On The Brink with Castle Island

Latest Episodes:

Weekly Roundup 11/20/20 (Claytons leave the SEC, the not so quiet Quiet Rally, Bitcoin interest rates) (EP.149) Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

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

Nic's appearance on Bloomberg TV
Is Jay Clayton's departure good for the SEC?
Our dark horse pick for SEC Chair
Scaramucci's fund considers a Bitcoin position
Is Binance decentralized?
How are enterprise blockchains still going?
How Bitcoin is akin to gold in the 1970s
Bitcoin's changing narratives as a strength
How our quiet rally isn't quiet
How to interpret the BTC inflow into GBTC
Why digital asset interest rates are structurally high

Sponsor notes:

Withum is a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory and accounting firm committed to helping our clients be more profitable, efficient and productive in today's complex business environment. Our Digital Currency group is proud to partner with members of the cryptocurrency community. Get to know us at withum.com/crypto.

Sponsor notes:

Parker Lewis (Unchained Capital) on unlocking Bitcoin's potential with multisig (EP.148) Nov 16, 2020

Show notes

Parker Lewis, head of Business Development at Unchained Capital, and author of the Gradually then Suddenly series, joins the show. In this episode:

Parker's progress in our Bitcoin fantasy league
Our views on how Bitcoin gives purpose
Bitcoin's relationship to the prospects for fiscal spending
How the virus may have been an excuse to extend the fragile credit system
Why Covid-related spending is often framed in moral, rather than economic terms
How Bitcoin eschews academic debates
Unchained's mission and current product focus
Why on-chain multisig is such a good blend of resilience and convenience
What multisig enables in terms of bitcoin applications
What credit in a Bitcoin economy looks like
Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset and how Unchained is building for that future
Why Bitcoin custody is fundamentally hard
Parker's feelings on avowed Bitcoiner Cynthia Lummis being elected to the Senate
How Bitcoin aligns with American values
Parker's favorite piece in his Gradually then Suddenly series

Weekly Roundup 11/13/20 (Cred insolvency, Zelleification in Venezuela, Can Bitcoin be 6102'ed?) (Ep.147) Nov 13, 2020

Show notes

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

Cred files for bankruptcy
Why Bitcoin banking is uniquely robust
Why we should not be discouraged by the occasional failure of Bitcoin banks
The ECB looks to create a CBDC within 2-4 years
Gary Gensler's influence on the Biden administration
XRP's fate hangs in the balance
Stephen Lynch's letter to Brian Brooks criticizing his stance on crypto
Zelle's influence in Venezuela and the reality of crypto-dollarization
Why crypto-dollarization is more sustainable than physical dollarization
Our response to Ray Dalio's critiques of Bitcoin
Why Bitcoin can't be 'Order 6102'ed' today
Valid and less valid critiques of Bitcoin

Content mentioned in this episode:

Nic Carter in Coindesk, The Case for Bitcoin Banking (Despite Cred's Bankruptcy)
Coindesk, US Representatives Rip OCC, Brooks for 'Excessive Focus' on Crypto
Coindesk, Canada Tax Collector Seeks to Force Crypto Exchange Coinsquare to Fork Over Client Records
Bloomberg, Zelle Has Turned Dollar-Starved Venezuela Into a Cashless Test Lab

Alan Lane (Silvergate) on banking the cryptoasset industry (EP.146) Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

Alan Lane, the CEO of Silvergate Financial joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

How Silvergate came to bank blockchain companies.
The challenges and opportunities in providing services in this fast growing market.
Silvergate Exchange Network – how this product is driving growth and solving customer pain points.
Alan's perspectives on stablecoins and how Silvergate plans to play in this area.
Views on the long-term opportunities for digital asset custody and lending.

To learn more about Silvergate visit their website.

