On The Brink with Castle Island

Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Strijers joins the show to talk about their new Proof of Reserve rollout. In this episode: Why Deribit decided to do a PoR What were the considerations going into it? What made Deribit cautious about the procedure? Which PoRs did Deribit look at for inspiration? Has Deribit received client feedback from the procedure so far? How does Deribit demonstrate asset ownership? Unique among exchanges, Deribit was able to do a PoR for all of your assets, and on a daily basis. How did they manage this? Why Deribit chose to release the full list of liabilities How does Deribit achieve end user privacy given the full liability dump? What data, if any, is leaked by the attestation? Did you look at audit firms in terms of supervising the PoR? Why did you go the auditless approach? Does Luuk anticipate moving to ZK proofs for liabilities eventually? How can PoR be improved? Related episodes: OTB 180, The Auditor view of PoR OTB 212, The Proof of Reserve Restoration OTB 283, Jeremy Welch (Kraken) on Contemporary Proofs of Reserve Related content: Nic Carter on Medium, The Status of Proof of Reserve as of Year End 2022

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: What's happening with Proof of Reserves? Will BTC and ETH have another fee crisis? Nishad Singh has met with the SDNY in a proffer session The SEC is investigating VC funds that invested in FTX FTX debtors and the Bahamas announced a cooperation agreement FTX announced that it has recovered over $5 billion in assets thus far Gemini and DCG continue to face off Cameron Winklevoss' letter to DCG Nexo is raided in Bulgaria for alleged money laundering Robinhood is dropping support for Bitcoin SV DCG is under investigation from the SEC Mike Novogratz wants to punch disgraced crypto titans in the face Crypto charity boxing We review Ace Ventura: Pet Detective SBF starts a Substack Japanese retail sours on crypto Should there be more charity boxing in crypto? The state of crypto podcast sponsors Content mentioned in this episode: Ria on Mirror, Reviving Trust in Crypto Coinbase, 2023 Crypto Market Outlook Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: A call for on-chain archeology Nic's scuppered NYE plans More news from the FTX crime family Who is SBF's mystery bail benefactor? SBF pleads not guilty SBF is prohibited from moving further FTX/Alameda assets SBF had four meetings with White House staffers regarding pandemic preparedness New inductees into the Bad Boys club Nic's pickleball confession We revisit the 42 yard field goal challenge The Bahamas regulators wrangle with Jon Ray regarding FTX assets The SEC steps in to stop the voyager deal The House fails to elect a speaker NYDFS fines Coinbase $50m for deficient compliance DCG and Gemini's wrangle India's new crypto framework What's happening with the institutionalization of crypto? Content mentioned in this episode: Sean Judge on Medium, Reasons to remain bullish after a year in crypto hell Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Galaxy acquires the Helios miner facility from Argo Consolidating in the miner space A new bad boy bursts onto the scene Avraham Eisenberg is arrested in Puerto Rico Should it be illegal to exploit defi contracts, even if you reach an agreement with the DAO? Craig Wright's case against Peter McCormack SBF is slated to enter a plea What's the deal with IEX and FTX? Nic's Michael Lewis conspiracy The FTX blockfolio acquisition was mostly financed with FTT The cold snap causes Bitcoin hashrate to decline around 40% in a week Exchanges are unbundling custody and order matching Our predictions for 2023 Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Are stablecoins still a priority in DC? The rise of the FUDfluencer Sam agrees to be extradited Did the SDNY wait for Sam to be extradited to release Caroline's plea deal? Alameda was siphoning FTX funds from day 1 What's the deal with Modulo Capital? Is Gerald Cotten back from the dead? Does Flashboys need a new chapter? What is going on with IEX? How did Michael Lewis not figure out something was up at FTX? Sen. Pat Toomey's stablecoin legislation Core Scientific files for bankruptcy Why the mining shakeout might lead to consolidation The Fed's stablecoin blog Visa's autopayments for non-custodial wallets Stablecoins are having a great year Where are the remaining FTX execs? Content mentioned: Coinbase, Regulating Crypto: How we move forward as an industry from here Visa, Auto Payments for Self-Custodial Wallets Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Minnesota Representative and newly elected House Whip Tom Emmer joins the show for a discussion of the FTX fallout, the House hearings, the SEC's behavior throughout the process, and developments in the House looking ahead to 2023. Rep. Emmer's thoughts on the House hearing with John Ray How the FTX collapse was about a failure of centralization How the timing of the SBF arrest was not coincidental - and who had an incentive to stop SBF testifying Why the Bahamian authorities may not have wanted SBF to testify The meaning of Rep. Emmer's march letter to Gensler and the SEC Chairman Gensler's role in the FTX scandal Has Gensler been concealing his calendar from the public? Gensler's poor track record over the crypto crisis Oddly close links between SEC Chair Gensler, FTX, and subsidiary exchange IEX House Republicans will gain the subpoena authority in the next legislative session and what they will do with it What are some of Emmer's responsibilities in his new role as Majority Whip? The importance of Rep. McHenry taking charge of the House financial services committee What are the prospects for stablecoin legislation? McHenry's likely crypto agenda for the new session Rep. Emmer's commitment to financial privacy Senator Warren's draft legislation and risks to the crypto ecosystem The importance of Rep. Emmer's Securities Clarity Act Modernizing a securities regulation regime for crypto How are Rep. Emmer's colleagues reacting to the FTX crisis The role of journalists in assessing the FTX situation Content mentioned in the episode Rep. Emmer & colleagues original March '22 letter to SEC Chair Gensler Rep. Emmer's annotations of the March letter in response to Gensler's criticisms

