On The Brink with Castle Island

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 - Enigma settles with the SEC - Fcoin lost user funds - Tim Draper bought 2.5% of Aragon - DeFi infrastructure - Neel Kashkari's thoughts on crypto and much more news of the week

Balaji Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. He was formerly the CTO of Coinbase, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and the co-founder of Earn.com, Counsyl, Teleport and Coin Center. In this episode we discuss: - the 100x' crypto has delivered over traditional finance - how Balaji's views of what Bitcoin is good for have changed over time - the 'sovereign collective' versus the sovereign individual - whether Twitter is a functioning digital commonwealth and the prospects for Bluesky - why handles on social media might more closely resemble property than a platform - what Balaji is trying to achieve with nakamoto.com

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - BlockFi raise - Other deals - JPM spinout? - USDC and much more news of the week

Jake Chervinsky the General Counsel of Compound joins the podcast. In this episode we discuss: - The history of securities markets in the US - The Howey test in plain language - Whether commodities can transmute to securities, and vice versa - Why markets function best with regulation - The purpose of open finance - Being a bitcoiner at an ethereum-focused company

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 - U.S. Marshalls auction - ICE eyes Ebay - Crypto safe harbor? and much more news of the week

Alex Leishman, the cofounder and CEO of River Financial joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Why Alex started River Financial - Why they are Bitcoin only - Why other exchanges were so quick to list tokens - The role of banks in Bitcoin - Practical issues with implementing Proof of Reserves To learn more about River Financial visit: www.river.com

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Nic's Presidential Endorsement - Proof of Stake Tax Policy - Popper's NYT Article - Ripple IPO? - Super Bowl Picks and much more news of the week

Mike Moro, the CEO of Genesis Capital/Genesis Trading joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Mike's pre-Bitcoin career and his path to Second Market and then Genesis - POV on Bitcoin ETF viability - The state of play for cryptoasset market infrastructure - Cryptoasset lending ...and much more

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - new SPAC for Blockchain Co's - DigixDAO treasury liquidation - Bitcoin Investment Trust is now an SEC reporting company - Bcash dev funding proposal and much more news of the week

Hunter Merghart, the Head of USA Operations for Bitstamp joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Bitstamp's history and USA roadmap - Hunter's career path in trading and how he came to enter the cryptoasset market - Market infrastructure: where we are as an industry, and what needs to be built in order to support institutional adoption ...and much more

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - SEC Actions - Bitwise RIA report - Canada's Guidance on Exchanges - GBTC Q4 Report - Digital Dollar Think Tank and much more news of the week

Ryan Selkis, co-founder and CEO of Messari joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Ryan's Bitcoin origin story, including his early days blogging under the Two-Bit-Idiot handle - His experience at DCG / CoinDesk - Messari's mission to bring transparency to investors and participants in the public blockchain ecosystem - His 2020 Crypto Theses including M&A predictions Learn more about Messari at: https://messari.io/

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - AMA predictions fallout - Deribit moves to Panama - Telegram blog post and much more news of the week

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures answer listener questions on a range of topics

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Hedera Hashgraph Tokeneconomics Proposal - Iota goes down for 15 hours - Nic's Alternative Launch Blog Post - Crypto Banks and more

Dave Balter, co-founder and CEO of Flipside Crypto joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Dave's entrepreneurial journey to starting Flipside Crypto, his seventh company - His perspective on the public blockchains that are attracting meaningful users - His stance that many of these so-called protocols are actually companies And much more. Learn more about Flipside Crypto at: https://flipsidecrypto.com/

Joe Lallouz, co-founder and CEO of Bison Trails joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Joe's career trajectory and the path that led him and his co-founder Aaron to launch Bison Trails - Joe and Aaron's initial mining project in the Pacific Northwest - How Joe thinks about the landscape for infrastructure services in the public blockchain industry - The Libra Association (Bison Trails is a founding member) - Raising capital in the blockchain industry in 2019 Learn more about Bison Trails at: https://bisontrails.co/

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - ErisX's futures launch - PlusToken - Efficient Markets at the halvening? - Deals of the week and more

Terrence Dempsey, the Head of Product at Fidelity Digital Assets joins the show. In this episode we discuss: - Terrence's career trajectory, including his role at Second Market prior to Fidelity - Fidelity's product offering and ambitions in the cryptoasset industry - Terrence's views on the current state of play for market infrastructure

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - ICO Scammers and DOJ arrests - Charles Schwab Study - Jack Dorsey (Square and Twitter) - Poloniex cold wallets

Alex Pack, Co-Founder and General Partner at Dragonfly Capital joins the show. Alex has been investing in the cryptoasset/blockchain space since 2014, and prior to founding Dragonfly, led cryptoasset focused investments for Bain Capital Partners. In this episode we discuss: - The blockchain landscape in China - Dragonfly's investment thesis - Regulatory implications of starting a protocol - Stablecoins - The evolving nature of venture investing

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - North Korea Case - War Gaming Event at Harvard Kennedy School - Personnel Moves - Huobi PlusToken Dumping

