Hass McCook on Bitcoin's energy use in context (EP.216)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 05/24/2021
Weekly Roundup 06/27/25 (Bitcoin for mortages, Fiserv adopts stables, Fed drops reputation risk) (EP.639)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Golden age of prediction markets NYC mayor’s election What’s happening with Canton? The FHFA says crypto can be a qualifying asset for mortages Our thoughts on the market structure bill The significance of the Fiserv stablecoin pilot $500m public access vehicle for BNB The Fed drops reputational risk in bank supervision EO for debanking is rumored Kraken HQ is moving to Wyoming Texas buys Bitcoin Will banking hours be obsolete?
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Josh Frank (The Tie) on Crypto Market Intelligence (EP.638)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the founder and CEO of joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The origin story behind The Tie and how Josh approached founding the business. The digital asset data market. How sentiment data has evolved in the digital asset industry. The buy-side landscape for digital assets and how Josh sees that evolving in the coming years. The Canton Network and how The Tie is working with this new protocol. To learn more about The Tie visit their .
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Luca Prosperi (M0) on a Universal Stablecoin Platform (EP.637)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Ria sits down with , CEO and Co-Founder of , a universal stablecoin platform that enables customization while preserving interoperability across assets. In this episode, we cover: Lessons from MakerDAO Drawing inspiration from the dual banking system Building a base asset that is decentralized, permissionless and ossified Issuing opinionated assets via wrapping and extensions while maintaining interoperability
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Weekly Roundup 06/20/25 (GENIUS passes, Nobitex Hack, FUD dice retrospective) (EP.636)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: The GENIUS Act passes the Senate Should GENIUS be stapled to market structure? Bessent thinks stablecoins could be $3.7T by 2030 Stablecoin FUD Will stablecoins destabilize the US Treasury market JPM's stablecoin FUDs JPMD's deposit token will launch on Base The future of stablecoin yield in the US Circle hits a $50b market cap Yellowcard partners with Visa in Africa Kraken will launch a token for their Ink L2 Are Walmart and Amazon looking at their own stablecoins? An Iranian crypto exchange is...
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Santi Alvarado (XFX) on Improving FX for Stablecoins (EP.635)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Sean is joined by Santi Alvarado, CEO/Co-Founder of , to cover their seed raise and how money moves cross border. In this episode: Background of Santi and how he made his way into crypto How legacy FX settlement operates today How XFX enables more liquidity for cross border payment companies
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Greg Genega (KPMG) on Crypto Auditing (EP.634)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt is joined by , Digital Asset and Blockchain leader at KPMG, for a conversation on the state of crypto auditing. In this episode: How KPMG works with crypto companies and protocols Relevant new innovations in the crypto space What to look out for as a new founder
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Weekly Roundup 06/13/25 (Stripe buys Privy, Stablecoin FUD, Rogue Traders) (EP.633)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Stripe acquires wallet infrastructure company Privy for an undisclosed sum Fireblocks’ stablecoin data Stablecoin FUD Were mnemonic phrases a local maxima? Bullish and Gemini have filed preliminary paperwork for IPOs Soc Gen is launching a USD stablecoin We look at some infamous rogue traders Gamestop’s bitcoin strategy is a flop DTCC is looking at issuing a stablecoin
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Weekly Roundup 06/06/25 (Circle IPO, Singapore rules, Trump wallet?) (EP.632)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Circle goes public and has an explosive first day The IPO window is open Circle’s vision for CPN is launching a token Will cannibalize Solana? JPM will let clients use Bitcoin ETFs as collateral Strategy introduces new offerings Magic Eden’s strange Trump wallet app announcement Truth Social Bitcoin ETF A K Pop Bitcoin access vehicle Korea’s cultural renaissance Singapore’s abrupt change in posture
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Isha Varshney (Celo) on Stablecoin Adoption Across Markets (EP.631)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with from the to talk stablecoins. Covered in this episode: Payments in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa Stablecoin usage and USDT The future of non-stable tokens
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Weekly Roundup 05/30/25 (Bitcoin Access Vehicles, GME buys BTC, Pangea Fund) (EP.630)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Warning signs for the Bitcoin access vehicles? Has Bitcoin lost the MoE battle? Is OCP 2.0 over? The Dept of Labor rescinds their anti-crypto 401k guidance Cantor Fitzgerald is launching a bitcoin/gold fund Is it mathematically possible to give Bitcoin upside and gold downside? Content mentioned:
info_outlineHass McCook is a civil engineer who has been delivering estimates of Bitcoin's energy use and CO2 emissions since 2014, as well as alternatives like gold or finance. In this episode:
- Hass's background in civil engineering and how it prepared him for the energy debate
- The conflation between energy generation and electricity generation
- Why you can't just generalize energy consumption to carbon emissions
- Hass breaks down the varying carbon intensities of different sources of generation
- How much energy goes to waste globally
- The difference between CO2 and CO2e / greenhouse gases
- Why today's US grid has lowered its carbon intensity over the last decade
- Why combusting methane is a net good from an emissions perspective
- Hass' level of optimism around flared gas mining
- Why the changing rate of ASIC innovation affects bitcoin's energy consumption
- The opportunity for stranded gas at landfills
- Hass' estimates of the gold and the financial system's energy footprints
- How gold mining actually works
- The ecological and human cost of gold mining
- Hass' thoughts on offsets
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