Matt and Nic are back for another wild week of news and deals. In this episode: Is SBF currently interned in a top 5 prison on earth? SBF is finally arrested We enumerate the charges from the SEC, CFTC, and DOJ What kind of sentence could Sam be looking at here? The CFTC's interesting argument for standing over FTX SBF is charged is campaign finance violations Confirming that Alameda did have latency and other advantages trading on FTX SBF's parents face growing scrutiny What's the deal with Gensler's calendar? Gensler comes under more scrunity for his FTX/IEX meetings Mr. John Ray is a new star of CT We have a new possible category for bad boys McCaffrey resigns from The Block after revealing loans from SBF Elizabeth Warren proposed a hostile anti-crypto bill Do Kwon is reportedly in Serbia The DOJ is reportedly split over charging Binance What's the deal with the Binance 'bank run'? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Matt and Nic return for another episode of news and deals. In this episode: Brink Nation's surprising fan club in Bali We investigate FTX's leaked private equity portfolio FTX employees were raising LP money for funds from FTX Why was FTX acting as a fund of funds? What is modulo capital The Michael Lewis - IEX - FTX troika Why did FTX invest $1b+ in Genesis Digital Assets? SBF's possible incentive to invest heavily in a BTC miner How FTX's mining investment disadvantaged other BTC miners Who has the size to buy up FTX's private equity portfolio? Sam and Caroline secure high powered attorneys The Boston Globe's Caroline Ellison article We correct the record on BlockFi Restating the core issues with 3AC Democrats are criticizing Gensler for his inaction on FTX What's the deal with Sam's subpoena? What's the deal with the Coindesk most influential Does PoS make Ethereum a security? What's the deal with the Castle Island merch store? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

John Palmer, the CEO of CBOE Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: John's career and the path that led him to CBOE Digital. The history of CBOE Digital, including the acquisition of ErisX and the company's recent funding round. CBOE Digital's product approach. The regulatory landscape in the United States and how CBOE is positioned vs. offshore unregulated venues. The impact of the FTX fraud on the broader market. Upcoming product and company plans. To learn more about CBOE Digital visit CBOEDigital.com

In this episode, Ria is joined by Robert Miller, Steward at Flashbots, which is a research and development organization with the aim to reduce the negative externalities and risks posed by MEV, or maximal extractable value. We cover: The MEV supply chain and how it's evolved as Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake The new challenges and risk vectors that have emerged as a result of the transition, notably around decentralization and censorship resistance The tools Flashbots has proposed and implemented in response, such as Flashbots Auction, MEV Geth, MEV Boost, and the open sourcing of these tools to foster a competitive market The risk posed by exclusive order flow and cross domain MEV in centralizing block building The latest endeavor of the organization to decentralize block building using a new network - SUAVE (the single unifying auction for value expression) Research mentioned: Order flow, auctions and centralisation - Quintus Flashbots – The Good, Bad and the Ugly of MEV

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Tether collapse scenarios The wrapped Bitcoin issue Ria and others are named Forbes 30 under 30 Sam is still not in jail Sam's hidden media strategy How Sam could be positioning himself for the case Was FTX really a case of negligence or was it fraud? Sam is muddying the waters Sam Trubucco is our bad boy of the week Should the US really annex the Bahamas? Members of CT are running around Nassau looking for Sam Should the US be pressuring the Bahamas for more action here? Beto returns his FTX donation The CFTC met with FTX 10 times The SEC's culpability in the FTX scandal The Farmington Bank acquisition scandal Did Sam Trubucco and Caroline really not know about the malfeasance? SBF is throwing his former colleagues under the bus Kyle Davies' embarassing attempted comeback What's the fate of the charity boxing match? Casa rolls out support for Ethereum Binance rolls out a Proof of Reserve - but it has issues Content mentioned: NYMAG, Interview with SBF Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Mahesh Ramakrishnan of Escape Velocity joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mahesh's career in traditional financial services and the path that led him to launching Escape Velocity. The decentralized wireless market and how it is likely to evolve. How tokenized protocols and USD stablecoins are likely to play a role in this evolution. How incumbents are positioned in this emerging category. Views on FTX and how that impacts the market more broadly. To learn more about Escape Velocity visit www.EV3.xyz.

Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mike's thoughts on FTX and the unfolding fraud case. His views on crypto market structure and how it is likely to evolve in the face of the FTX collapse. The regulatory landscape and the path forward for spot market regulation. Views on the MPC custody landscape and advances in zero knowledge cryptography. To learn more about BitGo visit bitgo.com

Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode: Liz Warren writes her first good letter ever? SBF is striking a defiant tone Sam's new letter to employees Is the Alameda/FTX situation really that complicated? Sam's parents bought tens of millions worth of Bahamas property The Bahamas steps in and seizes some funds Should the US annex the Bahamas? Should the US use 'extraordinary rendition' on SBF? Is this the death of meme rounds of financings? Semafor reports on SBF without disclosing that he was an investor Was FTX 'just a classic bank run'? Why don't journalists understand that the FTX situation was fraud? Where are the Bahamas prosecutors in all this? Further contagion in the crypto lending market What is to become of DCG? Could Grayscale use Reg M to do GBTC redemptions? NY Governor Kathy Hochul finally signs a moratorium on Bitcoin mining OkX launches a Proof of Reserve Who are we thankful for? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Travis Scher, co-founder of North Island Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis' investing career including his tenure at DCG and his path to founded North Island Ventures. How Travis initially met SBF and his reasons for passing on the deal. Analysis of the bankruptcy process and the likely second order impacts. How this event will change the early crypto VC landscape. To learn more visit northisland.ventures and follow Travis on Twitter.

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt's blog post, 'It's Time to Grow Up' The Alameda - FTX relationship was always sketchy Would FTX ever have been able to go public? Why don't we have decent disclosure for token emissions? How do we put this crisis to use? John Ray's Day 1 filing about the state of affairs at FTX So what in the hell happened to the client funds at FTX? Will funds donated to politicians be clawed back? What's wrong with utilitarianism? How effective altruism is like Stalinism One theory on how Alameda lost money on Luna Some lending firms kicked out Alameda after the summer credit crisis Is Serum forking out coins which are due to FTX creditors? Why has the DOJ been so passive so far? We introduce some new bad boys Su Zhu and Kyle are trying to redeem themselves Do Kyle and Su have a new venture underway? Rep. Tom Emmer is elected as the GOP Whip in the House Will the Republican led House subpoena Gensler? Content mentioned in this episode: Matt Walsh in Medium, It's Time to Grow Up FTX CEO John Ray's Day 1 filing Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Garrett Weaver, the co-founder and CEO of Juke joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Garrett's career as an entertainment industry executive and the path that led him to starting Juke. How Hollywood intellectual property works and how blockchains can open up revenue opportunities for studios. The use cases for NFT technology and the innovation on the horizon in the industry. To learn more about Juke visit www.juke.io Read about Juke's launch

Nic and Matt return for one of the craziest weeks in crypto history. In this episode: Coin Metrics makes a key on-chain discovery regarding FTX's insolvency Will Castle Island buy the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena? What in the hell happened to FTX/Alameda? How big is the hole in FTX' balance sheet Was FTX/Alameda insolvent as early as Q2? How this is reminiscent of the Bitfinex/Tether transaction? What did CZ see that caused him to catalyze the attack on FTX? How did FTX pass an audit? Who will be affected by the FTX collapse? How this will affect the already impaired crypto lenders We revisit some of the recent departures from FTX/Alameda This explains why FTX was bailing out the lenders in Q2 Will FTX US be firewalled off here? Could this crisis have been forecasted? Did Sam perjure himself in front of Congress? Gensler's responsibility in the FTX fiasco Su Zhu is trying to do a redemption arc Why is Su Zhu surfing? Possible regulatory consequences What are the midterm consequences for crypto? A failure of corporate governance at FTX Some venture funds were attesting to the solvency of FTX while withdrawing funds FTX is selectively processing withdrawals to Bahamanian entities Silver linings from the crisis Proof of Reserves is having a moment Sam's crypto agenda in DC is thankfully dead SBF was somehow an LP in Sequoia and Paradigm Setting the record straight on Tom Brady Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Josh Schwartz and Dima Kogan, co-founders of Fordefi, join the show. In this episode we discuss: MPC custody: what it is, its academic roots and how MPC works. The tradeoffs and considerations that have led to the growth in popularity of MPC custody. Josh and Dima's backgrounds and the path that led them to founding Fordefi. The institutional custody landscape and some of the challenges that firms face when engaging with DeFi protcols. How Josh and Dima think about the security risks associated with smart contract platforms. The types of customers that Fordefi is currently serving. Their fundraise announcement and what is next. To learn more visit fordefi.com

