Caitlin Long (Avanti Financial Group) on Bitcoin banks and the Wyoming SPDI (EP. 101)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 07/13/2020
Weekly Roundup 12/20/24 (No SBR?, Prometheum, Crenshaw) (EP.585)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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 an additional 15,350 BTC for roughly $1.5 billion, bringing the company's total holdings to 439,000 BTC. Microstrategy was also 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 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...
info_outline
Alex Lin (Reforge) on On-chain Innovation & Consumer Use Cases (EP.584)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with . In this episode: Alex’s interdisciplinary road into crypto Innovation in blockchain infrastructure Crypto-powered consumer applications Learn more about a blockchain and frontier tech investment firm.
info_outline
Rodrigo Seira (Cooley) and Ron Hammond (Blockchain Association) on Digital Asset Policy in 2025 (EP.583)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Rodrigo Seira, Special Counsel at and Ron Hammond, Director of Government Relations at 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: To learn more about The Blockchain Association visit:
info_outline
Weekly Roundup 12/13/24 (French Hill, Circle x Binance, more OCP2.0) (EP582)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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, 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 another 21,550 bitcoin for roughly $2.1 billion. Circle and Binance a partnership with the goal of expanding the reach of Circle's USDC stablecoin across Binance's trading, saving, and payments platforms....
info_outline
Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian (Blockchain Coinvestors) on Predictions for 2025 (EP.581)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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 . To view the full Blockchain Coinvestors 2025 Predictions webinar visit this .
info_outline
Weekly Roundup 12/06/24 (Bitcoin $100k, Atkins for SEC, more OCP2.0) (EP. 580)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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: Coin Metrics State of the Network: Contextualizing staking yields, inflation, and network economics on Ethereum & Solana
info_outline
Lorien Gabel (Figment) on the Latest Developments in the Staking Market (EP.579)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Lorien Gabel, the founder and CEO of 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
info_outline
Weekly Roundup 11/28/24 (OFAC loses vs Tornado, Cantor owns some Tether, More OCP2.0, Who we’re thankful for) (EP.578)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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...
info_outline
Weekly Roundup 11/22/24 (Bitcoin $100k?, Gensler Resigns, Nocoiner Rankings, Looking Back) (EP.577)
On The Brink with Castle Island
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...
info_outline
Aaron McDonald (Futureverse) on Metaverse Technologies (EP.576)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Aaron McDonald, the founder of 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 .
info_outlineCaitlin Long, founder and CEO of Avanti Financial Group, joins the show. Caitlin is a thinker and writer we admire a huge amount and she has done a monumental job with her advocacy for responsible custody practices among crypto depository institutions. She is one of the key architects of the Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution legislation which establishes a new form of crypto bank in Wyoming. In in no small part thanks to her efforts that Wyoming is the most progressive state in terms of defining and regulating digital assets and the institutions that custody them. We share Caitlin's enthusiasm for clarifying depositor exchange relationships and for public-facing proofs of reserve, so we were very excited have her on the show. Covered in this episode:
- Risks involved in complying with the FATF's travel rule
- How the FATF enforces its recommendations
- Why compliance burdens freeze out small and community banks
- How the $10k limit for disclosure for cash transactions increases the scope of transactions that should be disclosed in real terms
- How the Bank Secrecy Act and the third party doctrine means the government can procure warrantless financial data
- Caitlin's Bitcoin origin story
- The thawing of the gold community's sentiments towards bitcoin
- The tension inherent in the institutionalization of bitcoin
- Why Proofs of Reserves aren't more popular today
- The importance of distinguishing ownership of a key and a legal title
- Why users are poorly equipped to hold exchanges accountable
- Why the state by state regulation in the US doesn't suit the reality of crypto custodians
- How the Wyoming SPDI legislation got started
- What the Wyoming SPDI laws actually mean
- How Avanti got its name
- Caitlin's long term objectives with Avanti
- Why banking remains the achilles heel of the crypto industry
- Why existing banks might not be able to handle future growth of the crypto industry
- How the FDIC targeted the crypto industry
- Why custodians should have access to the Fed window
- Caitlin's pitch to entrepreneurs to move to Wyoming