Leo Zhang, founder of Alkimiya, joins the show to talk about their Bitcoin fee exposure product. In this episode: 

• The evolution of Alkimiya
• Alkimiya’s current product approach
• Why solving Bitcoin transaction fee volatility matters
• How blockspace compares to conventional commodities
• What kind of market participants would want to long or short Bitcoin transaction fees?
• Avoiding manipulation in blockspace markets
• The decision to build on Base
• Reminiscing on the Ethereum gas token
• Building a fee product for Bitcoin as opposed to any other L1
• Leo’s long term views on Bitcoin fees
• Bitcoin season 2 and the cultural shift in Bitcoin
• Moderating views from maximalism to being a Bitcoin moderate
• The effect of Bitcoin L2s on fees
• Runes as a catalyst for Bitcoin fees
• The fee-transaction count feedback loop

About Alkimiya:

Alkimiya is a blockspace markets protocol that just released a novel mechanism for users to trade on Bitcoin transaction fees. Previously, users had no option but to accept fluctuating transaction fees. With Alkimiya, they can now profit from or hedge against these drastic swings.

Further reading: 

• • Infrastructure for Synthetic Blockspace

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

• Will Biden step down?
• The importance of prediction markets in elections
• Can you insider trade on prediction markets?
• What does the SCOTUS repeal of Chevron mean for crypto?
• SEC sues Consensys
• Stripe and Coinbase partnership
• Circle achieves MiCA compliance for USDC and EURC
• Will Euro stables ever be popular?
• Silvergate settles with the SEC, SF Fed, and California
• Why the Silvergate story remains a huge scandal
• Polkadot’s strange spending habits
• Bozo of the week
• Blackrock puts IBIT in their global allocation fund
• Matt’s SEC-fu
• The SEC’s new website
• Stoner Cats in retrospect

Sponsor notes:

• State of the Network’s Q2 2024 Mining Data Special
• In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 266, we provide our quarterly update on Bitcoin mining

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

• Nic’s vehicular issues
• BTC mining FUD is now AI fud
• Abra settles with state regulators over lack of MTLs
• State Street and Galaxy Digital partner up
• US reps visit imprisoned Binance exec in Nigeria
• Vaneck files for a Solana ETF
• Coinbase is suing the FDIC and the SEC
• Germany is selling Bitcoin
• SCOTUS further limits the SEC’s power

Sponsor notes: 

• Mastering Crypto Derivatives
• In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 265, we dive into the landscape of derivatives in traditional financial and cryptoasset markets, examining their types, applications and underlying data

Adam Healy, the co-founder and CEO of Station 70 joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Adam’s career and path that led him to enter the digital assets industry as a CSO and eventually co-founder of Station 70.
• The evolution of digital asset custody from a technology perspective.
• The evolution of MPC as an infrastructure technology.
• The threat vectors that CSOs must confront in managing a custodial business.
• Cybersecurity best practices.
• The inception of Station 70 and the state of private key backups in the digital asset industry.
• How market structure is likely to evolve with more banks and broker-dealers getting active in the space.

To learn more about Station 70 visit their website.

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

• Certik goes from white hat to black hat regarding a Kraken exploit
• Bozo of the week
• The DJT memecoin scandal and Martin Shkreli
• What’s the deal with Barron Trump and the DJT memecoin?
• Should we welcome celebrity memecoins?
• Should bankers have been more supportive of crypto over SAB121?
• Paul Ryan’s stablecoin op-ed in the WSJ

Sponsor notes:

• Floating on Thin Air
• In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 264, we dive into the different factors of a project’s tokenomics and its effects on token valuation and on-chain activity.

Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of Zero Hash joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Edward’s origin story in the digital asset industry and his path to founding Zero Hash.
• Zero Hash’s product lineup and the ways that the firm is powering companies seeking to engage in the digital asset ecosystem.
• The regulatory landscape for digital assets and how Zero Hash has positioned the firm both in the United States and internationally.
• Stablecoin adoption and the types of businesses that are emerging to service this breakout category.
• How brokerage platforms are integrating digital assets.
• Zero Hash’s roadmap and what is coming in the next year.

To learn more about Zero Hash visit their website.

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

• GME and Roaringkitty drama
• The detention of Tigran Gambaryan continues
• OP_CAT prospects
• Biden considers accepting crypto campaign donations
• What’s the deal with Hamster Kombat
• Martin Shkreli vs PleasrDAO
• Terraform labs settles up with the SEC
• Microstrategy is still buying Bitcoin
• Should crypto holders donate coins to Biden?
• New nominee for FDIC chair
• Are democrats pivoting on crypto? 
• We dissect a tweet thread by Rep Sean Casten

Sponsor notes:

• Meme Coin Mania
• In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 263, we delve into the surge of meme coin activity on Ethereum and Solana, highlighting key market trends driven by the meme coin sector.

Content Mentioned:

• Jen Wieczner in NYMAG, Are Democrats Pivoting on Crypto

In this episode, Wyatt sits down with Babylon founder David Tse to cover:

• Restaking/shared security and how it works
• Why shared security is a valuable use case for Bitcoin
• Bitcoin’s structural limitations and their impact on Bitcoin innovation
• Bitcoin innovation broadly and Bitcoin L2’s

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

• Kerrisdale versus Bitcoin miners
• Robinhood buys Bitstamp for $200m
• Biden vetoes the SAB121 overturn bill
• Is the Biden admin’s pro crypto tilt over?
• Tucker interviews Bukele
• Coinbase donates to Fairshake
• SEC takes more Ls
• Big inflows into the bitcoin ETFs
• Are ETF inflows more about the basis trade?
• Paxos launches the interest-bearing stablecoin USDL out of the UAE
• Can Bitcoin miners sell into the AI cloud market?
• Kraken is in talks to raise a pre-IPO round
• State Street is reentering crypto
• MiCA and stablecoins
• Matt’s latest crisis
• The barbell approach to AI investing 

Sponsor notes:

• Breaking Down Ethereum Blobs & EIP-4844
• In Coin Metrics' State of the Network issue 262, we break down Layer-2 blob usage and evaluate the success of Ethereum’s EIP-4844 upgrade.

We sit down in Bermuda with Mountain Protocol founder Martin Carrica and XBTO founder Philippe Bekhazi for a talk on stablecoins and doing business on the island. In this episode: 

• Why XBTO is Bermuda-first and why Mountain set up there
• The “Bermuda triangle” for doing business on the island
• The overlap between Bermuda’s reinsurance industry and crypto
• The partnership between Mountain and XBTO
• The rise of interest-bearing stablecoins
• USD stables as extending the reach of the dollar
• The relationship between crypto and big 4 auditors
• The coming race between interest and non-interest bearing stablecoins
• Blackrock’s BUIDL product and tokenized treasurys