Larry Cermak and Mike Rogers (The Block) on the Stablecoin Market (EP.205)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 04/12/2021
Weekly Roundup 05/09/25 (GENIUS stalls, Coinbase buys Deribit, Bessent on stables) (EP.622)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We have a new Pope The etymology of ampersand The GENIUS act collapses spectacularly Coinbase consummates its acquisition of Deribit Did World Liberty Financial’s USD1 torpedo the GENIUS act? Did “pro crypto” democrats snake on the industry Scott Bessent thinks stablecoins could reach $2T The OCC says banks can provide crypto custody and execution Stripe is launching stablecoin financial accounts The SEC explores a sandbox for tokenized securities Tariff the L2s
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Adam Healy (Station 70) and Josh Schwartz (Fordefi) on failover MPC wallets (EP.621)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Adam Healy, co-founder of and Josh Schwartz, co-founder of join the show. In this episode we discuss: The collaboration between Station 70 and Fordefi on failover MPC wallets. Announcement . The state of the wallet category Best practices for blockchain cybersecurity The future of bank custody for digital assets Station 70’s product Station 70 and Fordefi are holding a joint webinar to showcase this product collaboration. You can register . Learn more about Learn more about
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David Taylor (Etherfuse) on Non-USD Stablecoins (EP.620)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with of . In this episode: MXN stablecoins and other currencies Shaping regulatory frameworks Who wins out: innovators vs financial incumbents
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Justin and Hannah (Asymmetry Finance) on Stablecoins, Yield, & Risk in DeFi (EP.619)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with and of In this episode, we cover: The evolution of yield in DeFi Primitives users want Crypto risk assessment Learn more about
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Weekly Roundup 05/02/25 (OP_RETURN wars, Mastercard and Visa push stables, quantum revisited) (EP.618)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Will stablecoins disrupt credit cards? The US Treasury Advisory Committee drops a report on stablecoins Mastercard and Visa launch stablecoin integrations Movement labs has more scandals Are quantum timelines accelerating? The real risk of quantum to Bitcoin Could a quantum break fix Bitcoin’s security budget? Are any Bitcoin purists left? Circle turns down Ripple’s acquisition offer Machinsky is facing a 20-year sentence Arizona passes an SBR bill Cambridge releases a new report on bitcoin mining...
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Kedian Sun (Level Money) on Stablecoin Expansion in DeFi (EP.617)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with , the founder of In this episode: Stablecoin usage in DeFi today Fiat-backed stablecoins vs other "stable" assets Ethereum vs other blockchains for stablecoins
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Weekly Roundup 04/25/25 (Decoupling, Fed Rescinds guidance, 21 Capital) (EP.616)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Is Bitcoin decoupling? The Fed rescinds anti-crypto letters from 2022 and 2023 Upexi raises $100m PIPE to invest in Solana Cantor, Tether, Softbank and Bitfinex inject $3.6b into 21 Capital, a Bitcoin acquisition vehicle Bitcoin ETFs versus bitcoin acquisition companies Trump is hosting a dinner for $TRUMP holders Charles Schwab wants to launch crypto trading Citi thinks stablecoins could reach $3.7T in supply by 2030
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Weekly Roundup 04/18/25 (Signature Postmortem, Mantra collapse, Powell on stablecoins) (EP.615)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We recap Nic’s article on why Signature collapsed Crypto exchange OKX their plans to expand to the US Kraken that US equities are now supported on the exchange MANTRA, a layer 1 network focused on RWAs, saw the price of its native token 90% in a matter of hours Global Payments agreed to Worldpay, a payments processor, for $24 billion from FIS and private equity firm GTCR The US Department of Homeland Security has launched a into Anchorage,...
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Fred Hsu and Michael Ho (D3) on Creating Efficient Domain Name Markets (EP.614)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with Fred Hsu and Michael Ho of to talk domain markets. In this episode: The existing domain name industry and legacy systems An interoperable marketplace for domains New financial promitives around domains and RWAs
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Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki (Digital Asset) on the Canton Network (EP.613)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki, co-founders of Digital Asset join the show. In this episode we discuss: The origins of Digital Asset and the path to starting the firm. Views on privacy in the context of public blockchains. How enterprises and financial institutions are approaching tokenizing assets and leveraging blockchain technology. Examples of how on-chain privacy enables use cases in collateral management and stablecoin payments. The role of the Canton Network public blockchain for enabling institutional use cases. How Canton Network works from a design perspective. To learn...
info_outlineThe Block's Director of Research Larry Cermak and Research Analyst Mike Rogers join the show to talk through their latest report on stablecoins. In this episode:
- Why the Block chose to focus on stablecoins for this report
- Larry and Mike's opinion on why stablecoins are so disproportionately dollar-based
- China's influence in the Tether market
- The history of Tether and why it attained so much traction initially
- How you can determine the location of stablecoin users
- The Tetherification for offshore exchanges – and how it displaced Bitcoin as the reserve asset
- The influence of USDC in DeFi and whether it represents a systemic risk to the sector
- Dai's transition to non-native collateral types
- Mike and Larry's view of algorithmic stablecoins
- Why stablecoins are so divisive between economists and crypto entrepreneurs
- Why Tether's dominance is declining
- Where the NYAG settlement leaves Tether now
- What Larry makes of USDT on TRON stealing some market share from Ethereum
- Why investors are settling deals in stablecoin terms
- The prospects for Libra/Diem
- Mike and Larry's expectations for the next decade in stablecoins
Related content:
- The Block's report on Stablecoins
- The OTB Crypto-dollarization series
Sponsor notes:
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