On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic are back for deals and news of the week. In this episode: Nic 'debates' Steve Hanke Update on the FUD Dice Nic attempts to send a wire to Poland NYDIG raises more capital and adds more insurance companies to their roster Coinbase Q1 earnings are out Grayscale wants to roll GBTC into an ETF Tom Brady is launching an NFT platform Peter Thiel's comments on Bitcoin The DC/EP may come with expiration dates Content mentioned in the episode: Nic vs Steve Hanke debate This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Matthew Mežinskis, creator of the Crypto Voices Global Monetary Base project joins the show to discuss how Bitcoin stacks up against sovereign currencies. In this episode: The difference between base money and broad money Why Bitcoin should be compared to base money and not the broad money supply How exchanges are serving as proto free banks – and why they might end up becoming transparent fractional reserve institutions How free banking actually worked Why unrestricted banking activity tends to equilibrate with single digit reserve ratios How the Scottish free banking system was stable despite fractional reserve How Bitcoin improves upon gold in a free banking system The role of Proof of Reserve in a neo free banking system The bankruptcy of the Ayr Bank and what it tells us about the Scottish banking system Why 'free banking' in the US wasn't really free Bitcoin passes the Swiss Franc Where Bitcoin stacks up relative to all the major sovereign base monies Follow Matthew on Twitter and check out the Monetary Base project. 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.

Jeth Soetoyo, the founder and CEO of Pintu, a cryptoasset brokerage based on Indonesia joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Jeth's path to the cryptoasset industry and his journey from Consensys to business school to founding Pintu Views on stablecoin adoption and how Jeth and team are approaching this with their Rupiah Token project The Indonesian market and how Pintu is approaching this market opportunity View on DeFi and how centralized infrastructure companies are positioned To learn more about Pintu visit www.pintu.co.id and follow Jeth @Jeth_Soetoyo This episode is brought to you by: 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. 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

Nic and Matt return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: A crisis with our dice manufacturers Visa will enable USDC settlements on their payment network Paypal turns on Bitcoin payments for 29m merchants Are Paypal transactions actual Bitcoin expenditures? Sillvergate working with Fidelity to provide Bitcoin-backed loans SEC charges LBRY with securities law violations Are founders taking the wrong lessons from SEC inaction? Jay Clayton is now advising OneRiver on their digital asset strategy Tether publishes a new attestation The merit of real time attestations for stablecoins The CME launches a Bitcoin microfutures The Boston Fed will be open sourcing some of their CBDC code Will we ever get a retail CBDC in the USA? NFTs make it to SNL A new pasta shape just dropped Nic syncs his Umbel node Content mentioned in this episode: Nic on Medium, Noahbjectivity on Bitcoin Mining Nic on the Lex Fridman podcast NFT skit on SNL This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Rafael Cosman, cofounder and CEO of TrustToken, joins the show to talk stablecoins and TrueFi, their non-fully collateralized lending protocol. In this episode: TrustToken's various stablecoins that they administer The real-time stablecoin attestations TrustToken has done with Armanino How a real time attestation works Why the USD is so disproportionate in market share among stablecoins Why DeFi is potentially the killer app for stablecoins today Why Trust Token built a global fx currency basket Why overcollateralized lending doesn't necessarily constitute lending in the traditional sense How TrueFi introduces uncollateralized lending into DeFi How underwriting and credit creation works in a public blockchain context How legal contracts are introduced into DeFi Howo the TrueFi system incorporates revisions in creditworthiness How on-chain credit scores could proliferate and be used on a cross-platform basis How privacy is compatible with on-chain credit scoring Rafael's explanation for structurally high interest rates in DeFi The contrast between crypto yields and legacy yields

James Davolos, VP and portfolio manager at Horizon Kinetics, joins the show to make the case for inflation and to explain their Inflation Beneficiaries ETF, ticker $INFL. In this episode: How Horizon and Murray Stahl were one of the earliest asset managers to put client assets in GBTC How Horizon's value approach landed them at a Bitcoin allocation James' reaction when Horizon first made the Bitcoin allocation Whether Bitcoin is a growth or a value asset, and how to reason about it from either perspective James' reaction to Jerome Powell's announcement on rates The genesis of the idea to create an inflation beneficiaries ETF James' case for inflation Should the disinflationists be taking victory laps? Why the Fed is calling inflation 'transitory' Why we didn't get inflation from 2010-20 What crystallized the case for inflation for Horizon Kinetics? The importance of the 'taper tantrum' Why historical parallels are so hard to find – and why we have no historical precedent for our current moment How the dollar is the 'least rotten apple' The prospects for a non-dollar monetary system The effect of ESG on commodity cycles How fiscal spending and the political anti-capital movement represents a structural shift The constant battle between capital and labor Why equities may suffer from higher labor costs Why Horizon focuses on asset light companies James' answer to the equity-inflation return puzzle Horizon's specific allocations to benefit from inflation The early success of the Inflation Beneficiaries ETF Why the inflation beneficiaries ETF does not contain Bitcoin How this ETF sets itself apart from other ways to play inflation – and why TIPS aren't the best bet Is the thesis playing out so far? Why the Fed has to remain subtle with their debasement James' pitch to Bitcoiners

Nic and Matt are back for another blockbuster week. In this episode: How Nic ended up being labeled the most violent person on Earth Fidelity files for their Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF The significance of Fidelity's filing today Can the GBTC product actually be redeemed by a majority of shareholders? Amendments to the GBTC charter Odds of the SEC finally seeing the light on the ETF Why an ETF approval is more urgent than ever The toppiest top signal ever making us nervous FATF is back with a vengeance Jack Dorsey includes a Blockclock in his Congressional testimony Is Bitcoin a battery? Content mentioned: Peter Johnson, Crypto Credit Market Breakdown Nic Carter, The Frustrating, Maddening, All-Consuming Bitcoin Energy Debate Nick Grossman, Bitcoin as a Battery This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Dan Tapiero, the Managing Partner or 10T Holdings joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Dan's pre-crypto career as a macro manager and entrepreneur and the path that led him to founding 10T Holdings The institutional narrative for Bitcoin and cryptoassets and how this thesis interplays with gold Views on layer one smart contract platforms and how to think about value accrual on these networks How Dan is approaching growth stage opportunities in this industry To learn more about 10T visit: 10tfund.com Follow Dan on Twitter @DTAPCAP

Michael Greenwald is a former U.S. Treasury official with expertise in sanctions programs and using USD infrastructure to promote policy objectives. In this episode: What the weaponization of the dollar really means How sanctions mechanically work How Treasury and the State Dept carry out sanctions The risk of sanctions wearing blunt as a tool The growth of sanctions post 9/11 How sanctions against Russia represented a sea change in policy How the US deputizes SWIFT for sanctions How and why Europeans tried to route around US sanctions on Iran Is the US led international order fraying? China's attempt to build a parallel financial infrastructure to challenge the dollar The objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative The purpose of the digital yuan Can the yuan challenge the primacy of the dollar in the international system? How China uses the belt and road initiative to advance the yuan How the US should react to China's aggressive move into closer economic relationships with the third world What a digital US dollar or CBDC might look like How the US can reassert dominance in the international sphere Michael's thoughts on stablecoins and Bitcoin Read Michael's paper, The Future of the US Dollar 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

Nic and Matt return for another week of deals and news. In this episode: We announce onthebrink.shop What was Robby Gutmann from NYDIG rumoring on our recent episode? Morgan Stanley opens up their platform to Bitcoin funds A new taxonomy for NFTs Bridging the gap between NFT fans and skeptics Why NFTs are not bearer assets and are liabilities of an issuer We break down a popular thread debunking NFTs Bitmex Research publishes a book on the blocksize war BoFa publishes a very bad report on Bitcoin India dithers on their cryptocurrency ban The parallels between the crypto wars of the 90s and state bans today Is there a double standard for Bitcoin versus other ETFs at the SEC? Is Gensler a grey swan for crypto markets? The SEC is officially on the clock for a new ETF application Why FTX should not buy the naming rights to the Miami Heat stadium Content referenced in this episode: Nic Carter on Medium, Why NFTs are Hard to Explain Twitter thread on NFTs by Jonty BitMEX Research publishes 'The Blocksize War' SEC Comissioner Hester Pierce's speech, Paper, Plastic, Peer to Peer This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Dennison Bertram and Raf Solari, the founders of Tally join the show. In this episode we discuss: Dennison and Raf's career journeys into crypto and to founding Tally The current state of DeFi and how they think about an emerging taxonomy of projects Views on how voting and user interaction with DeFi protocols are evolving Comparison to legacy financial services like proxy voting How Tally is engaging with open-source communities to promote user engagement To learn more about Tally visit www.withtally.com

Robby Gutmann, CEO and Co-founder of NYDIG, and Co-founder of Stone Ridge, joins the show to talk about his firm's Bitcoin and digital asset ambitions. In this episode: The origins of NYDIG and Stone Ridge NYDIG's product suite and differentiation NYDIG's deliberate pro-Bitcoin stance Why Bitcoin is such a compelling opportunity to Robby Bitcoin's pace of development How much attention NYDIG pays to core development Is there a contradiction between open source money and institutionalization? What explains client enthusiasm for Bitcoin in 2021 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

Nic and Matt return for another intense week of deals. In this episode: New Bitcoin FUD dice? Is there any new Bitcoin FUD? Beeple sells an NFT for $69m Are NFTs art or the autograph? The missing link for NFTs – where do you show off your NFTs and demonstrate status? One issue with NFTs and IP Is NY Life getting into crypto? Norwegian oil billionaire embraces Bitcoin DCG buys back GBTC to bring it back to NAV Scenarios for how GBTC redemption occurs Why GBTC trading at a discount is better for retail investors Moneygram and Ripple are no longer partners Grayscale hires an entire ETF team Should the US start a strategic Bitcoin reserve? Why Bitcoin makes sense for central banks Why CBDCs will never provide real cash-like assurances Content mentioned: Aker Shareholder Letter This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Zac Prince, CEO and Cofounder of BlockFi joins the show once again to discuss BlockFi's newly announced Series D financing and to discuss market dynamics. In this episode: Announcing the Series D round of financing Growth of revenues and clients on the platform How BlockFi classifies itself in the taxonomy of banking, fintech, and brokerage Market worries around the GBTC discount Why did GBTC flip to being discounted? What the GBTC discount means for BlockFi How do the current GBTC dynamics affect Bitcoin interest rates, if at all? One unexpected way the GBTC discount could disappear The prospects for "busting the trust" How Zac thinks about public messaging and the Twitter environment What fraction of the bitcoin interest rate the GBTC trade represents What's next for BlockFi Prior BlockFi OTB episodes: Rene Van Kesteren on how BlockFi manages Risk Zac Prince on growing BlockFi through a pandemic

Matthew Le Merle, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era and Blockchain Coinvestors joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matthew's views on The Rise of Generation C and some of the trends he foresaw ten years ago Views on the GameStop / WSB saga and what this portends for the financial markets in the years to come The state of the cryptoasset market and the infrastructure that is being deployed in 2021 How he thinks about approaching this industry as a leading fund of funds Learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors at their website and follow Matthew on Twitter @mlemerle

David Vorick, the cofounder and CEO of Nebulous, the firm developing the Sia network, joins the show once again to talk about the growth of decentralized cloud storage. In this episode: Skynet reaches its 1 year anniversary Dweb versus Web3 Current capacity and utilization of the Sia network Where Sia stacks up in terms of the decentralized storage networks by usage How the internet ended up massively siloed Why data portability and thin internet applications are so important Current breakout applications of decentralized storage New models for authentication for web apps How the dweb could return the internet to its 90s-era topology The current state of property rights on the internet The intersection between Handshake and Sia

Matt and Nic are back. In this episode: More cured meats drama The Singapore sovereign wealth fund invests in Anchorage Will they or wont they - Goldman edition Bitcoin completes Paypal's original vision Schwab looks to add support for crypto Kings of Leon NFT Are NFTs the first truly mainstream application of blockchains? Are today's centralized public blockchains just a return of private blockchains? Citi releases the case for bitcoin GBTC trades at a steep discount to NAV and what it means Is the GBTC arbitrage trade over? Should startups hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets? How does 2021 feel compared to 2018? Are we likely to see another 70%+ drawdown? Content mentioned in this episode: Bloomberg's Crypto Outlook, Mike McGlone Understanding Bitcoin, Jurrien Timmer Bitcoin at the Tipping Point, City GPS This episode is brought to you by Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin.

Brian Flynn, the founder and CEO of Rabbit Hole, a platform for driving customer acquisition for decentralized finance protocols joins the show. In this episide we discuss: Brian's path to cryptoassets and the spark that led him to founding Rabbit Hole Views on NFTs and the use cases that we will see in the coming years Thoughts more broadly on the categories of decentralized finance that are the most enduring and likely to capture value How customer acquisition works now in DeFi and where Rabbit Hole is solving problems To learn more about Rabbit Hole visit their website and follow Brian on Twitter @Flynnjamm

Nic and Matt return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode: Is Bitcoin more reliable than Fedwire? Are stablecoins already superior to legacy infrastructure? Tether-Tron transactions exceed Tether-Ethereum The social utility of trading wholesale energy One chapter in the Tether saga closes Is the Tether story over? The ultimate takeaway from the Tether saga Square buys more Bitcoin Nic evangelizes bitcoin to his hairdresser A bitcoiner joins the Federal Reserve How big will a Bitcoin ETF be on approval? Why exchanges are prudent to delist BCH and BSV

Namebase founder and CEO Tieshun Roquerre joins us for a discussion of Handshake, decentralized DNS, and issues with the current system of domains. In this episode: The core technical problem with DNS today Why a blockchain for a decentralized DNS system makes sense How Satoshi anticipated blockchain-based DNS with BitDNS Could a global PoW blockchain system accommodate all of the world's domains? How Handshake learned from Namecoin, ENS, and other attempts from blockchain based DNS and alternative root zones The distinction between ENS and Handshake Handshake's origin and launch – and how it ended up with such diffuse governance Where the nexuses of control are in the Handshake ecosystem How Handshake PoW security works The merits of embracing ASICs How the distribution of domains works What you can actually do with handshake domains The growing interoperability between handshake and decentralized storage like Sia

Andy Edstrom, a financial advisor and Head of Institutional at Swan Bitcoin joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Andy's new book Why Buy Bitcoin and why he embarked on writing a book about Bitcoin His path to understanding Bitcoin through the lens of an RIA His views on the prospects of a new Bretton Woods or Plaza Accord style arrangement in the coming years Prospects for an exchange-traded Bitcoin fund in the United States Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset and the outlook for more MicroStrategy style moves To learn more about Andy visit his website, check out his book or follow him on Twitter at @edstromandrew

Core Weave chief strategy officer and former energy trader Brannin McBee joins the show to talk about the grid meltdown in Texas and the impact of renewables on the grid. In this episode: Brannin's history in energy trading and energy analytics How his firm survived a 95% collapse in the price of natural gas – and how that presaged his work in the crypto space How Brannin's firm Core Weave alternates between mining ETH and monetizing GPUs through high-performance compute How wholesale power trading works – and how it provides valuable informational signals to the grid How the US grid is arranged – and how the energy mix has changed in the last decade How coal has been marginalized in the last decade through natural gas and renewables Why energy is not globally fungible Why forecasting wind is so difficult – and how that complicates including wind into the grid How renewables trade off reliability against carbon impact How increasing the share of wind and solar destabilizing the grid Why increasing units of wind requires new units of gas on the grid The confluence of causes behind the Texas grid failure last week How Core Weave selected their location on the grid – and how they took political risk into account How much energy Bitcoin consumes – and where that stands relative to the energy consumption of the US How flaring natural gas to mine Bitcoin works – and whether it's economical Does Bitcoin work as a load balancer for grids? Can you compare Bitcoin's footprint to that of entire countries?

Nic and Matt break down the headlines in yet another week of ATHs. In this episode: Our cured meat scandal We dissect crypto mafias Necessary conditions for a corporate mafia to form Microstrategy's speculative attack on the dollar How the corporate adoption story took us by surprise Is there a goodwill dividend for buying bitcoin? Is buying bitcoin a bitcoin strategy? Nic's 50k road trip to Tahanis in Ontario Coin Metrics' partnership with Bitgo and KPMG Verge has a year-long reorg Is Coinbase fairly priced at $77b pre-IPO? Should Coinbase be worth more than Goldman? OFAC reminds us that it exists The implications of OFAC compliant mining How the tulip bubble is a Calvinist conspiracy Content mentioned in this episode: Smithsonian Mag, There Never Was a Real Tulip Fever CM announces a partnership with BitGo and KPMG Coinbase pre-IPO shares trading at $77b

Teddy Fusaro, the President of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The new Bitwise DeFi Index Fund The decentralized finance opportunity set and the narratives driving the space Teddy's career path to cryptoassets and joining Bitwise The prospects of a Bitcoin ETFs Cured meats To learn more about Bitwise visit their website.

BlockFi Chief Risk Officer Rene Van Kesteren joins the show to explain how crypto lender and brokerage BlockFi engages in risk management. In this episode: Rene's career trajectory and the path that led him to joining BlockFi The mechanics of how BlockFi offers interest bearing accounts The borrowing and lending market structure How BlockFi thinks about counterparty risk The reason why rates on U.S. Dollars are higher for stablecoins vs. dollars in a bank account How margin calls work Differences and similarities in market structure in 'traditional' vs. cryptoasset markets The biggest misconceptions about BlockFi and crypto lending in general To learn more about risk management at Blockfi visit: https://blockfi.com/how-blockfi-handles-risk-and-security To learn more about BlockFi's products visit: www.blockfi.com

Repeat guest Zach Kelman joins the show to break down the contemporary effects of Operation Choke Point from his perspective as a lawyer having worked in compliance and regulatory for large financial institutions. In this episode: The (pre)history of Choke Point – and how it wasn't a bolt from the blue How Choke Point was mechanically enforced against the banks Why industry-wide politicization of financial services is a poor policy to pursue How Choke Point lasted far beyond its original mandate Have banks been permanently politicized as a result of OCP? How Choke Point's effects are being felt in the crypto industry What to expect on an ongoing basis Prior episodes in the Choke Point 2.0 series Iain Murray (Competitive Enterprise Institute) on the history of Operation Choke Point Amber Scott (Outlier Canada) on crypto-bank relationships in Canada

Nic and Matt return for one of the most explosive weeks in the history of the podcast. In this episode: How Nic ended up at war with the Dogecoin fans CIV closes a $50m fund Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl Should responsible CFOs own Bitcoin on their corporate balance sheets? Bitcoin on the balance sheet as a signaling mechanism BNY Mellon announces support for Bitcoin The St Louis Fed is writing articles about DeFi Nic orangepills Central Bankers Our guesses for the first central banks to adopt Bitcoin Nigeria contemplates a Bitcoin ban Mastercard is supporting cryptocurrency on their networks – what does this mean? The Bitcoin energy debate Can you compare Bitcoin to Visa? Are Christmas lights wasteful Content mentioned in this episode: Nic in Coindesk, What Bloomberg Gets Wrong About Bitcoin's Climate Footprint St Louis Fed, DeFi coverage Nic on Bloomberg, Bitcoin's Impact on the Environment

Edan Yago, product lead at Sovryn, talks us through the prospects for DeFi on Bitcoin. In this episode: Edan Yago's origin story How Edan became disenchanted with the Bitcoin community's ambition Did Bitcoiners compromise on an original vision of adopting successful alternative technologies? Is Bitcoin sufficiently expressive to be a functional base layer for smart contracting? Was the original vision of sidechains abandoned? The state of the art in trustless sidechains Is the perfect the enemy of the good with Bitcoin? Is Lightning "worse is better"? Is Bitcoin hamstrung by the pursuit of perfection? Why compromising on trust assurances has been a boon for Ethereum Why native smart contracting on Bitcoin is superior to using wrapped Bitcoin on Ethereum Do rollups break composability for DeFi? Is DeFi subsidized by token issuance and liquidity mining? What can Bitcoiners learn from Ethereum? Thoughts on other Bitcoin L2s like Blockstack Update on Rootstock/RSK and why Sovryn is building on it What Sovryn is and what you can do with it Does Sovryn require any changes to Bitcoin itself?

