Matt Ahlborg (UsefulTulips.org) – Bitcoin as a Bridge Currency (EP.79)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 05/13/2020
Stepan Simkin (Squads) on Stablecoin-Powered Financial Services (EP.688)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, founder of , sits down with Wyatt on today's episode. In this discussion: Squads' evolution from a DeFi-facing product to servicing a broader range of companies' asset treasury needs. What are the pain points of local small-medium businesses? What is driving the gradual global movement from local currencies into USD stablecoins? The appetite for safe yield across user types. Other traditional digital banking players and how they are evolving with technology. How the stablecoin trend impacts governments. What happens to local banks?
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Weekly Roundup 11/27/25 (Who we are thankful for, S&P downgrades Tether) (EP.687)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic record a special Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode: What’s the deal with deep fried turkeys? Polymarket gets CTFC approval Klarna is launching a stablecoin on Tempo Upbit is hacked Berachain drama Tether gets a downgrade from S&P Robinhood is spinning up their own prediction market with Susquehanna Are Visa and Mastercard moving fast enough? Who are we thankful for?
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Weekly Roundup 11/21/25 (Quantum FUD, DAT hangover, stablecoin duration risk) (EP.686)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Is Quantum FUD causing Bitcoin to sell off? Ray Dalio is worry about Quantum Scott Aaronson is worried about quantum computing Vitalik is worried about quantum Quantum upgrade scenarios Are we still suffering from the flash crash? The DATs are selling DAT spot arbitrage Will the US government end up with the Satoshi coins Should the government bail out AI? Will NFTs come back? IBIT is Harvard’s largest 13F position David Frum on stablecoins Will stablecoins require a bailout?
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Weekly Roundup 11/14/25 (Miran speech, Cash App adds Stables, DAT Hangover)(EP.685)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: The Senate Ag Cmte publishes a Market Structure draft Paul Atkins’ token taxonomy speech Fed Governor Stephen Miran gives a major stablecoin speech Grayscale files their S-1 Coinbase announces a tokensale platform Coinbase is leaving Delaware The Coinbase BVNK deal falls through Visa Direct adds stablecoin support The Czech republic buys Bitcoin DATs are struggling CBDC holdouts Jack Dorsey bends the knee on stablecoins Content mentioned: Stephen Miran,
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Weekly Roundup 11/07/25 (Balancer hack, DATs are suffering, Zcash rally) (EP.684)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Tom Brady’s clone dog We reminisce on the Nic Carter v Mike Green debate Is the government shutdown draining market liquidity? The trouble with Opendimes Balancer hacked Stream finance’s xUSD collapses DATs are selling coins Why is Zcash rallying? Are stablecoins the lightbulb of crypto Content mentioned: JW Verret,
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Keone Hon (Monad Foundation) on Blockchains Built to Scale (EP.683)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, founder of the Foundation joins the show. In this episode: From the point of view of Keone's trading background, what is the promise of blockchains? Reimagining financial systems with blockchains in 2025 Why build Monad, and for anyone using a chain, why use Monad? How the importance of decentralization and chain efficiency becomes underscored during fragile market periods Auto-Deleveraging (ADL): What it is and why it is important. Where is there economic efficiency to be created? How has Keone gone about building a team to tackle this challenge? What would make Monad "successful" in 2-3...
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Giovanni Vignone (Octane Security) on Protecting Onchain Assets (EP.682)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with , the founder of , a crypto security platform focused on vetting application code pre-deployment. In this episode we discuss: What poses the greatest threat to crypto right now? How are hackers evolving? What are the important categories of crypto-facing cybersecurity? How much should startup teams be spending on security? How should teams think about counterparty risk? What do you wish early stage teams knew? Where is there room for improved security practices across the industry?
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Weekly Roundup 10/31/25 (DATs selling coins, prediction market problems, Bessent’s pesos) (EP.681)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: Mastercard buys Zerohash for around $2b Fiserv has a catastrophic day Bitwise launches a Solana staking ETF Is there another regional banking crisis? EthZilla sold some ETH to buy back shares Will there be activists with the DATs? Are prediction markets structurally doomed? Sen Tillis introduces the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking act Could you go back and time and trade effectively? Bessent’s great peso trade What’s going to happen with Venezuela? We review the Iran-Contra scandal Content mentioned in this episode: ...
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Geetha Panchapakesan (Tesser) on Enabling FIs to Utilize Stablecoins (EP.680)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the founder and CEO of , joins the show. In this episode: Geetha's background in payments and how she arrived in stablecoins Major shifts across payments over Geetha’s career Building a one-stop shop solution for financial institutions, PSPs and MSBs Where FIs are today as it relates to engaging to stablecoins Regulatory tailwinds post-GENIUS See more at
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Weekly Roundup 10/24/25 (Quantum, Crypto Pardons, Fed Payment Accounts) (EP.679)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Old fashioned crime is back Quantum risk to Bitcoin More outcry in Washington over the Democratic edits to market structure CZ gets a presidential pardon Federal Reserve announces a payments charter
info_outlinePeer 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