John Newbery (Brink) on funding Bitcoin development (EP.150)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 11/24/2020
Weekly Roundup 03/14/25 (SBR is real, Trump and Binance, CZ pardon rumors) (EP.603)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve exists Will the government buy additional Bitcoin? What does “cost neutral” mean? What’s the deal with our cheese reserve Have Bitcoiners lost their libertarian origins? The OCC reverses their anti-crypto guidance Sentiment in crypto is at all time lows Is CZ seeking a pardon deal in exchange for a sale of Binance equity? Senate Banking votes to advance the Hagerty Stablecoin bill The banks are against interest-bearing stablecoins We recap the White House Crypto Summit Banks...
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Jeff Park (Bitwise) on Digital Asset Alpha Strategies (EP.602)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Jeff Park, the Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The latest developments at Bitwise, including the firm’s Alpha Strategy division. Yield strategies in the digital asset ecosystem. Stablecoins and how the idiosyncratic opportunities that active managers are pursuing. MicroStrategy Thoughts on market structure and digital asset policy. To learn more about Bitwise visit their . You can also follow .
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Brandon Mulvihill (Crossover Markets) on the future of market structure in the USA (EP.601)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Brandon Mulvihill, the co-founder and CEO of Crossover Markets joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The shifting regulatory landscape in the USA and the impact that it is having on traditional financial institutions. How banks and broker-dealers are responding to regulatory progress. The battle for “Primary Market” in the United States. The future of market structure and the bifurcation of exchanges vs. brokerages. How Crossover is positioned in 2025. To learn more about Crossover Markets visit their .
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Weekly Roundup 03/07/25 (Crypto Reserve, Debanking Bill, Broker Rule) (EP.600)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: We debate the prudence of a BTC reserve A Strategic Reserve of just BTC or altcoins? How would a crypto reserve be “strategic” Should the US Government just seize BTC to build the reserve? Is there a “strategic” purpose to owning a gas token? SEC task force for crypto is starting roundtables SEC drops lawsuits against Kraken, Cumberland, and Yuga labs Tim Scott’s bill to eliminate reputational risk from bank regulation CME launches SOL futures An Argentine prosecutor is looking to seize $110m in the Libra...
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Weekly Roundup 02/28/25 (Bybit Hack, SEC drops lawsuits, bank-issued stablecoins) (EP.599)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Figure Markets the launch of their YLDS stablecoin, which is the first yield-bearing stablecoin to be approved by and registered with the SEC Crypto exchange Bybit was on Friday for an estimated $1.48 billion worth of ETH in the largest hack in the industry's history n the past week, the SEC dropped lawsuits and investigations related to Coinbase, Robinhood, OpenSea, Uniswap, Gemini, and MetaMask Microstrategy an additional 20,356 BTC last week Crypto exchange OKX $504 million in penalties for anti-money...
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Weekly Roundup 02/21/25 (Milei’s Libra scandal, physical gold chaos, are memecoins dead?) (EP.598)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Milei launches and immediately abandons the Libra memecoin Is the memecoin sector dead? What is the future of Solana post memecoin fallout? Hagerty’s GENIUS act gains bipartisan support Why securities laws exist What laws apply to memecoins? What’s going on with physical gold?
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Weekly Roundup 02/14/25 (OCC and CFTC nominations, nation-state memecoins, Tigran retrospective) (EP.597)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Our episode with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce The SEC and Binance are pausing their litigation Brian Quintenz nominated for CFTC Jonathan Gould nominated for OCC Central African Republic launches a memecoin Is Vitalik crashing out? CBOE wants to add staking to their ETH ETF We reflect on the Tigran Gambaryan story Rep Waters rolls out a draft stablecoin bill Is there a run on gold vaults underway? Tungsten is rallying
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SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on the journey ahead (EP.596)
On The Brink with Castle Island
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The past several years of digital asset policy at the SEC Different ways that regulators have the potential to stymie technical innovation through policy SAB 121 The impact on the SEC’s policies on capital formation in the digital asset industry The role of Congress, specifically with regards to market structure The future of token disclosures Tokenization and how a regulatory framework could emerge in this category Advice to founders You can follow Commissioner Peirce on .
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Nathan McCauley (Anchorage) on the evolving banking and custody landscape (EP.595)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the co-founder and CEO of joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The history of Anchorage and the evolution of the company from a product and regulatory perspective. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the debanking of digital asset startups. How banks are approaching the digital asset custody ecosystem and the sub-custody market. The evolution of stablecoins, the prospects of a stablecoin bill and the Global Dollar Network stablecoin consortium. Anchorage’s Porto Wallet and Atlas products and the role they are playing with institutional customers. To learn more about Anchorage visit
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Weekly Roundup 02/07/25 (FDIC Files, House & Senate Hearings, SEC crypto priorities) (EP.594)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: Matt and Nic’s ski adventure Berachain launches Mike Lempres of Silvergate finally speaks What we learned in the Senate debanking hearing The FDIC releases 790 pages of new documents related to the pause letters The FDIC is reprimanded by a judge in the Coinbase case Senator Lummis reveals a Fed memo that may be proof of OCP2.0 The SEC releases their list of priorities for the Crypto Task Force Hagerty releases the GENIUS Act on Stablecoins Czech Republic waives capital gains on Bitcoins held for 3 years Microstrategy is...
info_outlineJohn Newbery, Bitcoin Core developer and founder of Bitcoin Optech, announces an independent nonprofit organization to support Bitcoin development, Brink. Donate here.
In this episode, we discuss the formation and mandate of Brink, as well as the developer funding context that we find ourselves in. Covered in the episode:
- John Newbery's core developer story and how he came to found Brink
- Why John left Chaincode and struck out on his own
- Brink's mandate and foundational purpose
- Lessons learned from the Bitcoin Foundation
- The future of Bitcoin Optech
- The state of funding for Bitcoin development
- The accessibility of Bitcoin protocol development today
- Does the existence of financial incentives cannibalize the intrinsic motivation to work on open source?
- Why John works on Bitcoin
- Why ossification might be more remote than we expect
- Whether Bitcoin's developer funding model exposes it to corporate capture
- The political implications of Bitcoin having a sole reference implementation
- The importance of distinguishing the validation element of Bitcoin Core from the other components
- Is Bitcoin protocol dev meritocratic or technocratic?
- Why the structurelessness of Bitcoin core dev raises the barriers to entry
- Is Bitcoin protocol development adequately funded right now?
- Does developer funding equate to influence in the Bitcoin protocol development
- The dispersion of Bitcoin protocol development influence
Content mentioned in this episode:
- Joseph Jacks on On The Brink
- Bitmex Research, Who Funds Bitcoin Development?
- Nic Carter in Coindesk, Bitcoin's Patronage System is an Unheralded Strength