Rob Hamilton, the founder and CEO of AnchorWatch joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Rob’s career journey and path to finding Bitcoin.
• The origins of miniscript and how Rob started to build in this area.
• The potential applicability for miniscript to the custody market.
• The current state of bitcoin core development.
• Ordinals and how Rob started to get involved in this project.
• The future applicability of ordinals and inscriptions.

Links: AnchorWatch, Rob’s Twitter.

Chainalysis CEO and co-founder Michael Gronager joins us for an episode chronicling the rise of the blockchain analytics firm. In this episode: 

• Michael’s origin story and how he went from helping build Kraken to founding Chainalysis
• Responding to early market pull from the public sector when building products
• Responding to criticism around privacy vs. anonymity 
• Building the Crypto Adoption Index for content marketing around what is actually happening on the blockchain
• Perspective on how long it can take to change an industry online

Content mentioned:

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

• Is Yuga Labs’ NFT collection on Bitcoin genuine?
• Will the environmentalist attacks on PoW move to other industries?
• FTX’ Nishad Singh pleads guilty
• Ramnik Aurora maxed out donations to George Santos
• Silvergate is in trouble
• Why concentration risk makes it difficult for smaller banks to bank crypto firms
• UK banks are curtailing their crypto exposures
• Oasis returns $140m stolen from Wormhole to Jump
• NY Mag’s piece on Arthur Hayes
• Gensler continues to make vague threats against the crypto space
• Gensler’s regulation by blog post
• Greyscale’s case against the SEC is moving to oral arguments
• Can Bitcoin just change the code and move to PoS?

We host Matt Cutler, CEO and co-founder of Blocknative, in this episode to discuss the intricacies of block building and his thoughts on the future of MEV. We cover:

• The phenomenon of certain block builders subsidizing transactions
• The requirements for operating a competitive block builder
• Margins required for sustainable block building
• MEV redistribution and balancing interests of users vs. validators. 

Matt and Nic are back for the 400th episode of OTB! In this roundup: 

• Nic’s Vespa story
• More on Ordinals
• Is embedding non-economic data in Bitcoin Satoshi’s vision?
• How Ordinals accelerates efficiency improvements in Bitcoin
• More FTX crime family news
• SBF is hit with four new criminal charges
• Augustin Cartens claims that crypto has lost the battle against fiat
• NYAG vs Coinex
• The SEC alleges that UST is a security - does this implicate other stables?
• What can Congress do about Choke Point 2.0 or SEC overreach
• Rep. Emmer introduces an anti-CBDC bill
• Matt’s baseball card collection
• Silvergate is the most shorted stock right now
• The SEC blocks Binance.US’ purchase of Voyager assets

Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor joins us to talk ordinals, inscriptions, and digital collectibles on Bitcoin. In this episode:

• What is an ordinal? Why the name?
• The history of ordinals and inscriptions
• How does ordinal theory work exactly?
• How to participate in ordinals and do you need Ord
• The interaction between inscriptions and Bitcoin fees
• Should inscriptions be compressed? How should this happen?
• Why did Casey not use Counterparty?
• How Bitcoin is the most premium blockspace for NFTs
• Inscribed content property rights on Bitcoin versus Ethereum
• Will Bitcoin state just be pruned?
• Who will store inscription data?
• How bitcoin data availability might be improving over time
• How ordinals affect Bitcoin’s security budget
• Why NFT traders are looking at Bitcoin for the first time
• Where the inscription 400kb limit comes from
• ‘Ripping a 4 megger’
• Is Casey concerned about out of band transactions
• Do ordinals actually increase the possible efficiency of operating a full node?
• The primary bottlenecks in running Bitcoin Core and how inscriptions affect that
• Will ordinals catalyze more pruning in Bitcoin Core?
• Might ordinals make rollups more likely on Bitcoin?
• Do inscriptions dilute Bitcoin’s primary purpose as a monetary system?
• Transporting other NFTs to Bitcoin with teleburns
• What Casey is most excited about with ordinals

Further reading: 

• Ordinals.com
• Rodarmor.com
• Casey's twitter

Ray Hindi and Jake Lynch of L1 Digital join the show. In this episode we discuss:

• L1 Digital’s origin story and early path into the crypto ecosystem.
• The firm’s approach to investing in managers and making direct investment.
• The evolution of crypto funds including views on structure, strategy, focus.
• The fundraising landscape – how pensions/larger pools of capital think about crypto investing.
• Views on the impact of FTX.
• Thoughts on the current regulatory landscape.
• Real World Assets (RWAs) and how L1D is exploring this thematic area.
• DAOs and how this framework is evolving.

To learn more about L1 Digital visit L1.Digital.

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

• Is peak FUD in?
• Is this the ‘custody rule rally’?
• OTB is keeping the deals of the week
• House is probing the connections between FTX and the SEC
• SBF is banned from using a VPN
• Is SBF a secret sports fan?
• SBF’s bail cosigners are unmasked
• SBF VC investors are hit with a class action lawsuit
• SEC sends Paxos a Wells notice
• Circle dispells Wells notice rumors
• Is the SEC going after all stablecoins or just BUSD?
• What does Reves say about stablecoins being securities?
• Tether is the beneficiary of the crackdowns in the US
• Can US regulators really go after Tether?
• How Paypal deposits are like stablecoins
• What’s in the SEC’s custody rules?
• Changes to market structure if the SEC’s custody rules go through
• Binance suggests that they are ready to settle up with US regulators

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

• Kraken winds down their staking as a service product
• The SEC asks all staking as a service providers to register
• Does 3rd party staking pass all of the prongs of Howey?
• The FT’s article on the final days of FTX
• Did the FTX executives leave the labradoodles in the Bahamas?
• Ordinals are bringing NFT enthusiasts to Bitcoin
• Matt has had a tough week
• Kyle and Su launch OPNX
• So what’s the deal with the crypto-focused Chokepoint 2.0?
• Major crypto-facing banks are cutting back their crypto practice
• What will be the fate of the Wyoming SPDIs?
• The boys review Bad Boys
• We discuss Colombia’s hippo problem
• DCG reaches a provisional agreement with creditors
• Our Storybook Brawl conspiracy

Content mentioned: 

• Nic in Pirate Wires, Operation Choke Point 2.0 Is Underway, And Crypto Is In Its Crosshairs

Sponsor notes:

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