Sponsor notes:

Weekly Roundup 11/06/20 (Blockchain voting, a $1B Bitcoin forfeiture, election outcomes and inflation) (EP.145) Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

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

The latest on Matt's bike saga
Possible election outcomes and the prospect for inflation
How Kelly Loeffer's runoff election might affect Bitcoin
Were prediction markets vindicated by the election?
The government seizes $1b worth of Bitcoin
Why the seized bitcoin is good news
Our take on the big Blockchain Voting Debate
Our explanation for why people are curious about blockchains for voting
Longtime Bitcoin holder Cynthia Lummis joins the Senate
Decentralized storage tech is reaching geopolitical levels of importance
Why Bitcoin's demand in 2020 might be more enduring than the demand in 2017

Content mentioned in this episode:

Matthew Green on blockchain voting
Benlog, Blockchain and Voting
The USA v 1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbh

Sponsor notes:

Josh Cincinnati on the challenge of blockchain governance (EP.144) Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

Josh Cincinnati, former Executive Director of the Zcash Foundation, joins the show to talk about his tenure at that organization, and lessons he's taken from the experience. In this episode:

The genesis of the Zcash Foundation
Prior foundation mistakes that Josh sought to avoid
The difference between governing a non-cryptocurrency FOSS project and an open source protocol with an explicit monetary element
Why Josh chose to step down from the Zcash Foundation
How the monetary distribution of Zcash was initially devised and how the founder's reward became a developer fund
The dynamics around the trademark sharing in Zcash
Trademarks as a last resort tool of power in blockchain governance
How public blockchains are 'Marxist in their goals, Leninist in their implementations'
How the mandate of the Zcash Foundation was broader than simply the Zcash ecosystem
The current outlook for funding Zcash development
The subtle change in the social contract underlying development funding
Why poorly formalized social contracts risk opening up projects to capture
How 'aid dependency' is relevant to blockchain governance
Why blockchain insiders hide the true mechanisms of power
Why coin votes might be more of the output of power rather than the input
Josh's advice to a founder trying to devise funding for a novel cryptocurrency
Why Rawls' Veil of Ignorance is so important in determining initial conditions for a monetary protocol
What Josh is working on now
The story behind PonzICO.win
Why there is no good satire in the crypto industry

Content mentioned in this episode:

Angela Walch, Deconstructing 'Decentralization': Exploring the Core Claim of Crypto Systems
James Prestwich, Zcash Dev Fund Opinions

Weekly Roundup 10/30/20 (Iran stockpiling Bitcoin?, more bank charters, is Paypal a Bitcoin Sidechain?) (EP.143) Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

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

Matt's bike is stolen in mysterious circumstances
Our top takeaways from the Brian Brooks interview with Laura Shin
The state of financial regulation in the US as it pertains to crypto
Is the permissioned pseudonymity model of stablecoins sustainable?
SoFi's application for a new bank charter approved
Why lowering the barrier to entry for new bank charter approvals is so important
is there any merit to personal tokens?
Avanti gets their SPDI charter approved
Why Avanti's Avit stablecoin is so interesting
What is the legal enforceability of stablecoin transactions?
Accounting and tax questions with stablecoins
Coin Metrics partners with KPMG
Is the Iranian Central Bank accumulating Bitcoin?
Why Iran adopting Bitcoin demonstrates its value proposition
FTX offers equities – is it compliant?
Is Paypal a Bitcoin Sidechain?

Content mentioned in this episode:

Brian Brooks appears on Laura Shin's Unchained
The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance Bitcoin mining map
Apolline Blandin on On The Brink

Yoann Turpin (Wintermute) on launching a cryptoasset market making firm (EP. 142) Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

Yoann Turpin, cofounder of Wintermute Trading joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

Yoann's background in trading and how he made his way to trading cryptoassets
His views on the evolving market structure for cryptoassets and where the industry is headed
How important market makers are for new token launches
The role of stablecoins and how these instruments are changing the landscape for traders
Wintermute's decision to raise capital from VCs and how they see themselves are a technology firm

To learn more about Wintermute Trading visit their website.

Joel Revill (Two Ocean Trust) on building a Qualified Custodian in Wyoming (EP.141) Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

Joel Revill is the cofounder and CEO of Two Ocean Trust, a Wyoming Chartered Trust Company offering wealth management services to high-net-worth individuals and family offices.

Two Ocean Trust has recently received a no-action letter from the Wyoming Division of Banking stating the division's determination that Two Ocean is a "qualified custodian" under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the SEC Custody Rule. This letter states the division's determination that Two Ocean may provide custodial services for digital assets under Wyoming law, including virtual currency and digital tokenized securities. In this episode: