On The Brink with Castle Island

Nic and Matt are back with more news and deals. In this episode:

• Trump resoundingly wins the election
• A demographic realignment
• Polymarket versus the polls
• Podcasts and twitter versus the legacy media
• How did the pro-crypto candidates do?
• Trump promises to fire Gensler on day 1
• How did the Fairshake PAC do?
• Review of key Senate races
• Will Trump execute on his crypto promises?
• Moreno defeats Brown in Ohio
• Will OCP2.0 finally end?
• What’s the deal with Trump’s Bitcoin reserve?
• How would the SEC change token issuance rules?
• How will Trump's election affect DeFi and cashflowing tokens?
• Why Tether is a big winner from the election

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics, Crypto Market & Polymarket Dynamics Heading Into Elections: In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 284, we analyze Bitcoin’s (BTC) historical performance around prior elections and examine Polymarket data driven by 2024 elections.

Hadley Stern, the Chief Commercial Officer of Marinade joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Hadley’s career in the blockchain industry.
• The early days of researching and building blockchain products at Fidelity.  
• The landscape for banks in the United States as it relates to digital asset product development.
• The evolving regulatory landscape and the prospects of pro-innovation legislation.
• The staking landscape and how Marinade is going to market with its products and services.

To learn more about Marinade visit www.marinade.finance

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

• We check in on the presidential odds
• State races to watch
• As part of their quarterly earnings release, Microstrategy announced a plan to raise $42 billion in the next 3 years in order to buy more Bitcoin. The raise will be evenly split between equity offerings and sales of fixed-income securities.
• Coinbase pledged a future donation of $25 million to Fairshake to be used for the 2026 midterm elections.
• Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering for FTX, avoided prison time following his guilty plea and cooperation in the investigation into the exchange's collapse.
• Blackrock's IBIT Bitcoin ETF saw $872 million of net inflows on Wednesday, which marked a new record for the fund since the launch in January.
• The US Treasury released a quarterly fiscal report this week that had a section dedicated to digital assets, noting stablecoins growth has caused "a modest increase in demand for short-dated treasuries."
• The Bank for International Settlements announced they are no longer working on Project mBridge, a cross-border payment network for CBDCs backed by China, Hong Kong, UAE, Saudia Arabia, among others.

Content mentioned:

• Treasury Presentation to TBAC
• Fortune, Wash Trading on Polymarket
• Blockchain Association, Regulation by Enforcement

Sponsor notes:

• Polymarket and the Power of Collective Intelligence: In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 283, we dive into how Polymarket’s prediction markets operate on Polygon and analyze data behind the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
• 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

Pat Larsen, the founder and CEO of Zenledger joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• The latest developments in the tax and compliance categories within digital assets.
• How asset managers and large financial institutions are increasingly adopting digital assets.
• The compliance obligations of financial services firms as it relates to digital asset trading.
• The venture capital landscape for digital asset startups.
• The use cases that are currently driving adoption in the blockchain industry.

To learn more about Zenledger, visit www.zenledger.io

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode:

• The Polymarket whale is identified
• BTCUSD predictions for the election
• Election models versus prediction markets
• Stripe acquires Bridge for $1.1b
• Did the Bridge deal make sense for Stripe?
• Stablecoins as Fintech 3.0
• Nigeria frees Tigran Gambaryan
• Kraken is launching the Ink blockchain
• Buenos Aires is launching a blockchain-based identity solution
• Opera launches the minipay wallet
• A new paper from the Fed gives us new insight into the 2023 bank run
• Coinbase FOIAs the regulators behind OCP 2.0

Content mentioned in this episode:

• NY Fed, Tracing Bank Runs in Real Time

Sponsor notes:

• Introducing Exchange Flow Metrics: In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 282, we introduce Coin Metrics’ new exchange flow metrics for BTC & ETH
• 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

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

• Nic’s Dutch misadventures
• Federal versus State regulation of Stablecoins
• TD Bank filed $3b for money laundering
• Are stake rewards property or income?
• Italy hikes capital gains taxes on Bitcoin
• Is Polymarket manipulated?
• Has the first AI bot millionaire been minted?
• The World Liberty Financial tokensale flopped

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

• An Overview of the Flow Blockchain: In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 281, we provide an overview of the Flow Blockchain

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

• Are shipping regulations making the oceans hotter?
• Is Satoshi Peter Todd?
• Is the identity of Satoshi the best mystery of all time?
• The SEC comes after Cumberland
• Crypto.com sues the SEC
• World Liberty Financial is doing a tokensale
• Uniswap announces Unichain
• Is Polymarket manipulated?
• Ryan Salame appears on Tucker

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics, State of the Network’s Q3 2024 Mining Data Special: In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 280, we provide our quarterly update on Bitcoin mining.
• 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

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

• Monad Madness
• CZ is released from jail
• Roman Storm’s motion to dismiss is denied
• Mango settles with the SEC
• Swift is piloting digital asset transactions
• Bitwise submits and S-1 for a Ripple ETF
• Visa announces their Tokenized Assets Platform
• Franklin moves to Aptos
• The SEC’s Gurbir Grewal steps down

Sponsor notes

• Coin Metrics, State of the Network’s Q3 2024 Wrap-Up: A data-driven overview of events shaping crypto markets in Q3–2024
• 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

Stephen Novenstern, the founder of Kintsu joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Stephen’s path to the cryptocurrency industry and the vision for Kintsu, a liquid staking project in the Monad ecosystem.
• The history of DeFi and the LST category.
• Why Monad and views on the net new primitives that are enabled by this new layer one blockchain.
• The future of layer one blockchains.
• Central limit orderbooks in decentralized finance.

To learn more about Kintsu visit their website and follow the project on X.  

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:

• Gensler denies knowledge of Operation Choke Point 2.0
• We recap the Silvergate collapse
• Why did the MSM ignore the new Silvergate revelations?
• Trump’s fair banking access rule
• Looking back at the Signature closure
• Gensler appears in front of the House
• Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison
• Options approved for Bitcoin ETFs
• SEC versus TUSD
• What’s going on with the port strike?
• Nic’s panda moon moon situation

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics, Real World Assets (RWAs) & Tokenization Report. Exploring the RWA landscape, sectors and networks gaining adoption, regulatory implications and market opportunities.
• 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

Content mentioned:

• Ross Stevens, Bitcoin's Protection under the First Amendment