Mitchell Nicholson (DACS Conduit) on leaving central banking for Bitcoin (EP.135)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 10/07/2020
Janusz and Red (Bitcoin Layers) on Bitcoin Season 2 (EP.586)
On The Brink with Castle Island
and from join the show. In this episode: Innovation on Bitcoin, previously and now Technology vs consumer adoption The future of BTC use cases More about
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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...
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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.
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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:
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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....
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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 .
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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
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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
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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...
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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_outlineMitchell Nicholson is the founder of DACS Conduit and formerly an economist at the Bank of Canada. Mitchell's views are his own and not those of the Bank of Canada. In this episode:
- His path to joining the Bank of Canada
- Why he chose to start his career in central banking
- Mitchell's work on the Band of Canada Bitcoin awareness surveys
- Why the Bank of Canada put resources to the Bitcoin awareness surveys
- Mitchell's masters thesis on Bitcoin
- How covering Bitcoin was part of Mitchell's mandate at the Bank of Canada
- Their reaction to Quadriga
- How Crypto Twitter helped was useful to Mitchell during his time at the bank
- What it's like being a Bitcoin enthusiast working at a central bank
- Crypto penetration among Bank staff
- How Mitchell applied lessons from traditional finance to his analysis of Bitcoin
- Mitchell's thoughts on the legitimacy of Tether
- Comparing the risk profiles of single and multi collateral Dai
- Lessons that Bitcoiners can take from central banking
- Whether central banks should be concerned about crypto-dollarization
- The prospects for CBDCs
- Why the public sector may not be able to create a true digital cash with strong privacy assurances
- What a more restricted digital form of central bank money might look like
- Mitchell's view of the true killer app of the crypto industry
- Mitchell's new project now that he has left the BoC
- The one big gap Mitchell has identified in the crypto industry
- The likely effect of the rise of crypto markets on central banking
Content mentioned in this episode:
- The Bank of Canada's 2018 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey: Awareness and Usage
- Chainalysis' 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Report