On The Brink with Castle Island

Latest Episodes:

Hass McCook on Bitcoin's energy use in context (EP.216) May 24, 2021

Show notes

Hass McCook is a civil engineer who has been delivering estimates of Bitcoin's energy use and CO2 emissions since 2014, as well as alternatives like gold or finance. In this episode:

Hass's background in civil engineering and how it prepared him for the energy debate
The conflation between energy generation and electricity generation
Why you can't just generalize energy consumption to carbon emissions
Hass breaks down the varying carbon intensities of different sources of generation
How much energy goes to waste globally
The difference between CO2 and CO2e / greenhouse gases
Why today's US grid has lowered its carbon intensity over the last decade
Why combusting methane is a net good from an emissions perspective
Hass' level of optimism around flared gas mining
Why the changing rate of ASIC innovation affects bitcoin's energy consumption
The opportunity for stranded gas at landfills
Hass' estimates of the gold and the financial system's energy footprints
How gold mining actually works
The ecological and human cost of gold mining
Hass' thoughts on offsets

Sponsor notes:

Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ

Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Weekly Roundup 05/21/21(Taproot edges closer to activation, IRS demands reports for $10k txns, OCC reversal on Bitcoin?) (EP.215) May 21, 2021

Show notes

Matt and Nic are back for another volatile week. In this episode:

Nic's 72h fast
Nic explains the Moscow time joke on Bloomberg
Coinbase sells off
Our explanations for the selloff
Tax selling or Fed discussion of tapering?
Taproot edges towards activation
Eth monetary hardening - improving or impairing its monetary credibility?
IRS demands cash transaction reports for transactions over $10k
FinCEN doesn't inflation-index their reporting thresholds
OCC reviews Brian Brooks' rules
Will the new OCC be hostile to Bitcoin?
Tom Emmer asks accounting regulators to revisit their accounting treatment of digital assets
Elon suggests miners disclose their energy mix
Should miners buy carbon offsets?

Content mentioned in this episode:

Nic's appearance on Bloomberg
NyMag, Jack Dorsey Says Bitcoin Can Make the World Greener

This episode supported by:

Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Alex Thorn (Galaxy Digital) on Dogecoin and Monetizing Memes (EP.214) May 17, 2021

Show notes

Alex Thorn, the head of research at Galaxy Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Alex's career path and the insights that led him to diving into the crypto space
Perspectives on Dogecoin and whether this is an enduring phenomenon
Considerations for Doge market infrastructure and the status of the network from a technical standpoint
The state of the crypto venture market and how Alex sees this evolving

To learn more about Galaxy Digital visit their website. Follow Alex on Twitter @Intangiblecoins

Sponsor notes:

Weekly Roundup 05/14/21 (Tom Brady is a Bitcoiner, Elon betrays us, Tether's questionable reserves) (EP.213) May 14, 2021

Show notes

Nic and Matt are back for an insane week. In this episode:

Tom Brady is a Bitcoiner
Elon betrays us
Do virgin coins exist?
Binance under investigation by the DOJ
Bitwise launches the BITQ ETF
Palantir thinks about buying Bitcoin
Diem partners with Silvergate
We break down Tether's questionable reserves
46 million Americans own BTC
Elon's bad tweet
New FUD dice just dropped
The changing Bitcoin energy mix landscape

Content mentioned in this episode:

Nic Carter in Coindesk, The Virgin Bitcoin Fallacy
Nic on Bloomberg/What'd You Miss

This episode supported by:

Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Katie Chase on the maturation of cryptoasset data (EP.212) May 10, 2021

Show notes

Katie Chase, the Chief Operating Officer of Coin Metrics joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Katie's time leading blockchain initiatives at Fidelity and how the firm approached early R&D efforts
Her point of view on the historical barriers to institutional adoption of cryptoassets and how that is changing
How Coin Metrics is addressing the data needs of large financial institutions
Why risk management is an overlooked area and how CM's Farum product addresses the needs of exchanges and brokerages

To learn more about Coin Metrics visit coinmetrics.io

Sponsor notes:

Weekly Roundup 05/07/21 (PoR is back, NY considers a mining ban, NYDIG's FIS partnership) (EP.211) May 07, 2021

Show notes

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

The Chamber of Digital Commerce publishes a Proof of Reserve whitepaper
Why Proof of Reserves matter
Popular critiques of PoR
Coin Metrics raises a Series B from Goldman Sachs
Galaxy acquires BitGo
How do you pronounce 3LAU?
NYDIG brings Bitcoin to banks through FIS global
NYDIG continues their ascent
Paypal considers a stablecoin
DCG commits to another GBTC repurchase
NY state explores a Bitcoin mining moratorium
Why a ban in NY would be counterproductive
Could Ripple actually win their case against the SEC?
New FUD dice are in

Content mentioned in the episode:

The Chamber's PoR whitepaper
Nic in the Harvard Business Review, How Much Energy does Bitcoin Actually Consume?

