On The Brink with Castle Island

Co-chairman of Stronghold Digital Mining Bill Spence and CEO Gregory Beard join the show. Stronghold is a vertically integrated Bitcoin miner that uses waste coal to power their operations – while also remediating this environmentally damaging product. We dive into this fascinating, and counter-intuitive story. In this episode: Backgrounds of the co-chairmen and how they found the intersection of Bitcoin mining and coal waste mitigation Bill's personal commitment to the mitigation of coal waste Why coal waste has been accumulating in PA since the late 1700s The immense scale of the coal waste and how it continue to affect PA, even though mining no longer occurs How unremediated coal waste can be understood as a form of class warfare Why coal waste exists in the first place Why developments in power plant technology meant that coal waste could be safely combusted Why aboveground coal waste oxidizes and releases CO2 anyway - as well as other harmful particulates Why growing grass over the coal waste doesn't solve the problem Why 2 billion tons of coal waste can't just be moved into landfills How there are 800 sites in PA and 70 of them are currently on fire Why Stronghold is vertically integrated, and the advantage this grants them in mining Bitcoin How Stronghold sends power to the grid in the case of a shortage Has Stronghold evaluated other high energy intensity loads aside from just Bitcoin Why Bitcoin is a more suitable load for their energy resources than others How Bitcoin allows Stronghold to keep their power available at short notice Stronghold's reaction to criticism in the press and from Washington Why nothing had been done about the coal waste for 100 years before Stronghold came along Is the future of Bitcoin mining vertical integration? 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

Matt and Nic return for a huge week of news and a big CIV announcement. In this episode: Matt scans the Coinbase QR code ad The post-Superbowl backlash against crypto ads Is there any hope for music NFTs Castle Island announces a third fund Binance buys a stake in Forbes Is Circle a bet on interest rates? Our thoughts on BlockFi's settlement with the SEC Does the SEC's BlockFi settlement create a regulatory moat for larger lenders? What happens to DeFi in the wake of the BlockFi settlement? Canada weaponizes all financial services against truckers and donors Miners are once again active in Inner Mongolia – with a catch The etymology of tantalizing Content mentioned in this episode: Bloomberg, Castle Island announces Third Fund CIV on Medium, Announcing Castle Island Ventures III Hester Peirce, Statement on Settlement with BlockFi Lending LLC Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com Intro and outro track credit: OmgKirby Genesis #326

In our second episode in the web3 music mini-series, we spoke with Matthew Chaim, musician and founder of Songcamp and other projects at the intersection of music and web3. We cover how Matthew thinks about: Helping artists gain control over their creative output Collective creation and re-imagining the role of fans Optimizing for resonance versus reach with music NFTs Discoverability in music NFTs and ways to democratize curation And much more. We also recommend reading Matthew's writing on these topics at chaim.mirror.xyz. Intro and outro track: OmgKirby Genesis #326

Mash founder Jared Nusinoff joins the show to explain how internet monetization is broken and how lightning-based payments fixes it. In this episode: Jared's professional history and how he came to work on Bitcoin Going from an adventure guide to bitcoin Jared's early entrepreneurial work Jared's early history sharing music prior to torrents Why Jared quite Google to found an adventure guide company How Jared thinks of Bitcoin's MoE/SoV debate Why internet monetization models are flawed today - and the missing middle How the technology of payments online directly affects the quality of internet experiences How Lightning uniquely solves the monetization of quality content online Jared's view of Lightning's maturity and momentum as a payments infrastructure How Lightning provides completely novel business models on the internet How Mash could change the game for internet 'miniapps' Get started on Mash here and follow Mash on Twitter. 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

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode: Kraken brings back PoR Bitfinex hack money launderers are arrested The long history of Bitfinex, hacks, Recovery rights, Tether, and LEO Who is entitled to the recovered BTC from the Bitfinex hack? The NY Fed attacks stablecoins, and private banknote issuance Ottawa truckers are banned from Gofundme Are US Treasuries backing stablecoins stranded liquidity? Why central bankers attack stablecoins to promote CBDCs Content mentioned: NY Fed, The Future of Payments is not Stablecoins Sponsor notes: Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at fireblocks.com

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

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

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

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

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, 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, 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

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

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

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

House Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) joins the show to share thoughts on his crypto policy agenda for 2022, as well as his views on inflation, MMT, stablecoins, and CBDCs. In this episode: How Rep. Emmer came to be interested in public blockchains Rep. Emmer's interest in Austrian economics How Rep. Emmer stays up to date with the industry Are MMTers the establishment or an outsider group? Is Washington dominated by covert MMT ideology? Is fiscal conservatism dead in Washington? Why Rep. Emmer voted for the CARES act any regrets he has How the massive injection of cash in the last two years warped our economy Is inflation driven by fiscal spending or corporate greed? Is crypto inherently a partisan issue? Rep Emmer's concerns about a CBDC Why the US should not take cues from China Why CBDCs are not akin to physical cash Why insisting that stablecoins need bank charters is deeply ironic Problems with the Presidential Working Group's guidance on stablecoins Is crypto favorable or hostile to American interests? What are Rep Emmer's colleagues' residual objections to crypto? The purpose of Emmer's Securities Clarity Act Will the midterms alter Congress' approach to the crypto industry? Useful links: Support the Emmer 2022 reelection campaign (crypto donations accepted) Follow Rep. Emmer on Twitter Emmer's cosponsored Securities Clarities Act (press release) The Keep Innovation in America Act (press release) About the Blockchain Caucus 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

Matt and Nic return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode: Everything is selling off Is the US losing its status as global reserve? We announce our policy miniseries Sen. Lummis will reportedly propose a crypto bill Opensea raising $300m at a $13b valuation Illicit activity in 2021 was only 0.15% of total crypto volume The Boston Fed CBDC pilot program rumbles on Kazakhstan turns off the internet, and dims Bitcoin hashrate by 12% NY State reproposes their bill to ban mining in the state The National Credit Union Administration looks to ratify usage of crypto for its members The House Energy and Commerce committee will hold a hearing on PoW A group of environmentalist organizations sends a letter regarding PoW to congress Content mentioned: National Credit Union Administration, Relationships with Third Parties that Provide Services Related to Digital Assets Letter to Congress from environmentalist groups regarding PoW Sponsor notes: 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

Luxor COO and CPO Ethan Vera and Guzman Pintos join the show to talk about their relaunched data product, Hashrate Index and other trends in mining. In this episode: The history of the firm Why Luxor created the hashrate index How Luxor gathers data on ASIC pricing and creates their time series charts ASIC pricing dynamics Are sell side analysts correctly pricing ASICs on the balance sheets of public miners? Why different efficiencies of miners have traded differently in the last 2 months How constraints on rack space affect the demand for older ASICs Why so many ASICs can't leave China Is there still residual black market mining in China? Kazakhstan's under-reported mining crackdown Are ASIC development cycles slowing? Are miners still front-running their clients with prop mining? Are Bitcoin miners trying to acquire Bitcoin or do they want to hedge their exposure Are derivatives becoming more popular among miners? The maturation of the Bitcoin mining derivatives market Why prior hashrate derivatives haven't worked Multiple based analysis for public miners Why there is a 'public market arbitrage' for miners Why incentives exist for public miners to be highly acquisitive Do miners care about long term fee budget? 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

Nic and Matt return for the last episode of 2021. In this episode: Someone makes an unauthorized Nic NFT Microstrategy buys more BTC Blake Masters sells a political NFT Why do gamers and artists hate NFTs? We look back at our 2021 crystal ball predictions Best predictions of 2021 Our outlook for crypto policy in 2022 Our favorite OTB episodes of the year We look back at the Token Daily 2019 crystal ball predictions What it's like to be in crypto for an entire decade Midterm implications for the crypto industry Our favorite OTB episodes of 2021 Content mentioned: Tokendaily, 2021 Crystal Ball Sponsor notes: 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 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

Gabe Frank and Robert Masiello, the founders of Arcade, a financial services platform for NFTs join the show. In this episode we discuss: Gabe and Robert's origin stories in the crypto industry and the path that led them to founded Arcade The similarities in the market structures for bitcoin in the early years and NFTs today The role of MPC custody in the crypto markets How they think about the various L1 chains that will host NFTs The OTC trading landscape for NFTs Peer to peer vs. peer to pool NFT lending models How the lending market will evolve with great data / pricing functionality The product roadmap for Arcade over the next year To learn more about Arcade visit their website. 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 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.

Matt and Nic return for a festive Christmas eve roundup. In this episode: Reevaluating our intro song Jack Dorsey's web3 beef What's on our Christmas list Is PoW inherently high-fee? We steelman the Jack Dorsey and the pro web3 arguments Is there a paradox in web3? We advance a model of tapered token issuance for web3 The downsides of token issuance to early adopters Is Liz Warren right about corporate greed causing inflation? Radioshake releases a defi token Is Bitcoin ownership too concentrated? Bitcoin is dispersing while equities are concentrating Will there be a revolt among the staffers at the SEC? Content mentioned: Nic Carter and Lucas Nuzzi in Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin's Proof of Work is Well Worth its Fees Paul Vigna in WSJ, Bitcoin's 'One Percent' Controls Lion's Share of the Cryptocurrency's Wealth Sponsor notes: 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 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

Anders Larson, head of strategic finance at U.S. Bitcoin Corp, joins us to talk about how miners make decisions and allocate capital. In this episode: The Wharton class of 2018 Are Bitcoin miners clogging up the chip supply chain? Why Bitcoin miners are 'tier 2' customers at foundries The scale of US BTC operations in terms of hashrate Why US BTC has been so quiet historically How US BTC targets renewable energy Which renewables are easiest to find Is there any truth to the story of Bitcoin improving the economics of renewables? Why ASIC depreciation is slowing, and how that affects the viability of different energy sources The relationship between Bitcoin's carbon intensity and ASIC depreciation period Can ASICs last for 5 years? How does US BTC think about uptime on their units? Why lower uptime means that you have cheaper power due to demand response How US BTC thinks about hashrate growth and why they are more conservative than their competitors Why Chinese hashrate is not completely eliminated The state of affairs in Kazakhstan How Anders thinks about political risk in mining How policy logic informs selective mining bans and mining subsidies How Anders sees miners vertically integrating with energy firms How Anders thinks about proposed state bitcoin mining bans in places like NY Why mining bans in the West are often counterproductive The relationship between energy consumption and civilizational progress How Anders thinks about the energy cost debate Whether the CBECI hashrate distribution estimates are reliable Why the US having a large share of hashrate isn't something to be concerned about How mining could become a states rights issue Does US BTC project fee growth in their models? 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 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.

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: A glitch in the CoinMarketCap data feed causes disturbances in the crypto industry AscendEX is hacked last week to the tune of $77 million Coinbase urges the SEC to approve NYSE Arca's application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund Bitwise launches a blue-chip NFT fund A bipartisan group of Senators write a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the crypto provisions in the infra bill The Myanmar government in exile official adopts Tether, while the Junta government de-dollarizes Matt takes the giving pledge The Open Markets Institute spreads a lot of FUD Can the boys lift a 230 pound tungsten cube? 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. 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

Alex Wilson, co-founder and CEO of The Giving Block joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Alex's path in the blockchain space, from consulting to founding The Giving Block The landscape of charitable giving, and how the company is assisting charitable organizations The pain points that charities face when accepting donations Perspectives from the donor's perspective and why donating cryptocurrency is so compelling How the company came to launch its campaigns To learn more about The Giving Block visit their website or follow the company on Twitter. 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

Matt and Nic return for deals and news of the week. In this episode: Are cubes a suitable holiday gift? Best crypto Xmas gifts Bitcoin purchases we regret The House Financial Services committee holds a hearing Our Congressional hearing MVP Brian Brooks' evolution SBF kicks off shoegate Takeaways from the House hearing EOS holders reject a payment to Block One Block One's weird pivot to Bitcoin Greyscale says 26% of American adults own Bitcoin Governance difficulties in Dfinity Will SWIFT survive American sanctions on Russia Impenetrable Sushiswap drama Those landfill Bitcoins are still lost Content mentioned: Brian Brooks' testimony before the House Financial Services Committee The Economist, The Explosion in Stablecoins Revives a Debate around 'Free Banking' WSJ, Crypto, NFTs and Tungsten Cubes: A Guide to Giving Cash in 2021 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. 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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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, 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.

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, 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

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.

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, 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.

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, 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.

Matt and Nic return for another week. In this episode: Is fasting lindy? Ripple's 250m NFT fund Kraken reaches a $1.25m settlement with the CFTC Could Ripple win their case against the SEC? Wyoming gives a tax break to flare gas miners Coinbase adds direct deposits to their platform Should stablecoins be issued by banks? China is tapped out of their Bitcoin FUD Compound suffers an exploit Bitcoin miners look at nuclear 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

In this episode, Chris Maurice, co-founder and CEO of pan-African crypto platform Yellow Card, joined us to talk about his background, the business, and the state of crypto adoption in Africa. The company's goal is to provide a seamless on and off ramp to anyone in Africa. We also discuss: Yellow Card's recently announced fundraise The diversity in culture, language, history, and economy across the 54 countries in the region and why Yellow Card is on a pan-African journey The popular use cases for crypto in the region, including as a savings and transaction tool for individuals and businesses The challenges Yellow Card faces in driving crypto adoption in the region and what the firm can do to address them The details about Yellow Card's recent raise and the future of the company Based on this conversation with Chris, it's clear that crypto provides fundamental utility beyond speculation in the region that rings true to the ethos on which this industry was built. 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.

Christian Dittmeier, cofounder and CEO of Evaluate Market joins the show. In this episode we discuss: How Christian and his cofounders Alex and Cody came to find themselves spending their free time analyzing NFTs The insight that led them to start Evaluate Market, a platform for discovering, search for, and evaluating NFTs Christian's perspective on the emerging taxonomy of NFTs and how Evaluate prioritizes the assets that it lists The projects and categories of NFTs that Christian is most excited about To learn more about Evaluate visit evaluate.market

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Latest on the infrastructure bill The latest on the platinum coin Zany things that financial regulators said this week Gensler continues to misrepresent the free banking era How bad was the wildcat banking era really? Why are financial regulators so interested in free banking? The SEC and CFTC are nearing the end of their fiscal year The prospects for 'pipe to crypto' Why miners are participating in 'demand response' programs Matt's 20-year-old cereal Twitter adds lightning tips and NFT authentication Binance is under CFTC investigation Biden's new OCC nominee is anti-bank, anti-crypto FASB takes comment on GAAP treatment of digital assets Content mentioned: George Selgin on antebellum Free Banking 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 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.

Matt and Nic return to recap a tumultuous week. In this episode: Matt's ongoing war against the turkeys Fidelity thinks the SEC should approve a spot ETF The Futures based Bitcoin ETFs are nearing approval The SEC stonewalling an ETF is a political choice The OpenSea insider scandal Elizabeth Warren's critiques of the industry get more and more specific and niche Do we event want to know which tokens are securities according to the SEC? Ripple is asking the SEC to compare them to Ethereum Solana goes down for 17h Our interaction with a blockchain fraudster The NYT doesn't understand cryptography Are Bitcoiners cosplayers? The Epic games v Apple case has implications for the crypto industry Content mentioned: Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF presentation to the SEC on Sep. 8 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