Mitchell Nicholson (DACS Conduit) on leaving central banking for Bitcoin (EP.135)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 10/07/2020
Weekly Roundup 01/10/24 (FDIC Pause Letters released, SEC v Coinbase) (EP.589)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back after a week off. In this episode: Southern District of New York grants Coinbase’s appeal in their case against the SEC The Governor of the Czech national bank is considering Bitcoin in their reserves Do Kwon is extradited to the US E-trade is launching crypto trading The FDIC is forced by a court to further un-redact documents Coinbase asked for in a FOIA request We cover the FDIC’s Pause Letters Content mentioned in this episode: Fidelity Digital Assets, Bitwise, Nick Anthony,
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Dana Syracuse and Josh Boehm (Paul Hastings LLP) on the 2025 Digital Asset Legal Landscape (EP.588)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Dana Syracuse and Josh Boehm of Paul Hastings LLP join the show. In this episode we discuss: The common legal and regulatory considerations that are encountered by companies in the digital asset industry. Common pitfalls that entrepreneurs in this ecosystem should avoid. The state of the stablecoin industry and the regulatory considerations in this category. Potential changes ahead in 2025 on how digital assets are regulated in the United States. To learn more about Paul Hastings and their fintech and digital asset practices visit
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Weekly Roundup 12/27/24 (Tether x Rumble, quantum threat, End of year predictions) (EP.587)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for an end of year episode. In this episode: Tether invests $775m in Rumble Who are the Rumble shareholders in Trump's admin? Microstrategy seeks approval for more Bitcoin buying We review the quantum risk to Bitcoin Matt and Nic's predictions for 2025 Sponsor notes: Coin Metrics, In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 291, we revisit major stories that shaped the digital asset industry in 2024 with a data-driven lens
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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
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