Weekly Roundup 12/01/23 (SEC v Binance, Treasury letter to Congress) (EP.479)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 12/01/2023
Weekly Roundup 02/13/26 (SBF wants a retrial, taking stock of Web3, Clarity deadlocked) (EP.701)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt reflects on the Patriots season We review the Superbowl Ads Looking forward to the OpenAI wearable Is “something big happening” in AI? Does crypto accelerate the rise of malicious AI? Are all communications networks going to break down in 90 days? SBF wants a new trial Blackrock adds BUIDL to Uniswap Blockfills suspends withdrawals Robinhood is internalizing their prediction market product The stablecoin yield issue in Clarity is still a problem Fairshake is getting active in the midterms Is Chris Dixon...
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Bhavin Vaid (Birch Hill) on Better Markets for Tokenized Assets (EP.700)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with Bhavin, co-founder of Birch Hill to chat about the tokenized asset and DeFi market broadly. In this episode: Who is assessing whether cryptoassets are safe in DeFi today? Who is assessing risk and ensuring assets are solvent and not fraudulent? How have these standards been set and how are they evolving? What is a risk curator, how do risk curators make money, and what is their role? Is it the responsibility of protocols, curators, wallets, or someone else to protect users from buying bad assets? How do you expect non-DeFi-native market participants will start to enter...
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Weekly Roundup 02/06/26 (Bitcoin bloodbath, Digesting Epstein’s Emails, Ethereum rethinks L2s) (EP.699)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Bitcoin grapples with the fallout of the Epstein Emails Did Jeffrey Epstein influence Bitcoin development? Is Bhutan selling their Bitcoin? Do Bitcoin devs care about quantum? Is Bitcoin Core under the influence with sophons Kyle Samani steps back from Multicoin What Samani’s departure means for crypto Is web3 dead forever? Vitalik starts second-guessing the L2-centric roadmap Tether is trading at a slight discount Content mentioned in this episode: Nic on Substack,
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Weekly Roundup 01/30/26 (Fidelity’s FIDD, Gold rally, Worldcoin and AI bots, digital alibis) (EP. 698)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt is heated about the Belichick HoF vote Fidelity launches a stablecoin FIDD on Ethereum Market structure passes Senate Ag Cmte The White House crypto council is being revived to find a compromise on stablecoin yield Fairshake has another war chest for the midterms Do stablecoins cause bank deposit contraction? Tether has 140 tons of gold now Why is Bitcoin not participating in the “debasement” trade? Is gold at risk from alchemy? People are still worried about quantum Will Worldcoin save us from AI bots?...
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Weekly Roundup 01/23/26 (CLARITY stalls, Iran's USDT reserves, Is Web3 Social over?) (EP.697)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Nic and Matt are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: There’s a big storm coming Matt’s playoff picks Farcaster sells to Neynar Is this the nail in the coffin for Web3Social? Where Farcaster went wrong BitGo goes public NYSE is building a tokenized security trading platform Are we looping back around to enterprise blockchains? A MA judge has issued an injunction against Kalshi Jeffries drops Bitcoin from its model portfolio over quantum risk Coinbase launches an advisory board on quantum Trump sues JPM for debanking him Does the Central Bank of Iran really...
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Weekly Roundup 01/16/26 (CLARITY problems, InfoFi Dead, CA Wealth Tax, Kontigo) (EP.696)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back after a week off. In this episode: The Clarity market structure bill markup is delayed for now Coinbase backs out of supporting Clarity The bank lobby is trying to torpedo Clarity Kontigo is accused of ignoring sanctions X changes its API to block InfoFi California’s wealth tax has backfired already BitMine invests $200m into Mr Beast’s company Why tokenized deposits aren’t as interesting as stablecoins Content mentioned in this episode: Jason Mikula,
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Wyatt & Jake Lynch on Onchain Financial Markets (EP.695)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt, Henry, and Jake recently put out a report called "Total Value Lost", exploring how best to assess the value of various DeFi markets - starting with lending markets. This episode is a continuation of that conversation, exploring what carries value in DeFi going forward, particularly on the back of a shaky market period. This discussion covers: Where does the recent, ongoing market selloff leave us? What metrics matter for onchain markets? What market dynamics contributed to the October 10 washout? How does leverage manifest in onchain markets, and what does it look like today? How do...
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Weekly Roundup 01/02/26 (2026 predictions, wealth taxes, secret insolvencies) (EP.694)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for the first OTB show of 2026. In this episode: Matt’s ice rink adventures The House issues a draft of the PARITY Act The trouble with wealth taxes DATs continue to bleed out We talk about Nic’s fiction story Predictions for 2026 Is there a secret exchange insolvency? What constitutes insider trading for prediction markets? Is the four year cycle finally over? Is it time to try socialfi again? Kickstarter snafus Content mentioned in this episode: Nic Carter,
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2025 Highlights and 2026 Predictions with Blockchain Coinvestors (EP.693)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian of Blockchain Coinvestors join the show. In this episode we discuss: The top 5 themes of 2025 for the blockchain industry 2026 predictions and key themes to monitor To learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors visit
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Weekly Roundup 12/19/25 (Quantum FUD, CLARITY markup, are forks obsolete?) (EP.692)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for more deals and news. In this episode: Secret exchange insolvency rumors Caroline Ellison is free David Sacks says CLARITY is getting a markup The Fed rescinds their 2023 Novel Activities Supervision program Insolvent exchange prediction markets Visa’s stablecoin advisory business JPM launches a tokenized Treasury fund MONY Quantum FUD Why Quantum might be a surprise Bitwise 2026 predictions The four year cycle is over Grabby aliens and the Dark Forest Content mentioned in this episode: Talos and Factset,
info_outlineNic and Matt return for news and deals. In this episode:
- CZ must stay in the US until sentencing
- The SEC is looking into Binance US
- In kind versus cash creations for ETFs
- The Major Questions Doctrine
- FDIC scandal keeps rumbling
- Is there a world where GBTC doesn’t get converted?
- Elizabeth Warren versus Subway
Content mentioned in this episode:
- Austin Campbell tweet on Treasury letter
- Coin Center blog on Treasury letter
- Fortune, Gary Gensler has remade the SEC into a crypto nemesis and climate warrior. Now a backlash is brewing
Sponsor notes:
- Coin Metrics STATE OF THE NETWORK—Dollar-Cost Averaging Portfolio
- In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 235, we delve into the dollar-cost averaging strategy in the digital asset market, emphasizing the need for informed investment choices