On The Brink with Castle Island

Pat Larsen, cofounder and CEO of ZenLedger joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Pat's entrepreneurial journey and the path that led him to start Zenledger The current state of cryptoasset tax regulation Perspectives on emerging consumer use cases and new applications for cryptoassets To learn more about ZenLedger visit their website and to receive a 15% discount on your tax prep this year use the coupon code "Castle15"

Noah Buxton, director and co-lead of Armanino's blockchain practice and Jeremy Nau, senior manager of the practice join the show. Armanino LLP is an accounting and audit firm that has developed proof of reserve tools for exchanges and custodians, as well as real time attestation tools for stablecoins. In this episode, we cover: How Armanino came to engage with crypto financial companies Why Proof of Reserve matters to the industry How a modern Proof of Reserve process is mechanically carried out Why exchanges are looking to adopt PoR today Why the first round of PoR didn't stick Why the Liability side is so tricky Why involve an auditor in a PoR process Whether PoR inherently requires an audit or accounting firm Proof of Reserve as a way to avoid onerous regulation Armanino's real time assurance tool for Trust Token

Matt and Nic cover the top stories of the week. In this episode: An update on our office plant River Financial raises a seed round, and our thesis on Bitcoin financial institutions Microsoft ION launches on mainnet Private keys as private property Wisdomtree's commodity ETF... feat. Bitcoin Another ICO bites the dust Former CFTC chairman Giancarlo says Ripple isn't a security XRP... was it created or discovered? What cryptodollars mean for utility tokens

David Nage, Principal and Head of Strategic Relations at Arca joins the show. In this episode we discuss: David's experience in the family office channel and his path to the crypto industry His upcoming FO256 family office virtual conference on June 24th Podcasting and content creation as a complement to investing in the blockchain industry To learn more about David check out his Base Layer podcast and follow him @DavidJNage

Ryan Rabaglia has had a colorful career trading forex, equity, and oil before making his way into the cryptocurrency markets. He's witnessed crypto develop from a niche, uninvestable curiosity to a liquid and financialized global asset. Now Managing Director and Global Head of Trading at OSL, one of the largest digital asset brokerages in the world, Ryan has a unique view of crypto markets. We invited Ryan on the show to talk his personal journey to crypto, how he established himself at a leading digital asset platform in Hong Kong, and of course his market color on the dollarization of crypto markets, and how Tether is understood and used in Asia. In this episode: Ryan's journey from commodity trading to Bitcoin Ryan's explanation for Tether's explosive growth since March How funds play the Tether arbitrage game The compression of margins in OTC desks Where Tether's accumulated credibility derives from Whether there is a perception that Tether would resist regulators if it came to a fight Whether cryptodollars are forcing out BTC as reserve collateral How March 12 was a catalyst for the growth of Tether The growth of alternative use cases for Tether outside of inter-exchange settlement Why traders prefer dollars, regardless of jurisdiction Follow Ryan on Twitter. About OSL: OSL is an Asia-based digital asset brokerage that provides a global counterpart network with a suite of institutional products and services. OSL's capabilities include industry-leading over-the-counter trading with access to large pools of liquidity, systematic RFQ, exchange and custody services for institutions and professional investors. OSL is part of BC Group, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong. Learn more about OSL at osl.com.

Matt and Nic review the stories of the week, featuring special guest Christine Sandler, head of Sales and Marketing at Fidelity Digital assets. Christine joins the show to discuss Fidelity's newly-released survey of institutional investor attitudes on digital assets. We talk about what FDAS is up to, client enthusiasm for the asset class, and how institutions are thinking about it today. Also covered in the episode: The Web3 dream – does it require blockchains? Bank Frick adds support for USDC Rebranding stablecoins to cryptodollars Bitcoin Billionaires is greenlit for a movie Other events in Bitcoin history which are movie worthy Three Arrows owns 6.26% of GBTC The fate of the GBTC 'premium trade' and the in-kind contribution Stephanie Kelton's NYT op-ed and unspoken constraints on MMT Coinbase is at a crossroads

Mark Casady, cofounder and General Partner at Vestigo Ventures, and former Chairman and CEO of LPL Financial joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mark's career in financial services and the path that led him to becoming CEO of the world's largest independent broker-dealer The evolution of the financial advice industry Mark's thesis on Fintech and founding Vestigo Ventures Blockchain and cryptoassets in the broader world of fintech To learn more about Vestigo Ventures visit their website, and follow Mark on Twitter @MSCasady