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode: Bitwise is moving into active management What's the deal with Uber on the blockchain? The boys review House of the Dragon The history of land-based blockchain bets Fidelity launches no-fee retail trading for trading BTC and ETH on their platform Matt reminisces on Fidelity's crypto journey Google announces blockchain node engine Nic's 2-year pending transaction on Venmo SBF continues to wrangle with CT Sam's debate with Erik Voorhees Alameda's questionable balance sheet is leaked Can FTX buy its way into respectability despite the existence of Alameda? What's the deal with the MAPS token? Is it far for FTX to start offshore and buy way into the regulated system? Elon's schemes for Twitter Coinbase and the Blockchain Association are supporting Ripple in their case against the SEC The Tether case is reopened at the SDNY Tether rips us off with their own bootleg FUD Dice What happens to Chinese Tether holders if Tether has to unwind If Tether fails, do funds flow back into BTC? The mining sector is deeply distressed Why the mining bankruptcies may cause concentration in who controls hashrate Circle delays their SPAC Coin Metrics releases a taxonomy with Goldman and MSCI Protos' weird hatchet job on Nic's tungsten cube infatuation Did we manipulate the market for tungsten? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Jeff Park, an active Portfolio Manager at Bitwise joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The state of active crypto asset management. How Bitwise approaches the active management opportunity. The taxonomy of strategies that Jeff observes in the market. Perspectives on MEV and other crypto specific opportunities. The institutional LP landscape for active management vs. passive. To learn more about Bitwise visit bitwiseinvestments.com and see their announcement of new active strategies.

CoreWeave's Brian Venturo (CTO) and Brannin McBee (CSO) return to On The Brink for a discussion of their journey through the merge and beyond. In this episode: Are they relieved that the merge finally happened? Will there be some form of non-Bitcoin PoW in the future? Could Ethereum conceivably return to PoW? The effect of PoS on ETH's censor resistance What quantity of ETH miners shifted to other PoW chains and what portion went elsewhere? What is the best use of capital for former ETH miners now? Did the merge really reduce global electricity consumption by 0.2%? Brannin's estimate for precise electricity reduction from the merge How feasible is it for former ETH miners to get into GPU clouds? How Core Weave built their cloud product What it takes to be competitive in the high performance computing sector Why the generalized providers of cloud can't just win when it comes to rendering and ML/AI Why the HPC market is exploding right now How open source communities behind text and image models contributed to the explosion in use cases The importance of Stable Diffusion versus Open AI The explosive growth of Stable Diffusion and Stability AI How the growth in infrastructure contributed to the emergence of these newer image models New directions in AI models like video creation Will generative AI be attacked by environmentalists? Can cloud data centers handle interruptible loads like Bitcoin miners can? How industrial compute will play a role in emerging metaverses Use cases Brannin and Brian are excited about Why hardware is actually a constraint to the number of metaverse users today Learn more about CoreWeave here.

Matt and Nic are back for another week of deals and news. In this episode: Full time crypto haters What's the deal with the nocoiner think tank? Eric Wall and Udi vs Bitcoiners Did Bitcoin put all of its eggs in the LN basket? Scaling isn't LN versus big blocks any more Is there just one scaling solution for blockchains? What are the prospects for ZK Rollups on Bitcoin? Spam attacks on BSV and Zcash Bitcoin Miners are going bankrupt How did the Ethereum merge affect Bitcoin miners What's the deal with Bitcoin's hashrate spike? Are non-economic Bitcoin miners killing the free market for mining? What's the deal with miner lenders? Synthetic Bitcoin stablecoins Is Twitter fairly priced at the deal price? Matt Levine's 40k word article on crypto Is the pivot finally in? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Mike Cahill, Director of the Pyth Data Association joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The origin of Pyth and how the project is addressing the 'Oracle Problem'. How Pyth works and how companies and protocols are using the product today. Mike's views on how equities on chain will evolve, and how Pyth is positioned in this market. The recent Mango Markets exploit and the future of on-chain market manipulations in DeFi. Pyth's network of partners and how the network is growing in 2022. To learn more about Pyth visit Pyth.Network.

