Blake King (Galaxy Digital) on Mining, Transmission, and Curtailment (EP.362)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 10/17/2022
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_outlineFor another episode of the mining miniseries, Nic sits down with Blake King, power markets engineer at Galaxy Digital, for his second OTB appearance. In this episode:
- Blake reacts to the White House OSTP report on crypto mining
- Does mining actually reduce the incentive for utilities to build additional transmission?
- How transmission building decisions get made
- How are ERCOT planners taking the price of Bitcoin into account?
- The merits of proactive transmission construction
- Why the existence of strong property rights makes transmission much harder to build
- Can Bitcoin be understood as the electrification of gold?
- Is there really 17-25 GW worth of Bitcoin miners in the process of connecting to the Texas grid?
- How should we think about interconnection and load queues
- Why would ERCOT exaggerate the planned scale of Bitcoin mining in Texas?
- Do miners using renewables “not count” because they displace other consumers of renewable energy?
- Why Blake expects the $/MWh revenue for Bitcoin to continue to trend down over time
- Are Bitcoin miners forcing grids into grid scarcity events?
- Economic curtailment versus formal demand response
- Are Bitcoiners overestimating the importance of demand response for miners?
Content mentioned in this episode:
- Bitcoin Mining and the Grid, Part I and Part II
- Part I of Blake King on the show: OTB 330
- White House OSTP report on Bitcoin Mining
Intro and outro: Daniel Allan’s Collage #344