So far on the crypto-dollarization miniseries, we've covered Tether's stability mechanics, we've heard from traders and OTC desks using the asset, but we haven't heard from the issuers of the stablecoin itself. To give us insight into how they run the system, Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, joins the show. In this episode: The factors behind the outflow of BTC and inflow of ETH to Bitfinex Fork futures for ETH 2.0? Bitfinex' policy on staking on behalf of users The principal-agent problem inherent in exchange staking Whether the growth of crypto dollars threatens native collateral like BTC and ETH Paolo's explanation for the growth of tether after March 12th 2020 The advantages of cryptodollars over the current financial system Why Tether opted to list on 7 different blockchains (note: this was recorded before Tether listed on OmiseGo) Paolo's view on the claims that Tether is clogging Ethereum How Tether Gold works Could Tether go from $9b to $100b – what the constraints to scaling are Tether's ability and willingness to surveil transations Tether's business model in a negative rate world How Paolo deals with the pressure of being the public figurehead for Tether Stay up to date on the growth of Tether's capitalization here.

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. In today's episode: Avanti Bank's raise and Wyoming's Special Purpose Depository Institution regulation GBTC eating up the new supply Bloomberg's commentary on Bitcoin Hester Pierce is re-nominated to the SEC The prospects for blockchain games The Section 230 debate, and how that intersects with Web3 Social media and digital property rights The continued normalization of Bitcoin as a global macro asset

Apolline Blandin, cryptocurrency research lead at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, joins the show. In this episode: The Cambridge AltFin research agenda The motivation behind the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index How they determine Bitcoin's electricity consumption How Bitcoin's energy usage can be understood in context The genesis of their new geographical mining estimates Why high granularity estimates of mining location are so important to determine its energy mix How and why Bitcoin hashpower migrates on a seasonal basis Why there is so much spare hydro capacity in Sichuan and Yunnan Surprising country-level findings The most defensible academic approaches Apolline has seen so far Why the per-transaction cost estimates of Bitcoin are misleading The prospects for wind, solar, and natural gas for bitcoin mining

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry, featuring special guest Matt Hougan, global head of research at Bitwise. In today's episode: Tagomi is acquired by Coinbase Matt Hougan's response to Goldman's bearish note What wealth managers are saying about Bitcoin today Light at the end of the tunnel in the CSW saga? BitClave's punishing SEC settlement Calibra rebrands A new paper on Bitcoin Vaults

Dan Matuszewski, Principal and Co-Founder of CMS Holdings joins the show once again. Since he last appeared, the market has been through some gut-wrenching turmoil, and Tether (one of the subjects of the first episode) has tacked on a casual $5B in market cap. Dan, alongside his colleagues at CMS, has also joined the Crypto Twitter fray. In this episode: Why Dan relented and started a twitter account Dan's explanation for the massive growth of Tether since March Whether there is non-crypto business occuring in Tether What we can expect for the Tether-denominated futures markets if it trades below par How Dan thinks about using Tether on Omni versus Ethereum versus Tron What Dan makes of the rise in CME open interest

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. In this week's episode: The story behind bitcoin pizza day The impact of hashrate futures Genesis Capital's acquisition of Vo1t and what that means for their business Why the DTCC should get into crypto Brian Brooks becoming acting Comptroller of the currency Our analysis of the coins from feb. 2009 reawakening Our theory for why those ancient coins might be moving now The great Bitcoin energy consumption debate Nic gets unblocked by CZ

Tim Kelly, founder and CEO of BitOoda joins the show. BitOoda is a financial services firm that is innovating in the field of structured products based on Bitcoin hashrate and difficulty. In this show we discuss: Tim's career background and the similarities he sees with cryptoassets vs. other asset classes he has traded The mining ecosystem and how derivative contracts solve real business needs The evolving market structure for cryptoasset derivatives and Tim's view on the regulatory landscape To learn more about BitOoda visit: http://bitooda.io/

Nic and Matt cover the week's deals and news. In this episode: Bitcoin full node count Celo and the viability of seigniorage shares stablecoins Telegram winding down their TON project Why we think the SAFT window of opportunity is closed Why the SAFT is just ICOs in a suit Why the next global monetary asset will never be massively premined and disproportionately owned by VC funds How the success of Bitcoin drove VC funds crazy Stablecoins pass $10B ErisX announces Ethereum physically settled futures How futures contracts would handle contested hard forks The importance of JPM banking Coinbase and Gemini Our retrospective on the halving What we're reading and listening to this week Why we don't believe in space mining