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: Why USDC is suffering redemptions but not USDT Some new 3AC shenanigans are unearthed The SEC and CFTC are investigating 3AC Details from the Voyager bankruptcy filing Avraham Eisenburg is crypto's hottest new villain Is the Mango exploit against the law? Is there a vigilante group out to get Do Kwon? SBF is criticized for his regulatory draft proposal The Texas securities regulators are investigating FTX FTX shareholders at odds with FTT holders? Aptos' controversial launch Have we forgotten how to do a fair launch? How Ethereum's merge put pressure on Bitcoin miners Reuters' Binance investigation Unstoppable domains deprecates over 100k .coin domains Is Bitcoin finally decorrelating from risk assets? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

For another episode of the mining miniseries, Nic sits down with Blake King, power markets engineer at Galaxy Digital, for his second OTB appearance. In this episode: Blake reacts to the White House OSTP report on crypto mining Does mining actually reduce the incentive for utilities to build additional transmission? How transmission building decisions get made How are ERCOT planners taking the price of Bitcoin into account? The merits of proactive transmission construction Why the existence of strong property rights makes transmission much harder to build Can Bitcoin be understood as the electrification of gold? Is there really 17-25 GW worth of Bitcoin miners in the process of connecting to the Texas grid? How should we think about interconnection and load queues Why would ERCOT exaggerate the planned scale of Bitcoin mining in Texas? Do miners using renewables "not count" because they displace other consumers of renewable energy? Why Blake expects the $/MWh revenue for Bitcoin to continue to trend down over time Are Bitcoin miners forcing grids into grid scarcity events? Economic curtailment versus formal demand response Are Bitcoiners overestimating the importance of demand response for miners? Content mentioned in this episode: Bitcoin Mining and the Grid, Part I and Part II Part I of Blake King on the show: OTB 330 White House OSTP report on Bitcoin Mining Intro and outro: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Matt and Nic are back for another week of deals and news. In this episode: What is XEN and why is it driving up ETH fees? Bittrex settles with OFAC SEC is investigating Yuga labs Mango and Binance Smart Chain are hacked The FASB settles on fair value accounting for cryptoassets Warren writes a letter to Texas about mining Coin Center is suing OFAC Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Rob Behnke, co-founder and CEO of Halborn joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Rob's career journey in the cryptocurrency industry and the insights that led him to founding Halborn. The 2017 ICO era and the security issues that plagued many projects. How Halborn approaches engagements with DeFi ecosystem participants. How centralized financial services companies are engaging with DeFi and how these firms think about cybersecurity. How Rob and his co-founder Steven Walbroehl approached their Series A fundraising process. Halborn's new suite of software products. To learn more about Halborn visit halborn.com and follow Rob on Twitter

In this episode, Ria sits down with Jon Charbonneau from Delphi Digital to discuss layers of potential censorship on Ethereum post merge and proposed solutions. We dive into: The supply chain of block production The importance of proposer builder separation Options for avoiding de facto censorship by builders The road to scaling Ethereum via danksharding Comparing approaches to data availability Further reading: Jon on Substack, Censorship, What Do? Follow Jon on Substack and on Twitter Cover image meme credit: Jon on Twitter

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Kim Kardashian settles with the SEC Gensler's promotional campaign ruffles feathers at the SEC Was the SEC indirectly throwing shade at Jake Paul with their video? Is Gensler cracking down on crypto as part of a bid for Treasury secretary? Can the industry outlast the SEC? CBOE signs on to Pyth Hamilton Lane is tokenizing three funds GoldenTree invests in Sushi Should DAOs pursue an LLC wrapper? Maker is buying Treasuries and IG debt Should stablecoins pass along interest from treasuries to tokenholders? Celsius executives cashed out prior to bankruptcy Starry Night NFTs are on the move Ark Invest partners to put their active strategies on the Eaglebrook platform Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Vivek Raman, Head of Proof of Stake at BitOoda joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Vivek's career journey from traditional financial services to the world of public blockchains. Views on the impact of Ethereum's transition to proof of stake, including his perspective on the new financial products on the horizon. The path of CeFi as it relates to DeFi and where Vivek sees overlap. How BitOoda is working with bitcoin miners to manage risk. The smart contract platform category and how Vivek stays current on the latest developments in the industry. To learn more about BitOoda visit their website. Follow Vivek on Twitter.