Dan Matuszewski, Principal and Co-Founder of CMS Holdings joins the pod this week to discuss a range of topics. Dan was previously the Head of Circle Trade, one of the largest OTC desks in the cryptoasset industry. In this episode we discuss: - The secretive origins of Circle - Why banking was a big hindrance for early crypto companies - The genesis of Circle Trade and their relationship with Poloniex - Whether there is a market for 'virgin' coins - The nature of Tether and how it is used - The emergence of crypto volatility products

Investor and Entrepreneur John Pfeffer joined the pod this week to discuss his views on a range of topics, including: - Why he doesn't consider crypto to be an asset class - How he thinks about position sizing for Bitcoin - Why he doesn't believe in diversification within crypto - Why he thinks forks might be a virtuous feature of Bitcoin ... and much more. For those of you who have not read it yet, John's "An Institutional Investor's Take on Cryptoassets" is a must read.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Fidelity NYDFS approval - impact on ETF applications? - Binance - Ethereum Block Times

Ash Egan, a Partner at Accomplice joins the show to discuss cryptoasset investing approaches, DeFi, smart contract platforms, and the categories that he is the most excited about in 2020.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - SIM Swaps - China Blockchain News - New Front Doors to Financial Services - Gods Unchained

Christian Langalis and Logan Allen from Tlon join the show to discuss Urbit, the ambitious and somewhat mysterious computing project that they work on. We discuss how Bitcoin and Urbit could be mutually beneficial, how Urbit might free us from the tyrannical tech oligopolies, and why a from-scratch rewrite of Unix and the computing stack is necessary.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - News of the week - Tether Fud - Stablecoins

Nick Grossman is a Partner at Union Square Ventures, a firm that has been at the forefront of the public blockchain industry. We discuss Nick's thesis on public blockchains, the state of the regulatory landscape, the evolving competitive landscape in the smart contract platform category (i.e., Ethereum Killers), and much more. Learn more about Union Square Ventures at https://www.usv.com/, Follow Nick on Twitter @NickGrossman and his blog https://www.nickgrossman.is/

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Bakkt - R3 - Paxos no action letter - Derebit and Bitmex issues this week - SEC actions - Nic's Talk at Blockchain Week - Coin Metrics Nonce Analysis

Tom Lee, the Managing Partner and the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors joins the podcast. He is an accomplished Wall Street strategist with over 25 years of experience in equity research, and has been top ranked by Institutional Investor every year since 1998. Prior to co-founding Fundstrat, he served most recently as J.P. Morgan's Chief Equity Strategist from 2007 to 2014, and previously as Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney. We discuss the state of institutional readiness for cryptoassets, the state of the market, Facebook's efforts and much more. Learn more about Fundstrat at https://www.fundstrat.com/ For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Tom Chippas, the CEO of ErisX and Matt Trudeau, the Head of Strategy of ErisX join the show to discuss the evolving market structure for the trading and settlement of digital assets. We discuss the evolution of this market, the regulatory landscape, and what Tom and Matt are most excited about in the cryptoasset industry. Learn more about ErisX at https://www.erisx.com/ For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Facebook Testimony - Circle spins out Poloniex - Grayscale trade - Regulatory Talk

Zac Prince, the co-founder and CEO of BlockFi, a cryptoasset financial services firm joins the show. BlockFi provides wealth management solutions for cryptoasset investors, including interest bearing accounts, loans, and more. Learn more about BlockFi at www.blockfi.com For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Telegram SEC action - Libra defections - Grayscale product - CFTC Op-Ed

John Beccia, the co-founder and CEO of FS Vector, a regulatory compliance, public policy, and business strategy advisory firm helping fintech, regtech, financial institutions and cryptoasset startups, joins the show. Prior to FS Vector, John was the General Counsel and Head of Regulatory Compliance at Circle. Learn more about FS Vector at https://www.fsvector.com/ For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Bitwise ETF Ruling - IRS Tax Guidance - Ripple - Xapo hire - Flipside Crypto and Placeholder VC - State Street

Hunter Horsley, the co-founder and CEO of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show to discuss the crypto-asset-management landscape, the macro thesis for cryptoassets, and the state of play for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF proposal. Learn more about Bitwise Asset Management at: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com/ For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - EOS - Sia - Crypto Ratings Council - Hedera - State Street

James Prestwich, the founder of Summa joins the show to discuss blockchain interoperability, developer incentives, and how economic interests can influence the protocol development process. For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Deals - Kin - Abra - CME - Bitcoin Hash Rate

Spencer Bogart, General Partner at Blockchain Capital, joins the show to discuss his current views on Bitcoin, Smart Contract Platforms, Ethereum, and advice for those who are looking to enter a career in the cryptoasset industry. For more information please visit our website at www.castleisland.vc and follow us on Twitter @CastleIslandVC.

Matt and Nic from Castle Island Ventures review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week's topics include: - Steve Nerayoff - ICOBox - VanEck/SolidX ETF Filing - Square - Wells Fargo - Monero ASICS (Chart)