Anders Larson (U.S. Bitcoin Corp) on strategic miner decision making (EP.270)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 12/20/2021
Weekly Roundup 11/21/25 (Quantum FUD, DAT hangover, stablecoin duration risk) (EP.686)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Is Quantum FUD causing Bitcoin to sell off? Ray Dalio is worry about Quantum Scott Aaronson is worried about quantum computing Vitalik is worried about quantum Quantum upgrade scenarios Are we still suffering from the flash crash? The DATs are selling DAT spot arbitrage Will the US government end up with the Satoshi coins Should the government bail out AI? Will NFTs come back? IBIT is Harvard’s largest 13F position David Frum on stablecoins Will stablecoins require a bailout?
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Weekly Roundup 11/14/25 (Miran speech, Cash App adds Stables, DAT Hangover)(EP.685)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: The Senate Ag Cmte publishes a Market Structure draft Paul Atkins’ token taxonomy speech Fed Governor Stephen Miran gives a major stablecoin speech Grayscale files their S-1 Coinbase announces a tokensale platform Coinbase is leaving Delaware The Coinbase BVNK deal falls through Visa Direct adds stablecoin support The Czech republic buys Bitcoin DATs are struggling CBDC holdouts Jack Dorsey bends the knee on stablecoins Content mentioned: Stephen Miran,
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Weekly Roundup 11/07/25 (Balancer hack, DATs are suffering, Zcash rally) (EP.684)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Tom Brady’s clone dog We reminisce on the Nic Carter v Mike Green debate Is the government shutdown draining market liquidity? The trouble with Opendimes Balancer hacked Stream finance’s xUSD collapses DATs are selling coins Why is Zcash rallying? Are stablecoins the lightbulb of crypto Content mentioned: JW Verret,
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Keone Hon (Monad Foundation) on Blockchains Built to Scale (EP.683)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, founder of the Foundation joins the show. In this episode: From the point of view of Keone's trading background, what is the promise of blockchains? Reimagining financial systems with blockchains in 2025 Why build Monad, and for anyone using a chain, why use Monad? How the importance of decentralization and chain efficiency becomes underscored during fragile market periods Auto-Deleveraging (ADL): What it is and why it is important. Where is there economic efficiency to be created? How has Keone gone about building a team to tackle this challenge? What would make Monad "successful" in 2-3...
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Giovanni Vignone (Octane Security) on Protecting Onchain Assets (EP.682)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with , the founder of , a crypto security platform focused on vetting application code pre-deployment. In this episode we discuss: What poses the greatest threat to crypto right now? How are hackers evolving? What are the important categories of crypto-facing cybersecurity? How much should startup teams be spending on security? How should teams think about counterparty risk? What do you wish early stage teams knew? Where is there room for improved security practices across the industry?
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Weekly Roundup 10/31/25 (DATs selling coins, prediction market problems, Bessent’s pesos) (EP.681)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: Mastercard buys Zerohash for around $2b Fiserv has a catastrophic day Bitwise launches a Solana staking ETF Is there another regional banking crisis? EthZilla sold some ETH to buy back shares Will there be activists with the DATs? Are prediction markets structurally doomed? Sen Tillis introduces the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking act Could you go back and time and trade effectively? Bessent’s great peso trade What’s going to happen with Venezuela? We review the Iran-Contra scandal Content mentioned in this episode: ...
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Geetha Panchapakesan (Tesser) on Enabling FIs to Utilize Stablecoins (EP.680)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the founder and CEO of , joins the show. In this episode: Geetha's background in payments and how she arrived in stablecoins Major shifts across payments over Geetha’s career Building a one-stop shop solution for financial institutions, PSPs and MSBs Where FIs are today as it relates to engaging to stablecoins Regulatory tailwinds post-GENIUS See more at
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Weekly Roundup 10/24/25 (Quantum, Crypto Pardons, Fed Payment Accounts) (EP.679)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Old fashioned crime is back Quantum risk to Bitcoin More outcry in Washington over the Democratic edits to market structure CZ gets a presidential pardon Federal Reserve announces a payments charter
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Weekly Roundup 10/17/25 (Flash crash, pig butchering scam busted, Erebor charter granted) (EP.678)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We dissect the market structure behind the flash crash last week What happened with Binance and Ethena? Palmer Luckey’s de novo bank Erebor gets an OCC charter Paxos’ fat finger The US government has seized $15b in funds tied to pig butchering scams
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Pbj (Perpl) on the Perp DEX Market & Monad's Imminent Launch (EP.677)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with Pbj, the founder of , a prominent perpetuals exchange on the imminently launching Monad blockchain. In this episode: How large are perp exchanges in the crypto market? Why perps are attractive to crypto users and traders Hyperliquid's success What assets would people trade on Perpl vs Hyperliquid? What makes Monad unique Perps for other asset classes? Reasons to be excited
info_outlineAnders Larson, head of strategic finance at U.S. Bitcoin Corp, joins us to talk about how miners make decisions and allocate capital. In this episode:
- The Wharton class of 2018
- Are Bitcoin miners clogging up the chip supply chain?
- Why Bitcoin miners are 'tier 2' customers at foundries
- The scale of US BTC operations in terms of hashrate
- Why US BTC has been so quiet historically
- How US BTC targets renewable energy
- Which renewables are easiest to find
- Is there any truth to the story of Bitcoin improving the economics of renewables?
- Why ASIC depreciation is slowing, and how that affects the viability of different energy sources
- The relationship between Bitcoin's carbon intensity and ASIC depreciation period
- Can ASICs last for 5 years?
- How does US BTC think about uptime on their units?
- Why lower uptime means that you have cheaper power due to demand response
- How US BTC thinks about hashrate growth and why they are more conservative than their competitors
- Why Chinese hashrate is not completely eliminated
- The state of affairs in Kazakhstan
- How Anders thinks about political risk in mining
- How policy logic informs selective mining bans and mining subsidies
- How Anders sees miners vertically integrating with energy firms
- How Anders thinks about proposed state bitcoin mining bans in places like NY
- Why mining bans in the West are often counterproductive
- The relationship between energy consumption and civilizational progress
- How Anders thinks about the energy cost debate
- Whether the CBECI hashrate distribution estimates are reliable
- Why the US having a large share of hashrate isn't something to be concerned about
- How mining could become a states rights issue
- Does US BTC project fee growth in their models?
Sponsor notes:
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- This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.