Galen Wolfe-Pauly, cofounder of Tlon, joins the show to give us an update on Urbit in light of the politicization of internet infrastructure. In this episode: The purpose of Urbit How the power of internet oligopolies has been recently revealed in the last few months Does the internet of today resemble the internet of 1994? The problem with having a single ToS/legal system for major internet platforms What's new with Urbit since our last Urbit episode in 2019 How hosting makes Urbit much more user friendly Urbit's governance system and how it contrasts from the feudal model on Twitter Galen's political taxonomy for Urbit - and where galaxies and stars fit in to this How internet platforms are like living in Vegas Whether users literally own their handles on internet platforms The politicization of internet infrastructure How resistant is Urbit itself to deplatforming at the infrastructure level Whether there is any irony in Urbit offering hosting for users Galen's view on data portability legislation The near term roadmap for Urbit The distinction between Tlon and Urbit How to get started with Urbit Apply to Urbit hosting here.

Nic and Matt return for another jam packed week. In this episode: Our reflections on Saylor day Is Ross Stephens the 2021 Bitcoin MVP? NYDIG bursts onto the scene Visa's overlooked crypto API pilot for banks Is hashrate moving to the US? Nic's ongoing spat with the Wall Street Journal Bitcoiin 2gen gets taken down by the SEC Soulja Boy's ENS name gets lost in Coinbase's vaullts IBM finally abandons 'enterprise blockchain' How will public markets treat Coinbase equity? India contemplates a crypto ban Content mentioned in this episode: Bitcoin Masterclass with Michael Saylor and Ross Stevens Stone Ridge, 2020 Shareholder Letter Visa's API pilot for banks Nic's response to the WSJ piece NYT, As Bitcoin's Price Surges, Affluent Investors Start to Take a Look Balaji Srinivasan, Why India Should Buy Bitcoin

Amanda Fabiano, the Head of Mining at Galaxy Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Amanda's path to finding her passion in the mining sector Her role in leading Fidelity's mining initiatives Her views on the Bitcoin mining value chain and the categories that are most compelling Thoughts on the future of off-grid mining in the USA To learn more follow Amanda on Twitter or visit www.galaxydigital.io

Boaz Sobrado, data analyst and the founder of whynotcuba.com joins the show to talk about trends in Cuban Bitcoin adoption. In this episode: How Boaz came to start an ecommerce company in Cuba and how Bitcoin became relevant to him The structure of Bitcoin trading markets in Cuba How Bitcoin currently trades in Cuba Drivers of Bitcoin adoption in Cuba Why Cuba until recently hasn't been known as an important jurisdiction for Bitcoin Why Cuba doesn't show up in the typical proxies for bitcoin usage Why internet penetration in Cuba is accelerating Bitcoin adoption How Bitcoin is incorporated into the remittance flow in Cuba How the Cuban regime thinks about and talks about Bitcoin The history of Cuba's three simultaneous sovereign currencies How the sovereign currency transitions are a means for the government to acquire hard currency at the expense of savers The key factors supporting a wave of Bitcoin adoption in Cuba today How Bitcoin markets permit the pricing of the black market peso rate Content mentioned in this episode: Boaz Sobrado, A Day Using Money in Cuba Boaz Sobrado in Decrypt, Why Cuba is Primed for Bitcoin Adoption

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Our view on the Robinhood/Gamestop affair Why 'rebuilding the financial system from scratch' is a good idea, actually Could the brokerages deplatform Bitcoin financial products too? Will FTX be the last Gamestop market standing? Nic's reflections on the Mike Green / Grant Williams debate We correct the record on certain claims made in the debate We settle the question of inflation in the 40s We declare a truce between bitcoiners and goldbugs Another ETF filing Ray Dalio starts to come around on Bitcoin Content mentioned: The Grant Williams Podcast, Both Sides of the Coin: A Civilized Bitcoin Debate OTB Episode, What Keeps Stablecoins Stable OTB Episode, The Market Effects of Stablecoin Issuance Ray Dalio, What I Think of Bitcoin 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.

Economics professor at Charles University Ladislav Krištoufek joins us for a discussion centered on his new paper, On the Role of Stablecoins in Cryptoasset Pricing Dynamics. In this episode: How Ladislav began covering crypto markets in 2013 Ladislav's research agenda as it pertains to the crypto markets Why the quality of so much Bitcoin academia is dubious The academic-practitioner gap and how to close it How Ladislav came to write his newest paper Methodological details How to interpret the findings in the paper Whether issuance of stablecoins affects the price of bitcoin Ladislav's critiques of the Griffin and Shams paper Key takeaways from Ladislav's paper Ladislav's ultimate explanation for stablecoin issuance Other papers Ladislav recommends on stablecoins Also mentioned: 'What Keeps Stablecoins Stable?', OTB discussion with Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj Is Bitcoin Really Untethered? by Griffin and Shams

