Izabella Kaminska (The Blind Spot) on Reconsidering Bitcoin Skepticism (EP.297)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 03/14/2022
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_outlineFormer FT Alphaville Editor and founder of The Blind Spot, Izabella Kaminska joins the show. In this episode:
- Izabella’s pre-FT career
- Izabella’s Polish ancestry and how that informed her monetary worldview
- Why Izabella was a skeptic about Bitcoin – and why she revisited her stance
- Izabella’s interest in anacyclosis and cyclicality in political systems
- Jeremy Bentham and his views on utilitarianism
- Consequentialism and its influence on contemporary elite ideology
- What Covid-19 policies revealed about freedoms in the West
- The flaws inherent in bureaucracy
- Izabella’s changing view on the politicization of finance
- The failure of AML/KYC rules in the West
- Reflections on the FT’s Wirecard story
- Izabella’s view on stablecoins and why she first compared them to Eurodollars
- Why stablecoins are mini central banks
- The paradoxes of Web3 and DeFi and the veil of decentralization
- Do crypto systems end up inherently recentralizing
- Why Central Banking is so obscure and difficult to penetrate
- Bitcoin narratives in the context of Bitcoin’s apparent failure to be a real rates hedge
- Is gold genuinely a good inflation hedge?
- Are there Bitcoiners Izy pays attention to?
- Izabella’s thoughts on Bitcoin ESG questions
- Is Bitcoin security worth paying for?
- Why Izabella is leaving the FT and starting the Blind Spot
Learn about The Blind Spot and follow Izabella on twitter.
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