Alexandra DaCosta (CEO) and David Yi (Chief Commercial Officer) join the show to talk about Aspen Creek Digital Corp.'s fundraise and their model for additive renewable mining. In this episode: What was it like raising for a mining firm in this environment David and Alexandra's backgrounds and how the came to cofound ACDC Why ACDC is pursuing a 'power first' model and what that means ACDC's wind, solar, and battery approach to energy Why ACDC focuses on additional, new renewable generation How mining behind the meter with renewable sources actually works Why intermittency of wind and solar is not a dealbreaker for Bitcoin miners The merits of going behind the meter for a Bitcoin miner The importance of the Inflation Reduction Act for renewables Industries are becoming more location agnostic overall Are Bitcoin miners doing a sufficiently good job of disclosures around their energy mix? What is the feasibility of batteries at grid scale? Are Bitcoin miners interfering with the market signal indicating where transmission should be built? How Aspen Creek pairs demand response with renewable incentivization How Aspen Creek affects power prices paid by households Read more: Aspen Creek's fundraise announcement ACDigitalCorp website Intro and outro music: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: What caused the Pound Sterling to sell off? Deglobalization picks up Stirrings of a sovereign debt crisis emerge Explaining Deribit's insider-led down round Can the market recover before Do Kwon, Machinsky, and 3AC are dealt with? Celcius' Machinsky steps down Brett Harrison leaves FTX US 7 states issue C&Ds against Nexo The CFTC goes after Ooki DAO and DAO members The CFTC serves Ooki through a chatbox and a forum post How voting in a DAO can cause you to incur personal liability Why putting a DAO in a 'legal wrapper' might make sense The Fed will not pursue a digital dollar (for now) The 'convenience yield' of holding a CFTC OTB Bingo Would it be good for Bitcoin to be flippened? Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder of Axelar joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Sergey's path to founding Axelar His views on blockchain interoperability and the design decisions of Axelar The different approaches to interoperability that are being attempted in the industry Views on DeFi composability and the role of privacy on public blockchains The L1/L2 landscape and how Axelar is positioned To learn more about Axelar visit axelar.network/

In this episode, Christine Kim from Galaxy Research joins us to discuss the Ethereum Merge and prospects for future protocol development: Reactions to the merge and network changes that flew under the radar Finding a focus area in core protocol development on Ethereum EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals) on the near-term horizon Threats to decentralization and censorship resistance and potential solutions Intro and outro music: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Nic and Matt sit down for a special live recording of OTB in front of an audience at the Boston Blockchain Week. In this episode: Ian Balina is dinged by the SEC for Sparkster The SEC's weird argument for standing over all of Ethereum Is XRP a prediction market on Ripple's case against the SEC Wintermute is hacked for $160m via a bad vanity generator Several Senators file an amicus brief to support Custodia's lawsuit against the Fed What the Congressional crypto agenda should look like Europe finalizes their MiCA regulation Europe discourages Dollar stablecoin usage in the EU Exchanges and token issuers in the EU will have to make disclosures Jesse Powell steps down from Kraken NASDAQ is launching a crypto custody business Helium strikes a deal with T Mobile Audience Q&A Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Steven Goldfeder is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Offchain Labs, the team building Arbitrum. In this episode we discuss: Steven's academic background, and his work at Princeton University. BlockSci, an early blockchain forensics/search product that Steven co-founded. The evolution of MPC custody and the exciting developments in that category. The Flash Boys 2.0 paper and the current state of MEV. Steven's views on the evolution of L1 smart contract platforms and how L2 scaling is shaping up. The design choices and considerations that went into the choice of optimistic vs. zero-knowledge rollups on Arbitrum. The future of ZK systems on blockchains. To learn more about Arbitrum and follow Steven visit www.offchainlabs.com

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: The Merge takes place without incident Will the Merge silence Ethereum critics on the left? Will the ESG narrative around crypto get louder? FTX takes a stake in Skybridge Castle Island is not an island If you make an NFT of a diamond and destroy the diamond, do you still have a diamond? CME launches Ether options Starbucks launches an NFT loyalty platform Tungsten cubes are selling off South Korea issues an arrest warrant for Do Kwon The thin line between visionary and scammer What Terra teaches us about why disclosures matter in capital markets Huobi delists privacy coins Can you take delivery of Tornado Cash-dusted Ether? Coinbase launches their Crypto Action Network Matt and Nic evaluate the ratings members of Congress are getting from Coinbase Chainalysis releases their 2022 global crypto adoption index Hodlnaut's CSW case begins The NSA Bitcoin lab leak hypothesis OTB goes live! Mentioned in this episode: Jake Chervinsky's thread on Tornado Cash Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Report Sponsor notes: Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter and read their Mapping out the Merge report

Dan Mottice, CEO and Co-Founder of Ansible Labs, joins the show to talk about a new payment gateway for web3. Dan's personal background and how he ended up in financial services The Visa Network, Visa Direct Payouts and Visa Crypto Ansible Labs' raise and what's ahead Off-ramps and why they matter North stars in fintech The consumer experience in a b2b sales cycle Navigating turbulent markets and how to build to win Learn more about Ansible here.