Peer to peer marketplaces are a wealth of data on genuine demand for Bitcoin – but not in the way you might think. As it turns out, a large fraction of the volume in these markets relates to complex, multi-step trades designed to use Bitcoin as a bridge currency to move fiat-denominated remittances, especially into countries like Venezuela. Matt Ahlborg, data scientist and creator of UsefulTulips.org, has done great work compiling this data and engaging with these traders to determine what exactly is happening on these opaque marketplaces, and what Bitcoin is being used for. In this episode we cover: How Matt went from working in the Navy to pursuing a career in Bitcoin data science Why p2p exchange volume is more reliable What a massive blackout in Venezuela tells us about foreign exchange flows in Latin America How exactly Bitcoin works as a bridge currency on p2p exchanges The under-reported role of Chinese exporters in Venezuela on LocalBitcoins Matt's investigation into how Argentine capital controls are driving p2p Bitcoin volumes Why Bitcoin still dominates in p2p markets rather than stablecoins Why p2p volumes are likely significantly larger than the reported numbers

In this episode, we talk to Patrick Dugan, coiner of the term 'crypto-dollarization'. Patrick has a wealth of knowledge regarding stablecoins and the prospects for public blockchains to carry fiat-denominated value. Covered in this episode: His formative experiences living under capital controls in Argentina How Patrick's time in LatAm taught him about dollarization Political drivers of the dollar's predominance in LATAM How Patrick realized that crypto-dollarization would be important Patrick's experiences working for the Omni Layer Foundation Patrick's analysis of the earliest stablecoins like BitUSD, Nubits, and Tether (Omni) Patrick's analysis of the stablecoin models which are most likely to succeed long-term Likely geopolitical effects of crypto-dollarization

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Renowned commodities investor Paul Tudor Jones announces his intent to trade Bitcoin and releases a Bitcoin thesis NEAR protocol gets funded Are fair launches dead? The under-appreciated merit of PoW issuance Libra's new CEO hire Wyoming's Special-Purpose Depository Institution legislation The privacy-auditability tradeoff in blockchains Whether the growth of stablecoins threatens the security model of public blockchains Thoughts on the imminent halving Our guess of who the next high profile hedge fund investor will be to flip bullish on Bitcoin

The question of Tether's influence on crypto markets has long vexed practitioners and academics. In a widely-publicized 2018 paper, academics Griffin and Shams allege that Tether was being issued collusively, effectively increasing the price of Bitcoin beyond its natural level. To learn how Tether behaves like a currency board, and to assess the veracity of the Griffin & Shams hypothesis in light of new data, we brought Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj on to the show. Ganesh is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, covering international finance and macroeconomics, with a focus on foreign exchange derivatives, market microstructure and cryptocurrencies. Find the full text of the paper here, and follow Ganesh's work on his personal website.

Marcos Veremis, Managing Director at Evanston Capital Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Marcos' time at Cambridge Associates and how he came to lead cryptoasset research at the firm His perspectives on the various investment theses that are gaining traction with institutional allocators Fund structure, strategy and other crypto-fund considerations To learn more about Evanston Capital Management visit their website

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Deals of the week The SEC's court battle against the SAFT on two fronts Ebang's IPO announcement a16z Crypto's new fund FTX's entry into the US Telegram's new offer to investors Brian Quintenz leaves the CFTC

Moiz Kohari, the co-founder and CEO of Manetu, a company building a Consumer Privacy Management (CPM) platform for enterprises to manage personally identifiable information (PII) joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Moiz's recent experience contracting COVID-19 His motivation to start Manetu after holding high profile roles at State Street, London Stock Exchange and Novell Data privacy and the challenges enterprises face complying with upcoming regulations The state of blockchain and cryptoasset projects at large financial firms Learn more about Manetu at www.manetu.com

Peter Johnson, Head of Fintech and Crypto Investing at Jump Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Peter's fintech thesis and the categories that he is most excited about Jump Trading's crypto journey and how Jump Capital works with the core trading business Cryptoasset market infrastructure and the categories that need to exist in order for this industry to thrive Learn more about Jump Capital at www.jumpcap.com and follow Peter @TheChicagoVC

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Deals of the week Our changing view of the halving Renaissance Technologies' announcement that they have the capacity to trade Bitcoin Our reaction to Mark Andreessen's "It's Time To Build" The dForce hack Ripple's lawsuit against Youtube Nic's defense of Coors Light

Michael Sonnenshein, Managing Director at Grayscale Investments joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Grayscale's record quarter, raising $503.7 million in Q1 2020 The pace of institutional adoption of passively managed crypto asset products Thoughts on Libra, the halvening and other upcoming events in the cryptoasset industry Learn more about Grayscale at Grayscale.co and follow them on Twitter @GrayscaleInvest

Sal Ternullo, Director and Cryptoasset Services Co-Lead at KPMG joins the show. In this episode we discuss: KPMG's cryptoasset practice and the types of engagements they are leading for large enterprises Sal's views on cryptoassets and security tokens including barriers to adoption for enterprises The outlook for M&A activity in this industry Learn more about KPMG's cryptoasset practice here.

