On The Brink with Castle Island

Hosts Matt Walsh and Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures explore news and deals in the public blockchain space and talk to some of the leading experts in the industry. Learn more and stay up to date at CastleIsland.vc and follow on twitter @CastleIslandVC

David Taylor (Etherfuse) on Non-USD Stablecoins (EP.620) 05/07/2025

Justin and Hannah (Asymmetry Finance) on Stablecoins, Yield, & Risk in DeFi (EP.619) 05/05/2025

Weekly Roundup 05/02/25 (OP_RETURN wars, Mastercard and Visa push stables, quantum revisited) (EP.618) 05/02/2025

Kedian Sun (Level Money) on Stablecoin Expansion in DeFi (EP.617) 04/29/2025

Weekly Roundup 04/25/25 (Decoupling, Fed Rescinds guidance, 21 Capital) (EP.616) 04/25/2025

Weekly Roundup 04/18/25 (Signature Postmortem, Mantra collapse, Powell on stablecoins) (EP.615) 04/18/2025

Fred Hsu and Michael Ho (D3) on Creating Efficient Domain Name Markets (EP.614) 04/16/2025

Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki (Digital Asset) on the Canton Network (EP.613) 04/15/2025

Weekly Roundup 04/11/25 (Tether’s new stablecoin, Signature, dedollarization, DoJ disbands crypto team) (EP.612) 04/11/2025

Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez (Vaneck Ventures) on Stablecoin Adoption and The Institutionalization of Crypto (EP.611) 04/09/2025

Hoolie Tejwani (Coinbase) on The Evolution of Coinbase Ventures (EP.610) 04/07/2025

Weekly Roundup 04/03/25 (Circle S1, Tariffs, Galaxy settles, BitMEX pardons) (EP.609) 04/04/2025

Alexei Zamyatin (Build on Bitcoin) on True Rollups on Bitcoin (EP.608) 04/02/2025

Weekly Roundup 03/28/25 (MiCA Stablecoins, Gamestop, Hyperliquid) (EP.607) 03/28/2025

Paolo Ardoino (Tether) on stablecoin bills, pursuing an audit, and getting to 400m users (EP.606) 03/26/2025

Brian Foster on Coinbase’s wholesale business (EP.605) 03/24/2025

Weekly Roundup 03/21/25 (Trump addresses DAS, Kraken buys NinjaTrader, FIRM act advances) (EP.604) 03/21/2025

Weekly Roundup 03/14/25 (SBR is real, Trump and Binance, CZ pardon rumors) (EP.603) 03/14/2025

Jeff Park (Bitwise) on Digital Asset Alpha Strategies (EP.602) 03/12/2025

Brandon Mulvihill (Crossover Markets) on the future of market structure in the USA (EP.601) 03/10/2025

Weekly Roundup 03/07/25 (Crypto Reserve, Debanking Bill, Broker Rule) (EP.600) 03/07/2025

Weekly Roundup 02/28/25 (Bybit Hack, SEC drops lawsuits, bank-issued stablecoins) (EP.599) 02/28/2025

Weekly Roundup 02/21/25 (Milei’s Libra scandal, physical gold chaos, are memecoins dead?) (EP.598) 02/21/2025

Weekly Roundup 02/14/25 (OCC and CFTC nominations, nation-state memecoins, Tigran retrospective) (EP.597) 02/14/2025

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on the journey ahead (EP.596) 02/13/2025

Nathan McCauley (Anchorage) on the evolving banking and custody landscape (EP.595) 02/11/2025

Weekly Roundup 02/07/25 (FDIC Files, House & Senate Hearings, SEC crypto priorities) (EP.594) 02/07/2025

Mike Lempres on Silvergate’s Collapse, Bank Regulation, and Debanking (EP.593) 02/05/2025

Mike Lempres on Silvergate’s Collapse, Bank Regulation, and Debanking (EP.593) 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 Silvergate suffered a bank run and ultimate liquidation following the FTX collapse How Silvergate survived a 70% bank run Regulatory shifts in 2023 What led the decision to voluntarily liquidate What has happened at Silvergate since the announcement of the liquidation? The effect of Elizabeth Warren’s letters and short seller behavior on the collapse Could Silvergate have survived and thrived? Should bank regulators be allowed to ringfence entire industries? Silvergate’s relationship with Alameda/FTX - and could they have detected the fraud? Was Silvergate a victim of FTX How the Signature case adds to the suspicion - were regulators sending a message? What was the issue with SEN monitoring? Silvergate’s settlements with the Fed, the SEC, and the CA DFP How Silvergate was rugpulled by the government with regards to Diem The Fed’s recent evolution on the topic of banks serving crypto Mike’s outlook on crypto banking and the domestic crypto industry Why Signature and Silvergate executives are limited in what they can say publicly The problem with “confidential supervisory information” Why we may not get a “smoking gun memo” from the regulators on Choke Point 2.0 What changes would Mike make to bank regulation in the US? Lingering misconceptions about Silvergate Do Silvergate shareholders have a legal case against the government? Further reading: Nic Carter in Piratewires, Nic Carter in Piratewires, Nic Carter in Piratewires, /episode/index/show/castleisland/id/35148830

Weekly Roundup 01/31/25 (Senate Debanking Hearing, Powell's pivot, Tokenized Securities) (EP.592) 01/31/2025

Weekly Roundup 01/24/25 (Trump EO, the Stockpile, Ross Free, SAB121 Gone!) (EP.591) 01/24/2025

On The Brink with Castle Island

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