Weekly Roundup 09/13/24 (Trump-Harris debate, World Liberty Fi, Stablecoins in EM) (EP.560)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 09/13/2024
Weekly Roundup 03/07/25 (Crypto Reserve, Debanking Bill, Broker Rule) (EP.600)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: We debate the prudence of a BTC reserve A Strategic Reserve of just BTC or altcoins? How would a crypto reserve be “strategic” Should the US Government just seize BTC to build the reserve? Is there a “strategic” purpose to owning a gas token? SEC task force for crypto is starting roundtables SEC drops lawsuits against Kraken, Cumberland, and Yuga labs Tim Scott’s bill to eliminate reputational risk from bank regulation CME launches SOL futures An Argentine prosecutor is looking to seize $110m in the Libra...
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Weekly Roundup 02/28/25 (Bybit Hack, SEC drops lawsuits, bank-issued stablecoins) (EP.599)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Figure Markets the launch of their YLDS stablecoin, which is the first yield-bearing stablecoin to be approved by and registered with the SEC Crypto exchange Bybit was on Friday for an estimated $1.48 billion worth of ETH in the largest hack in the industry's history n the past week, the SEC dropped lawsuits and investigations related to Coinbase, Robinhood, OpenSea, Uniswap, Gemini, and MetaMask Microstrategy an additional 20,356 BTC last week Crypto exchange OKX $504 million in penalties for anti-money...
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Weekly Roundup 02/21/25 (Milei’s Libra scandal, physical gold chaos, are memecoins dead?) (EP.598)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Milei launches and immediately abandons the Libra memecoin Is the memecoin sector dead? What is the future of Solana post memecoin fallout? Hagerty’s GENIUS act gains bipartisan support Why securities laws exist What laws apply to memecoins? What’s going on with physical gold?
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Weekly Roundup 02/14/25 (OCC and CFTC nominations, nation-state memecoins, Tigran retrospective) (EP.597)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Our episode with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce The SEC and Binance are pausing their litigation Brian Quintenz nominated for CFTC Jonathan Gould nominated for OCC Central African Republic launches a memecoin Is Vitalik crashing out? CBOE wants to add staking to their ETH ETF We reflect on the Tigran Gambaryan story Rep Waters rolls out a draft stablecoin bill Is there a run on gold vaults underway? Tungsten is rallying
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SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on the journey ahead (EP.596)
On The Brink with Castle Island
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The past several years of digital asset policy at the SEC Different ways that regulators have the potential to stymie technical innovation through policy SAB 121 The impact on the SEC’s policies on capital formation in the digital asset industry The role of Congress, specifically with regards to market structure The future of token disclosures Tokenization and how a regulatory framework could emerge in this category Advice to founders You can follow Commissioner Peirce on .
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Nathan McCauley (Anchorage) on the evolving banking and custody landscape (EP.595)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the co-founder and CEO of joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The history of Anchorage and the evolution of the company from a product and regulatory perspective. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the debanking of digital asset startups. How banks are approaching the digital asset custody ecosystem and the sub-custody market. The evolution of stablecoins, the prospects of a stablecoin bill and the Global Dollar Network stablecoin consortium. Anchorage’s Porto Wallet and Atlas products and the role they are playing with institutional customers. To learn more about Anchorage visit
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Weekly Roundup 02/07/25 (FDIC Files, House & Senate Hearings, SEC crypto priorities) (EP.594)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: Matt and Nic’s ski adventure Berachain launches Mike Lempres of Silvergate finally speaks What we learned in the Senate debanking hearing The FDIC releases 790 pages of new documents related to the pause letters The FDIC is reprimanded by a judge in the Coinbase case Senator Lummis reveals a Fed memo that may be proof of OCP2.0 The SEC releases their list of priorities for the Crypto Task Force Hagerty releases the GENIUS Act on Stablecoins Czech Republic waives capital gains on Bitcoins held for 3 years Microstrategy is...
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Mike Lempres on Silvergate’s Collapse, Bank Regulation, and Debanking (EP.593)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Former Chairman of Silvergate Bank Mike Lempres joins us for a discussion of Silvergate, the crypto-focused bank that was forced into liquidation in early 2023 following a bank run. This are the first on the record comments from any Silvergate executive following the voluntary liquidation announced in March 2023. In this episode: Mike’s background at the DoJ, at Coinbase, and how he came to be chairman of the board at Silvergate How Silvergate grew to become the premier crypto-focused bank with $14b in deposits Why the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) was so useful to the crypto space How...
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Weekly Roundup 01/31/25 (Senate Debanking Hearing, Powell's pivot, Tokenized Securities) (EP.592)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Should we revisit Basel rules on Bitcoin? Jay Powell evolves on banks serving crypto Are banks going to offer crypto custody post SAB121? Gensler joins MIT Sloan Should crypto firms boycott MIT? The Senate will hold a hearing on debanking next week Choke Point 2.0 is getting caught up in conservative debanking Where are we on DeSci? Is tokenization finally going to happen? X is adding payments to the platform with Visa Truth Social is launching Truth.Fi...
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Weekly Roundup 01/24/25 (Trump EO, the Stockpile, Ross Free, SAB121 Gone!) (EP.591)
On The Brink with Castle Island
The episode where we logged on and won forever. Probably the biggest week in crypto history... In this episode: Ross Ulbricht is granted a full pardon Did Ross Ulbricht deserve a life sentence? SAB121 is finally gone Why SAB121 was bad Crypto ball review Trump launches a memecoin Trump is inaugurated OCP2.0 is over CBDCs are banned We review Trump's Executive Order No Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but a stockpile instead Larry Fink calls for 600-700k BTC Mark Uyeda, the formation of a new task force: SEC Crypto 2.0 Senator Cynthia Lummis the formation of the...
info_outlineMatt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:
- We review the Trump-Harris debate
- Matt’s new wildlife problems
- Nic’s birthday party
- Trump doubles down on World Liberty Financial
- The Castle Island stablecoins whitepaper is out!
- Our reactions to the emerging markets stablecoin report
- TZero gets approval to trade tokenized securities
- Coinbase’s cbBTC
- North Carolina bans CBDCs
- Something is happening to Friend Tech
- Circle is moving their HQ to NYC
Content mentioned:
- Castle Island, Visa, and BH Digital, Stablecoins: The Emerging Market Story
Sponsor notes:
- Withum’s Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology Team specializes in crypto-assets, offering accounting, tax and advisory solutions to fortify trust in a dynamic industry. Contact them today to get started. - withum.com/crypto
- Coin Metrics state of the network: A Primer on Blockchain Network Health: Exploring key metrics to gauge network health and centralization in PoW and PoS blockchains