Bankless' David Hoffman joins Matt and Nic for a special episode to cover Ethereum's highly-anticipated Merge. In this episode: How David came to Ethereum and the Bankless origin story The story behind the Bankless DAO Whether David would ever consider focusing on other blockchains What could cause David to abandon Ethereum The Coinbase OFAC filtering debate Why proposer-builder separation might make validator-driven censorship harder Filtering transactions at the pool layer versus undertaking a 'Treasury Activated Soft Fork' Under what conditions would social slashing of major validators make sense? How embedded is the social slashing consensus into Ethereum's social fabric? The significance of the new supply dynamics stemming from the Merge Is the unlock something to worry about? Is there a 'crowding out' effect from staked Ether becoming a risk free rate? Does MEV pose a concentration risk post Merge? Are MEV-driven yields for stakers perverse? Is MEV an inescapable feature of richly stateful blockchains Why the notion of Certified-Toxic-MEV-free blocks might emerge How is Ethereum's roadmap determined? What's the deal with the Surge, the Verge, the Purge, and the Splurge? What are the strongest narratives coming out of the Merge? Probabilities of the Merge success Why the Merge may not be fully priced in Follow David on Twitter and learn more about Bankless. Intro and outro music: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: Nic's shoe problem Web3 merch for OTB? The White House releases a report on crypto asset energy usage Why the US should encourage mining within its borders Coinbase is funding a lawsuit against OFAC Binance is converting USDC into BUSD on their platform Poolin is having liquidity problems Russia considers crypto for cross border payments The US Government recovers $30m from the Axie hack Gensler keeps firing barbs Nic doesn't buy the supply shock thesis around the Merge Will ETH have another high fee era? What could an ETH carry trade look like? Content mentioned: The White House, Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States Gary Gensler speech at the SEC, Kennedy and Crypto Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter and read their Mapping out the Merge report

Ria and Nic from Castle Island sit down with Stephanie Howard and Bennett Collen, cofounders of Endstate, a web3 footwear and fashion brand. We cover the merits of the redeem-and-retain NFT model and the vision for Endstate. Bennett's prior crypto startup and how he decided to unite his passion for sneakers with web3 How Bennett and Stephanie met and cofounded Endstate Stephanie's career in sneaker design to date Why creators and athletes are jumping at the opportunity to issue merchandise-linked NFTs Why Bennett and Stephanie chose to launch a web3 native brand How redeem-and-retain NFTs allow manufacturers to reduce inventory risk Why fashion is getting more targeted and niche Why Endstate is able to release new iterations of their sneakers so quickly Endstate's rationale for manufacturing in the US Endstate drops to date Endstate's new drop with Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith How web3 brands should think about which metaverse to build for Endstate's thinking around Solana vs Ethereum and the impact of gas fees How to link physical products with NFTs – from NFCs to QRs to visual scans What should we call physical NFTs? Aside from shoes, what merch is amenable to the Endstate model? What product sectors will be NFTed? How developed are authenticated third party marketplaces for physically linked NFTs? Physical-linked NFTs as a trojan horse to onboard mass markets into web3 The future state of Endstate Other web3 drops Bennett and Stephanie enjoyed The future of entangled NFTs Read more: Nic Carter on Medium: Redeem and Retain NFTs are the future of Luxury Goods Vogue Business: How the crypto bear market is resetting fashion's Web3 strategy Drops and more at endstate.io Intro and outro music: Daniel Allan's Collage #344

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: What happens to the GPUs post merge? Will the gamers finally get cheap GPUs back? Is the merge like superbowl sunday or Y2K? Does the success of the merge undo a long-term Bitcoin talking point? Are NFTs going to cc0 screwing over their users? DC sues Michael Saylor and Microstrategy for allegedly skipping taxes in DC The SEC questions whether the certain assets in Grayscale trusts are securities What's going on with the Roche Freedman/ Ava Labs/ Cryptoleaks situation? Is Roche just David Boies 2.0? The Biden executive order reports are due next week Rune of Maker muses about turning Dai into a free floating unit of account Will Maker be able to survive real world assets as collateral? Did Moonbirds rugpull their buyers with IP issues? Kyle Waters from Coin Metrics joins to talk about the Merge Is the distribution of stakers on Ethereum something to be worried about? What's going to happen to ETH issuance post merge? How to forecast post-merge staking returns Is the merge priced in? Did Ethereum install a pro-cyclical monetary policy? Content mentioned: Coin Metrics, Mapping out the Merge Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Obi Nwosu, CEO and Founder of Fedi joins the show to cover a new model for shared Bitcoin custody in Fedimint. In this episode: Obi's experience with Coinfloor and how that informed his views on custody Why third party custody with Proof of Reserves isn't sufficient Why 'credible centralized' custody shouldn't be the default Why state level attacks on custodians are ramping up Obi's early prediction that Nigeria would be the heartland of Bitcoin adoption Why messaging apps are actually the most popular p2p exchanges worldwide The history and origins of Chaumian Mints How the enabling pieces of Fedimint all came together over time The relationship between federated custody and microfinance How Fedimint is analogous to Free Banking Does Fedimint satisfy Hal Finney's vision for Bitcoin banks? How Fedimint compares to first party custody How Obi expects regulators to react to Fedimint Learn more about Fedi and Fedimint.

Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: Matt's prior radio career The boys consider reinvesting in the podcast How to avoid audience capture We puzzle over metaverse advertising How do you value metaverse real estate? Rep. Tom Emmer writes a letter to OFAC questioning their sanctioning of Tornado Cash Tether and BUSD (Paxos) don't blacklist Tornado Cash addresses The FDIC reprimands crypto companies Web3 hoodies Best podcast listening speeds Are security tokens and real world assets back? No new 3ac shenanigans Tadge Dryja leaves MIT DCI for David Marcus' Lightspark New findings on OFAC censoring Bitcoin Mining pools Tether has a new auditor Can a firm with outstanding tokens be acquired or go public? Gensler's weird op-ed Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Brooke Pollack, the founder of Hutt Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Brooke's career journey and path to founding Hutt Capital The events that led him to seeing that crypto/blockchain was going to be an industry with dedicated venture managers The institutional limited partner landscape The narratives that have captured the most institutional mindshare Views on the optimal fund structure for crypto/blockchain managers The DeFi landscape Views on NFTs as a foundational building block for future businesses. To learn more about Hutt Capital visit www.huttcapital.com and follow Brooke on Twitter

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: NYMag writes a long piece on 3AC Is OTB a 'crypto fanboy podcast'? Are we up against the nation state 'final boss'? 3AC boat name reveal The Toyota Century rumors are true Revelations about 3ACs FX days Did 3AC actually owe the Mafia money? The 3AC Deribit deal A new 3AC supporter dials in to the show Machinsky was trading Celsius customer deposits The Galaxy BitGo acquisition falls through Dragonchain settles with the SEC Hodlnaut files for creditor protection Genesis reorganization Tornado cash developer arrested in Amsterdam Are Bitcoin miners filtering transactions for OFAC? Will Coinbase censor Ethereum at the protocol level? Vitalik suggests slashing Ethereum if they comply with OFAC at the protocol level Would Coinbase ever abandon their staking business? The effect of MEV on the centralization of PoS vs PoW End of the merge rally? Content mentioned in this episode: NYMag, Inside the Crash of Three Arrows Capital Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

In this episode, Uddhav Marwaha, co-founder and CEO of Friktion Labs, joins us to discuss Friktion's approach to a full stack portfolio management platform in defi. We cover a plethora of topics, including: The opacity surrounding defi yields and distinguishing fleeting opportunities from sustainable sources of income Using options overwriting and basis strategies to generate more durable returns and provide portfolio protection across market conditions In-housing core tooling such as Friktion's RFQ system (Channel RFQ) and an exotic options DEX (Entropy) to unlock time and cost efficiencies Friktion's emphasis on demystifying complex products and deconstructing sources of risk and yield in crypto differentiate it from the pack. To complement the data and analytics within the application, the team frequently publishes research breaking down complex topics.

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode: Underwhelming Taproot adoption Tornado Cash gets sanctioned by OFAC Is Tornado a better mixer than coinjoin Why the Tornado Cash sanctioning is the first of its kind How much of the liquidity in Tornado Cash was illicit? Are we at a turning point in financial privacy? Why was Tornado Cash specifically targeted and not other mixers Account-based versus UTXO systems and their effect on your ability to segregate funds Can you really sanction a blockchain or smart contract? The crypto wars of the 90s continue Is Ethereum the biggest crypto platform for privacy today? Is Dai at risk from USDC? The Merge finally gets a launch date BlackRock launches a Bitcoin spot trust Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode: Is there any hope for ETH PoW forks? Is Ethereum unforkeable? More 3AC shenanigans of the week The 3AC Toyota Century situation The 3AC boys have some unexpected supporters A bipartisan bill proposes giving the CFTC oversight over the spot market What's up with the croissant diet NYDFS fines Robinhood Crypto Michael Saylor steps down from this CEO role at Microstrategy The SEC charges 11 individuals involved in the Forsage ponzi The other Nick Carter is in trouble for endorsing Safemoon Another cross chain bridge is hacked What happened with this Solana wallet hack? Matt loses the tip of his finger Coinbase partners up with Blackrock Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter