metaverse ambitions, Tungsten takes over) (EP.253) Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

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

CBOE acquires ErisX
FTX raises a monster round
Worldcoin launches with their eyeball scanner
The Proshares futures-based ETF goes live and sets a record
Why are futures-based ETFs expensive?
the Proshares ETF starts to max out its futures exposure
What will be the fate of GBTC?
Grayscale announces a $1b buyback of GBTC
Hester Peirce delivers another great talk
Tether settles with the CFTC
The academia-press complex
Diem launches a Novi stablecoin based on USDP
Why stablecoins are a frontier in the battle over financial privacy
Facebook leans hard into the metaverse
Tungsten takes over
Square makes ASICs
Why you shouldn't eat your tungsten cube
Will CMS intern be able to lift the 7 inch cube?

Content mentioned in this episode

Bloomberg, First Bitcoin ETF Is Already in Danger of Breaching a Limit on Futures Contracts
Hester Peirce speech at the Texas Blockchain Summit, Lawless in Austin

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

Tom Chippas (ErisX) and Chris Isaacson (CBOE) on CBOE's Acquisition of ErisX (EP.252) Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

Tom Chippas, the CEO of ErisX and Chris Isaacson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Cboe Global Markets join the show. In this episode we discuss:

CBOE's acquisition of ErisX
Details of the acquisition and the rationale for the deal
CBOE's current and future plans in the digital assets industry
The market structure implications for the broader digital assets ecosystem and why this combination provides for a catalyst for broader institutional adoption
Views on the regulatory landscape and how CBOE and ErisX are approaching the market
Future products that may be on the horizon
Broader views on the spot market, and discussion of Matt Trudeau's, "The Next Leg of The Crypto Trade"
The landscape for exchange traded digital asset products

NFTs as the gateway to mainstream adoption with Gmoney (EP.251) Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

We had the pleasure of hosting NFT collector, Gmoney, on the show. He is a former equities trader turned NFT collector, educator, and expert. In this episode, we unpack the community, stories, and experiences Gmoney has amassed during his time in the NFT space and discuss the following:

Gmoney's "aha" moment about the massive supercycle taking place in digital goods
The shift in ownership and value accrual from the hands of a few investors to everyone interacting with crypto networks
Gmoney's first NFT experience that allowed him to use NFTs as collateral for, what was at the time, the largest on-chain loan
The factors that Gmoney considers in evaluating and investing in NFTs (above all, community) and more

This was an enlightening discussion that really opened our eyes to the impact NFTs will have on the industry.

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.

Weekly Roundup (ETF chatter, Tungsten cubes, USA #1 in mining, insider airdropping) (EP.250) Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

Nic and Matt are back for our 250th episode! We discuss:

ETF chatter heats up
Where the Tungsten memes come from
Why tungsten is good
Coinbase launches an NFT platform
Ribbon airdrop controversy
How DeFi airdrops are like the McDonalds monopoly game
Does the token industry need a disclosure framework?
Miami plans to pay employees in Bitcoin
Stripe is getting back into crypto
Jamie Dimon wants to know how it ends at 21 million
China's hashrate goes to virtually 0
The USA is the center of hash
We retire an old FUD

Content mentioned:

Jump Capital, Stablecoins: The Impending Rise of a Multi-Trillion Dollar Market

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

Mark Coe (Intrinsic Edge) on Blockchain Public Equity Investing (EP.249) Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

Mark Coe, the founder and CIO of Intrinsic Edge Capital Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Mark's professional career and path to founding Intrinsic
How he came to see blockchain/crypto as an investable category
His personal journey on understanding the various blockchain thesis areas
How he thinks about the taxonomy of publicly traded companies in the blockchain space
How Intrinsic thinks about their research and investment process for long/short equity investing
The comparisons of blockchain technology to the early days of the internet

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.

Weekly Roundup 10/08/21 (How to offset emissions, SocGen's Maker play, Tether revelations) (EP.248) Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

Nic and Matt are back for more deals and news. In this episode:

Our podcast SNAFU
Can you wear a suit with sneakers
How to offset your Bitcoin emissions (without buying offsets)
Soc Gen asks Maker for a loan
Bloomberg's Tether bombshell
Are stablecoins like money market funds?

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
This show also supported by OurCrowd. Join the fastest growing venture capital investment community at OurCrowd.com/OTB

Esteban Castaño (TRM Labs) on Blockchain Forensics (EP.247) Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Esteban Castaño, the cofounder and CEO of TRM Labs, joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

The founding story of TRM Labs and the methodical approach the team took to finding product market fit
Esteban's perspectives on the NFT landscape and the growth potential in this category
How regulators and public sector clients are approaching blockchain forensics
How TRM is engaging with crypto native businesses and traditional financial services firms
Perspectives on building a remote first organization while maintaining a strong culture

To learn more about TRM Labs visit www.trmlabs.com

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.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

On The Brink with Castle Island

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected