On The Brink with Castle Island

Castle Island Ventures

  • 43 minutes 36 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 12/20/24 (No SBR?, Prometheum, Crenshaw) (EP.585)

    Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

    • Nic comes out against the SBR on Bloomberg
    • More Prometheum nonsense
    • MicroStrategy acquired an additional 15,350 BTC for roughly $1.5 billion, bringing the company's total holdings to 439,000 BTC. Microstrategy was also added to the Nasdaq 100  this week, which will lead to the stock's inclusion in several large ETFs including Invesco's QQQ.
    • Anchorage Digital has received New York BitLicense approval, enabling them to offer digital asset custody and trading services to more customers in the state such as RIAs and other institutional asset managers.
    • The US Senate scrapped a vote to renominate SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw in response to immense backlash from the crypto community, led by Coinbase-backed non-profit Stand With Crypto, for Commissioner Crenshaw's treatment of the digital asset industry.
    • A Texas state representative, Giovanni Capriglione, introduced a bill for the state to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
    • Riot Platforms, the publicly traded Bitcoin miner, acquired 667 BTC this week for $67.4 million to add to their balance sheet, bringing their total holdings to 17,429 BTC.
    • The NFT collection CyberKongz announced they had received a Wells Notice from the SEC.
    • A California judge sided with Coinbase in a suit brought by BiT Global over the exchange's delisting of wBTC. Coinbase had recently moved to remove the asset, a tokenized version of BTC tradeable on Ethereum-based networks, following BiT Global, a custodian closely affiliated with Tron founder Justin Sun, assuming custody services for wBTC.

    Sponsor notes: 

    20 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 31 minutes 50 seconds
    Alex Lin (Reforge) on On-chain Innovation & Consumer Use Cases (EP.584)

    Wyatt sits down with Reforge VC's Alex Lin. In this episode:

    • Alex’s interdisciplinary road into crypto
    • Innovation in blockchain infrastructure
    • Crypto-powered consumer applications

    Learn more about Reforge, a blockchain and frontier tech investment firm.

    18 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 39 minutes 40 seconds
    Rodrigo Seira (Cooley) and Ron Hammond (Blockchain Association) on Digital Asset Policy in 2025 (EP.583)

    Rodrigo Seira, Special Counsel at Cooley and Ron Hammond, Director of Government Relations at The Blockchain Association join the show. In this episode we discuss:

    • The 2024 election and the impact of the crypto vote.
    • Executive branch actions to keep an eye on in 2025.
    • Potential SEC related actions that would impact the digital asset market.
    • The future of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.
    • Where digital asset legislation fits into the 2025 legislative priorities.
    • Stablecoin legislation.
    • Market structure legislation.

    To learn more about Cooley visit:

    www.cooley.com

    To learn more about The Blockchain Association visit:

    www.theblockchainassociation.org

    16 December 2024, 5:13 pm
  • 24 minutes 54 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 12/13/24 (French Hill, Circle x Binance, more OCP2.0) (EP582)

    Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:

    • French Hill wins the nomination to chair the House Financial Services Committee
    • Riot Platforms, a bitcoin mining company, announced the intention to raise $500 million via a convertible note offering. The proceeds will be used to acquire additional bitcoins, and for general corporate purposes.
    • MicroStrategy acquired another 21,550 bitcoin for roughly $2.1 billion.
    • Circle and Binance announced a partnership with the goal of expanding the reach of Circle's USDC stablecoin across Binance's trading, saving, and payments platforms. Additionally, Binance plans to adopt USDC as part of the company's corporate treasury.
    • Coincheck, the second largest crypto exchange in Japan, went public via SPAC, joining Coinbase as the only other crypto exchange listed on Nasdaq.
    • The total stablecoin market cap eclipsed $200 billion this week, a record high following a 13% increase in supply in the past month.
    • Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin gained approval from New York's Department of Financial Services, a key step in the company's plan to launch the tokenized dollar by year-end.
    • Google announced a new quantum computing chip, though the specs are still many orders of magnitude away from threatening the encryption levels of Bitcoin and other crypto protocols.

    Sponsor notes: 

    13 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 52 minutes 1 second
    Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian (Blockchain Coinvestors) on Predictions for 2025 (EP.581)

    Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian of Blockchain Coinvestors return to the show. In this episode we run through the Blockchain Coinvestors 2025 Predictions for the digital asset industry.

    To learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors visit their website.

    To view the full Blockchain Coinvestors 2025 Predictions webinar visit this link.

    9 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 34 minutes 46 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 12/06/24 (Bitcoin $100k, Atkins for SEC, more OCP2.0) (EP. 580)

    Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

    • Bitcoin finally hits $100k
    • Our reflections on 100k BTC
    • Declaring victory
    • Machinsky pleads guilty
    • Rep French Hill pledges to investigate Operation Choke Point
    • Trump nominates Paul Atkins for SEC Chair
    • Hawk Tuah memecoin fiasco

    Sponsor notes:

    6 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 30 minutes 54 seconds
    Lorien Gabel (Figment) on the Latest Developments in the Staking Market (EP.579)

    Lorien Gabel, the founder and CEO of Figment joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

    • The latest developments at Figment.
    • Post-election impact on the general crypto markets and the staking category.
    • How Figment is approaching the institutional staking market opportunity.
    • Staking in the context of investment products.
    • Evolving ecosystems like Eigen Layer, Babylon and Bitcoin Layers 2s.
    • The stablecoin market.

    To learn more about Figment visit www.figment.io

    3 December 2024, 3:11 pm
  • 33 minutes 53 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 11/28/24 (OFAC loses vs Tornado, Cantor owns some Tether, More OCP2.0, Who we’re thankful for) (EP.578)

    Matt and Nic are back for another Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode:

    • Fire departments love thanksgiving
    • Who we’re thankful for
    • Eggnog is underrated
    • Justin Sun puts $30m into World Liberty Financial
    • Marc Andreessen appears on Joe Rogan and covers OCP 2.0
    • Why were non crypto tech peopled shocked by Choke Point revelations?
    • Trump is looking to shift power from the SEC to the CFTC
    • An appeals court rules that OFAC exceeded its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash
    • Cantor owns a 5% ownership stake in Tether that they acquired at a $12b valuation
    • How prudent is the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
    • Can the government pay down its debt with Bitcoin?
    • Careful what you wish for on the strategic reserve

    Sponsor notes:

    28 November 2024, 11:00 am
  • 43 minutes 16 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 11/22/24 (Bitcoin $100k?, Gensler Resigns, Nocoiner Rankings, Looking Back) (EP.577)

    Matt and Nic return for another week in the markets. In this episode:

    • How is the DOGE going to work?
    • Bitcoin is heading to 100k
    • Gary Gensler announces his resignation as SEC chair
    • We look back at Gensler’s awful term
    • 18 state AGs file a lawsuit against the SEC
    • The SEC’s dealer rule is tossed by a judge
    • Trump is mulling the creation of a crypto czar
    • Microstrategy is trading at a massive premium
    • The latest on OCP 2.0
    • FDIC Gruenberg chair testifies in the House and potentially perjures himself
    • FTX cofounder Gary Wang given no time in prison
    • Coinbase is delisting wBTC
    • Trump nominates Lutnick for Commerce Secretary
    • Bitcoin Options launch on IBIT
    • Shaq settles a lawsuit for his NFT touting
    • Solana ETFs are filed
    • Goldman is spinning out their digital assets platform
    • We unveil our first nocoiner draft picks
    • We reflect on Bitcoin's progress after 10 years in the industry

    Sponsor notes:

    • Coin Metrics, A Data-Driven Update on Stablecoins: Analyzing growth in stablecoin supply, trading volumes, on-chain usage, and yield generation.

    22 November 2024, 11:00 am
  • 30 minutes 9 seconds
    Aaron McDonald (Futureverse) on Metaverse Technologies (EP.576)

    Aaron McDonald, the founder of Futureverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

    • Aaron’s professional career and the path that led him to founding Futureverse.
    • How he has built the company through a mix of organic growth and acquisitions.
    • How blockchains and digital currency interact with Metaverse technologies.
    • The future of virtual worlds and gaming technologies.
    • The L1 and L2 blockchain ecosystem and how Futureverse has built their platform.

    To learn more about Futureverse visit their website.  

    21 November 2024, 7:26 pm
  • 42 minutes 41 seconds
    Weekly Roundup 11/15/24 (Congressional agenda, FTX vs Binance, Polymarket raid) (EP.575)

    Matt and Nic return for news and deals. In this episode: 

    • Nic recaps his trip to Congress
    • Vibes in Congress post election
    • The likelihood for stablecoin and market structure bills
    • What are the prospects for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
    • What’s happening in Devcon?
    • 18 state AGs are suing Gensler and the SEC
    • Gensler is hinting at retirement
    • FTX sues Binance and CZ
    • Sam Trabucco forfeits $70m in assets to the FTX estate
    • Polymarket’s Shayne Coplan raided by the FBI
    • Doodles partnership with McDonalds
    • The verdict on Fairshake's efforts in the election 
    • OCP developments and how Congress will tackle it
    • We review Trump's cabinet appointments so far 

    Sponsor notes:

    15 November 2024, 11:00 am
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