Nic and Matt cover an insane week of deals and market turmoil. In this episode: The Biden admin freezes the Treasury guidance on unhosted wallets Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expresses her concern about cryptocurrency for terrorist financing Bitcoin as a monetary escape valve The real reasons behind Treasury's concern about Bitcoin The prospects for monetary repression in the US Prospects for Chris Brummer as the new head of the CFTC Blackrock warms to Bitcoin Our point by point 'debunking' of the anonymous blog post on Tether Why Tether critiques are so popular Why a Tether implosion would emphasize Bitcoin's value proposition We explain the Bitcoin 'double spend' How Bitcoin settlement is probabilistic Content mentioned in this episode: Nic in NYMag, What Explains Bitcoin's Resurgence? On The Brink, Interview with Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj The Bit Short: Inside Crypto's Doomsday Machine Kraken, On Tether, Journalists Defy Logic

Iain Murray, VP of Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the history of Operation Choke Point, a 2011-2015 program used to exclude legal businesses from banking led by the DoJ and FDIC. In this episode: How Iain Murray came to be one of the main historians of Operation Choke Point The roots of Choke Point in the crackdown on poker sites in 2011 How Choke Point was started on a whim by two midlevel DoJ lawyers in 2011 How OCP targeted completely legal but politically disfavored industries How mechanically the DoJ was able to get banks to comply with their informal guidance Why the closed nature of banking means that alternatives financial service providers for these industries couldn't be created How bank consolidation meant that OCP was easier to instrumentalize How successful was Choke Point in marginalizing targeted industries? Did OCP have buy-in from the highest levels of the Obama administration? How regulations should have implemented the rules they sought to create with Choke Point – and why they chose not to How OCP was an end-around the administrative procedure act, and why it was done covertly Was there any accountability for the individuals behind OCP? Was anyone fired? Why individuals on any side of the political spectrum should be concerned about OCP Did Choke Point ever really end? The long term enduring effects of OCP How the Wyoming SPDI is a reaction to Choke Point Whether Iain agrees with the OCC's 'Fair Access' rule Content mentioned in this episode: Iain Murray at CEI, Operation Choke Point: What it is and why it matters OCC, 'Fair Access' rule

Nic and Matt return for another explosive week. In this episode: The bike saga enters its final chapter Sci Hub tries Handshake Is Choke Point returning? We break down the Bakkt SPAC FinCEN extends the comment period for its notice of proposed rulemaking Gemini announces a credit card with crypto rewards What Gary Gensler as SEC Chairman means for the industry Prospects for a Bitcoin ETF under a Gensler SEC The OCC creates a national crypto bank charter One reason why Miami could make it as a tech hub We discuss the latest NYT article on losing coins Content mentioned in this article Nic Carter in Coindesk, Twitter, Trump, and the 'Private Company' Fallacy FinCEN extends its comment period OCC, OCC Conditionally Approves Conversion of Anchorage Digital Bank Brian Brooks in the FT, Get Ready for Self-Driving Banks

Matthew Gould, co-founder and CEO of Unstoppable Domains joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Matthew's path into the cryptocurrency industry and the insight behind launching Unstoppable Domains. How Matthew sees the opportunity for blockchain-based domain systems. Tradeoffs between the various layer-one blockchains that are addressing this opportunity. Views on single sign-on and potential future adjacent use-cases. To learn more about Unstoppable Domains visit their website. 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.

Nic and Matt return for another week of ATHs. In this episode: Coindesk acquires Tradeblock The OCC says that banks can use public blockchains and stablecoins We digest the OCC letter Potential drawbacks to the new OCC guidance Has Brian Brooks had the most successful regulatory term in recent memory? The Treasury's comment period expires Does the Treasury even have the authority to pass these new rules? Our favorite comment letters in response to the Treasury rules Does JPM's price call make them hypocrites on the topic of Bitcoin? Ripple's series C lead investor is suing Ripple Strike announces Strike Global How crypto-based fiat-to-fiat remittances work Our favorite quarterly investor letters Content mentioned in this episode: Coin Center, Supplemental Comments to FinCEN Neha Narula and Patrick Murck, Letter to FinCEN Fidelity Digital Assets, Letter to FinCEN Bill Miller, Q4 2020 Market Letter Stone Ridge, 2020 Shareholder Letter Matt Hougan and David Lawant, CFA research brief on Cryptoassets

Travis Schwab, the founder and CEO of Eventus Systems, a company specializing in trade surveillance, joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis' entrepreneurial journey and path to starting Eventus Systems How he came to see cryptoassets as a market opportunity Thoughts on current market structure, the role of exchanges, and the institutional readiness of this market How trade surveillance directly impacts the prospects of a Bitcoin ETF 2021 predictions To learn more about Eventus visit their website. 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.

Matt and Nic return for the first roundup of 2021. In this episode: Why some funds might be buying Bitcoin at year end Are Ripple fans buying Bitcoin? Are fair launches obsolete? Vaneck files for a new Bitcoin ETF CME futures are officially the most liquid futures market BitGo pays a fine to OFAC Exchanges start delisting XRP Will exchanges face repercussions for listing securities? Why being a security dooms the cross-border settlement use case for XRP Which Bitcoin skeptic we'd like to flip the most

Brian Venturo is the CTO of CoreWeave, the largest North American GPU miner, which also doubles as a cloud infrastructure firm for general computation. In this episode: How Brian went from hobbyist Ethereum mining to wielding a fleet of 50,000 GPUs How Core Weave was able to cheaply acquire GPUs from insolvent mining farms The implications of the Ethereum DAG file growing beyond 4 GB and its effect on miners The effect of the looming PoS transition on miner decision-making Why Core Weave specifically limited their GPU fleet to NVIDIAs with more memory Brian's stance on Ethereum's transition to Proof of Stake Are miners pro-cyclical or counter-cyclical? Does Core Weave hold inventory in the coins they mine or do they divest them immediately? Brian's options based model for pricing hardware The mini gold rush happening in publicly traded mining firms Brian's opinion on hashrate swaps or derivatives How Core Weave is transitioning from purely mining based to public cloud services The feasibility of GPU miners moving into cloud computing Core Weave's plans to train an open source version of GPT-3 Brian's view of the role of miners in the Ethereum ecosystem The motivations behind monetary-related EIPs in Ethereum Brian's analysis of incentives to make Ethereum deflationary Why Proof of Work is an underrated distribution method Brian's position on increasing the gas limit Why tinkering with the fee market is counterproductive in terms of transactional efficiency The relationship between blockspace and fee revenue for miners Brian's thoughts on EIP 1559 and whether it increases Ethereum's security Brian's view on the pace of ethereum development Why Proof of Work launches are preferable to liquidity mining launches The current state of the ASIC v GPU debate Brian's retrospective on the Grin launch Why Core Weave is not interested in miner-extractable value (MEV) 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.

Craig Warmke is an assistant professor of philosophy at Northern Illinois University. He has written several papers on the subject of Bitcoin, both pertaining to the question of what Bitcoin actually is. We cover Craig's papers (linked below) and explore the role for philosophers in Bitcoin. How Craig realized there was an opportunity for philosophy in Bitcoin Other philosophers writing about Bitcoin Why philosophers don't take Bitcoin seriously The Bitcoin-related questions where philosophers can weigh in The risk of epistemic trespassing Why Satoshi may have been wrong when they defined an electronic coin as a 'chain of digital signatures' How Satoshi made a critical engineering decision which differentiated Bitcoin from prior e-cash systems Why units of Bitcoin cannot be tracked over time through the ledger – and why this matters Why Bitcoin tracks quantities of a substance, rather than discrete, individual units of Bitcoin Craig's stylized model of Bitcoin Why Craig describes Bitcoin as 'fictional substance in an ongoing and massively coauthored book' Why Bitcoin being 'fictional' does not delegitimize it at all How Craig's model extends to stablecoins Why Bitcoin's liability-freeness is so important, and distinguishes it from other monetary assets The practical significance of determining what Bitcoin is How Craig's analysis helps demystify chain splits How ETH 2.0 sheds light on the debate over Bitcoin's identity The greatest threat to Bitcoin Is Bitcoin the protocol a democratic phenomenon? Are there knowable facts about what the nature of Bitcoin is? Referenced in this episode: Craig Warmke, What is Bitcoin, forthcoming in Inquiry Craig Warmke, Electronic Coins George Selgin, Synthetic Commodity Money Martin Glazier, In Blockchain We Trust?

Nic and Matt return for a special Christmas episode of OTB. In this episode: Jay Clayton steps down and Elad Roisman takes over as interim SEC Chair We analyse the Treasury's proposed rule on VASPs and crypto transactions Why the FinCEN rule imposes greater demands on crypto transactions than cash as far as surveillance is concerned Are the proposed workarounds between VASPs and defi asset pools viable? Our book recommendation on the politicization of the Treasury Our analysis of the SEC complaint against Ripple How bad is the SEC complaint for Ripple? Some of the most damning quotes from the SEC complaint The significance of the SEC extending the statute of limitations with Ripple Our theory for why the SEC waited so long to sue Ripple Implications for exchanges facilitating the trading of XRP A development on 15c3-3 We revisit our predictions for 2020 and issue new predictions for 2021 Content mentioned in this episode: The Treasury's proposed rule on crypto wallets The Presidential Working Group's statement on stablecoins The SEC complaint against Ripple Labs The Tokendaily 2021 Crystal Ball 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.

Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Bitwise's new OTC trust product "BITW" The state of play for cryptoasset adoption in the RIA channel The evolving thesis for Bitcoin and other cryptoassets Prospects for a Bitcoin ETF in 2021 To learn more visit Bitwise Asset Management and follow Matt on Twitter. 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.