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Deal activity More bailout angst A discussion of Libra's second iteration The lawsuit against the Maker Foundation Grayscale's monster Q1 Blogs we enjoyed reading this week

Bob Davis, the founder of Lycos and General Partner at Highland Capital Partners joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Bob's entrepreneurial journey, from taking Lycos from founding to IPO in 9 months, to an eventual $5.5 billion exit Perspectives on the venture industry and the impact of COVID-19 on the capital formation environment Comparisons of the blockchain industry to the early internet era General thoughts on Bitcoin's macro narrative and the evolution of the market infrastructure to support this asset Learn more about Highland Capital Partners at www.hcp.com

Brian Klein, trial attorney at Baker Marquart, joins the show. Brian has represented clients in the crypto industry since 2014 and has been involved in some of the most impactful cases in that time. In this episode: How he got his start at the San Jose bitcoin conference in 2013 Representing Erik Voorhees in a case relating to SatoshiDice Whether the SEC has provided sufficient clarity on the application of the Howey test to token issuance Brian's view on the Hinman guidance on the security to commodity transmutation Brian's take on the SAFT Brian's take on disclosure in the industry The little-known variables that affect sentencing outcomes in criminal cases Brian's experiencing representing Marcus Hutchins Why Brian allocates so much time and effort to pro bono cases

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Fidelity connecting to ErisX The sad fate of office plants Gold mining on asteroids More crypto dollarization The class action suits against Bitfinex, Block One, and others Retail vs institutional buying of Bitcoin The best articles published this week and much more

Tom Jessop, the President of Fidelity Digital Asset Services and Tom Chippas, the CEO of ErisX join the podcast. In this episode we discuss: - Today's announcement that Fidelity Digital Assets is now connecting to ErisX as a venue for procuring cryptoassets - General perspectives on how COVID-19 impacts blockchain companies - Fidelity and ErisX's respective roadmaps and plans for 2020 Learn more about ErisX at www.ErisX.com Learn more about Fidelity Digital Assets at www.fidelitydigitalassets.com

Alex Treece, the president and cofounder of Zabo, joins the show. How a background in private equity equipped him to think about crypto as a asset class Why Alex founded his startup, Zabo Why there are so few successful examples of utility tokens How tokens sit in the asset class taxonomy Why token value accretion is reliant on an informal contract with the issuer Distinctions between tokens that represent real world securities and natively accretive cash flow tokens which resemble securities Why he's thinks that blockbuster token sales are a thing of the past Revisiting his old prediction that Bitcoin would outperform in a recession

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: Binance's acquisition of CoinMarketCap Factom's insolvency Telegram's latest setback in court Recent stablecoin growth Nic's piece on bailouts in Coindesk and much more news of the week

Adam Draper, co-founder of BoostVC, an accelerator and venture fund focused on Sci-Fi technologies joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Adam's advice for portfolio companies navigating the current COVID 19 crisis - His thesis on Virtual Reality and what categories he is most excited about - His journey in crypto, from being an early investor in Coinbase to present - Book recommendations Learn more about Boost at Boost.vc and follow Adam on Twitter @adamdraper

Larry White, economics professor at George Mason University and senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, joins the show to discuss free banking, the history of dollarization, and the prospects for a crypto-native banking system. In this episode: - Why CBDCs might not be a good idea - The legacy of dollarization in Ecuador - How the Scottish free banking system worked - What would have to change for free banking to re-emerge today - The prospects for Bitcoin banks issuing notes – and one problem with the idea - The prospects for restoring a cash-like standard of privacy and autonomy in a digital context - The prospects for crypto-dollarization

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals of the Week - Dislocations in the gold markets - The effects of the -16% difficulty adjustments in BTC - Thoughts on the stimulus package - Quarantine reading suggestions and much more news of the week

Jurrien Timmer, the Director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments, joins the podcast. In this episode we discuss: - Jurrien's career trajectory and how he became the Director of Global Macro at Fidelity - His views on the current crisis in the context of other dislocations he has seen in his 25+ year career - Perspectives on the unprecedented interventions that we are seeing from the Federal government - The outlook for Gold, Bitcoin and other store of value assets - A best and worst case scenario for a recovery. Follow Jurrien: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jurrien-timmer-fidelity/ - https://twitter.com/TimmerFidelity

David Vorick, the founder of Nebulous and the blockchain Sia, joins the show to discuss Sia and its latest layer 2, Skynet. We also cover David's experience as an ASIC manufacturer, and what he learned about blockchain security models and the merits of ASICs versus GPUs. In this episode: How Sia is different from other decentralized storage platforms Different models for financing protocol development The story behind Nebulous' settlement with the SEC How Skynet represents the completion of the original vision for Sia David's experience manufacturing ASICs for Sia and Decred – and his clash with Bitmain David's proposal to launch new blockchains with 'protectionist' mining in place

Open Money Initiative founder Alejandro Machado joins the show to explain how Bitcoin is actually used in Venezuela, and how the country is dollarizing in real time. In this episode: How a power cut has been linked to a recent dollarization movement in Venezuela, and how dollar usage became decriminalized Whether dollarization has improved the prospects of everyday Venezuelans Why Maduro is actually in favor of partial dollarization How bitcoin allows you to import a system of credible property rights Why bitcoin still has a relatively low level of penetration in Venezuela Why stablecoins have not made a dent in Venezuela so far

Patrick South, VP of Development at the Chamber of Digital Commerce joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The mission of the Chamber of Digital Commerce and the policy initiatives that the organization is advocating for The line of demarcation between security and non-security tokens and a possible path forward for a safe harbor provision The potential impact of the travel rule and FATF guidelines Patrick's quarantine book and show recommendations

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Market Commentary - Deals of the Week - Attestiv, Coase and other news - Quarantine Tips and much more news of the week

Nicos Vekiarides, the cofounder and CEO of Attestiv joins the show. Attestiv is a company that builds software to prove the authenticity of photos and videos using public blockchains to timestamp these records. In this podcast we discuss: - The benefits of public blockchains as public notary systems - Use cases for deep fake detection in the insurance industry - Tooling and user experience building on public blockchains Learn more about Attestiv at www.attestiv.com

Douglas Jackson, the founder of E-gold, arguably the first widely-used electronic medium of exchange, appears on the show. In this episode we discuss: - Douglas' motivations for starting E-gold - His disagreements with his cypherpunk contemporaries - Why private monetary issuers might be more responsible than public ones - The challenge of creating an open payments system which is also compliant - His critiques of stablecoins and native-unit cryptocurrencies

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Market Turmoil - Market Infrastructure - Deals and much more news of the week

Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and CEO of Circle joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Jeremy's entrepreneurial journey and the original vision for Circle - The geopolitical impact of US Dollars on public blockchains - The goals of USDC - Circle Platform Services, a new product launching today - The regulatory environment globally for cryptoassets and much more

Matthew Le Merle, the co-founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era, Keiretsu Capital and Blockchain Coinvestors joins the podcast. In this episode we discuss: - Matthew's career arc and how he came to understand the potential impact of blockchain technology - Building Blockchain Coinvestors, and the investment strategy of investing in blockchain venture capital funds - Predictions and analysis on institutional custody, stablecoins, Bitcoin adoption in emerging markets and more Learn more about Matthew and Blockchain Coinvestors at: https://www.blockchaincoinvestors.com/

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals of the week - India's Supreme Court Ruling - South Korea regulation - OFAC issues - Treasury meeting with industry leaders and much more news of the week

Joseph Jacks of OSS Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - What constitutes commercial open source, and how this differs from regular open source projects - the history of the open source software movement - why programmers contribute unpaid to open source projects - whether tokens are required to monetize open source OSS Capital: https://oss.capital/ The COSS Index: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17nKMpi_Dh5slCqzLSFBoWMxNvWiwt2R-t4e_l7LPLhU/edit#gid=0 Joseph's Twitter: https://twitter.com/asynchio

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals of the week - SEC denies another Bitcoin ETF - SEC whacks Steven Seagal - Ripple Moneygram payments - Central Bank Digital Currency - Binance jurisdiction shopping and much more news of the week

Sunayna Tuteja, the Head of Digital Assets and DLT at TD Ameritrade, appears on the show. On this episode we discuss: - What guides TD's decision making in this asset class - How they think about blockchain/DLT versus Bitcoin - Crypto ideology versus crypto agnosticism - Her career trajectory to date - Lessons from being a pilot