This episode supported by:

Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Noah Buxton and Jeremy Nau (Armanino LLP) on the Proof of Reserve Restoration (EP.212) May 04, 2021

Show notes

Noah Buxton and Jeremy Nau from accounting firm Armanino LLP join the show once again to discuss the launch of the Chamber of Digital Commerce's new whitepaper on Proof of Reserves, which they contributed to. In this episode:

What was the purpose of the paper by the Chamber? What problems does it solve?
History of PoR and Armanino
When did Armanino first get into it? why?
What's involved in a PoR? Why include an audit firm?
Why exchanges are so reluctant to do PoR
How trustless and fraud-proof is the process? what are the pitfalls?
What are the prospects for protecting privacy in PoR?
Other related engagements that Armanino is undertakin
How do you expect the industry to respond to it?
Different procedures that PoR refers to
The semantic drift of PoR
Armanino's PoR Taxonomy
Why accounting firms have an important role in PoR

Nicholas Gregory (CommerceBlock) on statechains for scalability and privacy (EP.211) May 03, 2021

Show notes

Nicholas Gregory, CEO of CommerceBlock, joins the show to talk about their new statechain implementation, Mercury. In this episode:

Origins of CommerceBlock
Nicholas' prior career in martial arts
Nicholas' underground MMA club in NY
Did Roger Ver take the most expensive BJJ lesson ever?
The purpose of CommerceBlock's Mainstay system
The difference between OpenTimestamps and Mainstay
How sidechains evolved from the original vision and where they are today
What can Bitcoin learn from Ethereum?
Nic's rundown of privacy-enhancing technologies
Centralized mixers versus coinjoin versus statechains for privacy
How statechains allows you to send a UTXO without an on-chain transaction
Trust drawbacks and caveats in using statechains
CommerceBlock's Mercury statechain implementation
Statechains as virtual opendimes
Synergies between statechains and Lightning
Nicholas' thoughts on Bitcoin scalability
Statechain timelines

Sponsor notes:

Weekly Roundup 04/30/21(Matt's Turkey Jerky, Elon 'proves' Bitcoin liquidity, Nexon's BTC buy) (EP.210) Apr 30, 2021

Show notes

Matt and Nic return for deals of the week, joined for the first time by new member of CIV Ria Bhutoria. In this episode:

An update on Matt's Turkey problem
Will Matt create OTB Turkey Jerky?
Will Matt tase the Turkeys?
Is monetizing stranded natural gas good for the environment?
Elon 'proves Bitcoin's liquidity'
Elon admits to having a personal Bitcoin position
Nexon announces a $100m Bitcoin buy
Is US Bank getting into Bitcoin custody?
German regulators warn about Binance's equity tokens
Do NFTs make sense for collectible card trading game studios?
Genesis originates $20b worth of new loans

Content mentioned in this episode

Square and Ark Invest, Bitcoin is Key to an Abundant, Clean Energy Future [pdf]
Fidelity and BBH, Applying Subcustody to Digital Assets

This episode supported by:

Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Andrew Steinwold on Investing in the Metaverse (EP.210) Apr 26, 2021

Show notes

Andrew Steinwold, the founder of Sfermion, an investment fund focused on investing in themes surrounding the metaverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Andrew's journey in the cryptoasset industry and how we came to see the Metaverse as an investable theme
How NFTs are a critical infrastructure component for the metaverse
Views on the evolution of digital property rights
How Andrew views investing in cryptocurrencies vs. NFTs vs. equity
The companies that are best positioned to build the infrastructure for the metaverse

To learn more about Andrew follow him on Twitter @AndrewSteinwold and subscribe to his newsletter, Zima Red.

Today's episode is brought to you by:

Aave: Aave is a decentralised, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Copper: Copper is the global provider of blockchain infrastructure solutions for institutional investors who are actively trading digital assets. Head over to www.copper.co/clear-loop to learn more.

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