Matt and Nic return to cover a blockbuster week of ATHs. We invite a pseudonymous bond trader to give a rebuttal to our somewhat misguided take on the Microstrategy bond offering on last week's episode. Also in this episode: Our take on the STABLE Act (again) Are balances on the Dunkin and Starbucks apps stablecoins Paxos raises a $142m Series C SBI acquires B2C2 The BITW premium explodes Ruffer's telling reasons for investing $740m in Bitcoin The CME announces ETH futures ... three years to the day since the CME Bitcoin Futures launch Did the CME futures pop the 2017 Bitcoin bubble? We screwed up with our take on the MSTR bond offering We revisit the MSTR convertible note Who is buying the MSTR fixed income offering? Coinbase inches towards an IPO ErisX introduces sports-based futures contracts Why onions aren't a commodity Bitcoin values are American values Content mentioned: Nic in Coindesk, Nationalizing Stablecoins Won't Improve Financial Access

Compliance expert Amber Scott joins the show to explain why crypto-firms are systematically excluded from the bank sector in Canada. In this episode: Our objective in launching a series on bank suppression of the crypto industry The current bank landscape in Canada Why crypto firms struggle to get access to banking in Canada Why money transmitters face a more burdensome treatment from banks What derisking is and why it is so common Whether MSBs and crypto firms deserve the treatment they get from banks Why derisking often forces crypto firms into using grey market payment processors, exposing them to the risk of fraud The underlying reasons for reluctance on the part of banks to bank crypto firms Why informal guidance from regulators is so critical How US regulations are structurally imported into Canada How a service provider called Central One imports US policy for thousands of credit unions Follow Amber on Twitter and learn more about Outlier Canada.

Nic and Matt return to cover an avalanche of news and deals. In this episode: Blockstack's transmutation Bitso raises $62m Matt breaks down the Microstrategy bond offering Mass Mutual buys $100m worth of Bitcoin through NYDIG A bipartisan group of Representatives asked Jay Clayton for clarity on broker dealer custody for cryptoassets The looming crackdown on noncustodial wallets from Treasury The effect of requiring transactional metadata for on-chain transactions More comments on the STABLE Act Matt's plan to primary Stephen Lynch via Dunkin talkin points Would the STABLE Act kill Dunkin Donuts? Why Bitcoin is pristine collateral Fidelity Digital Assets partners up with BlockFi for Bitcoin-backed loans Bitwise launches their index fund Square goes carbon neutral Standard Chartered launches a crypto trading service Singapore's DBS bank launches a crypto exchange Paxos and BitPay file for national bank charters The Financial Times changes their tune on BTC Our call for data portability legislation

Muneeb Ali, cofounder of Blockstack, joins the show to talk about the launch of Stacks 2.0 and its evolution from a securities offering to a freely tradable instrument in the U.S. New developments with Stacks and a novel legal opinion What constitutes sufficient decentralization and how Blockstack took cues from regulators Why Blockstack felt empowered to list their token on public US exchanges The current state of Blockstack governance Reflections on Ethereum's purported transmutation How Blockstack did the first reg A+ securities offering for a cryptoasset Why securities registration is worthwhile for token issuance Whether the SEC disclosure framework is suitable for the issuance of a token Alternative disclosure and securities offering frameworks for registered token issuance Whether Blockstack was willing to treat Stacks as a security in perpetuity Why security tokens haven't taken off in the US so far The evolution from Stacks 1.0 to Stacks 2.0, and the differences between the two Why Blockstack chose to build on Bitcoin, and how they managed to do so in an efficient manner Why Blockstack chose not to build a distinct chain in its own right Why Bitcoin's inflexibility as a base layer makes it a suitable underlying protocol How Muneeb thinks about Stacks value accrual Blockstack's transaction-based consensus mechanism relying on Bitcoin Why Blockstack chose not to use OP_RETURN The relationship between Blockstack usage and BTC value accrual Muneeb's response to the criticism of their regulated token issuance model Key readings: Wilson Sonsini's Summary of Memorandum Regarding the Status of the Stacks Tokens Upon Adoption of Stacks Blockchain 2.0 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.

Mustafa Yilham, VP of global business development at Bixin, joins the show. Bixin is an early Asia-based Bitcoin miner; they operate a popular wallet app, and they run a Bitcoin-denominated quant fund of funds. We cover prevailing myths around industrial Bitcoin mining and the reality of sourcing energy at competitive prices for mining. In this episode: The story behind Bixin's Bitcoin-denominated quant fund How Bixin's fund of fund employs a Bitcoin benchmark Why Bixin as a firm is not market neutral and does not hedge their mining operation Whether miners have a procyclical or countercyclical effect on the price of Bitcoin Whether or not miners are fundamentally long Bitcoin The key considerations for finding a good source of electricity for mining Why Central Asia, Russia, and North America are promising locations for mining Why Mustafa expects more hashpower to end up in North America in the near term The factors leading Mustafa to expect less hashrate concentration in China in the future Whether the CBECI mining map is a reliable guide to where mining is located Miner attitudes to Iran and OFAC Current electricity prices required to competitively mine What sold out hardware means for the price of Bitcoin Was the hashrate drop earlier this year was due to the seasonal migration of hashpower in China? Bixin's approach to seasonal electricity costs Whether the withdrawal issues at Okex and Huobi prevented miners from selling and 'caused' the recent Bitcoin rally Mustafa's take on the "China controls Bitcoin" narrative Why Bitcoin mining is getting progressively more decentralized Why Bitcoin miners are positively disposed towards Bitcoin Whether Bixin plans to support Taproot Mustafa's view on who controls Bitcoin Mustafa's experiences in Turkey and why it is so popular there Why central asian and post-Soviet households like gold 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.