Esteban Castaño, the cofounder and CEO of TRM Labs, joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The founding story of TRM Labs and the methodical approach the team took to finding product market fit Esteban's perspectives on the NFT landscape and the growth potential in this category How regulators and public sector clients are approaching blockchain forensics How TRM is engaging with crypto native businesses and traditional financial services firms Perspectives on building a remote first organi...
Oct 04, 2021•34 min•Ep. 247
Matt and Nic return for another week. In this episode: Is fasting lindy? Ripple's 250m NFT fund Kraken reaches a $1.25m settlement with the CFTC Could Ripple win their case against the SEC? Wyoming gives a tax break to flare gas miners Coinbase adds direct deposits to their platform Should stablecoins be issued by banks? China is tapped out of their Bitcoin FUD Compound suffers an exploit Bitcoin miners look at nuclear Sponsor notes: This show supported by Coinbase Prime , an integrated solution...
Oct 01, 2021•35 min•Ep. 246
In this episode, Chris Maurice , co-founder and CEO of pan-African crypto platform Yellow Card , joined us to talk about his background, the business, and the state of crypto adoption in Africa. The company's goal is to provide a seamless on and off ramp to anyone in Africa. We also discuss: Yellow Card's recently announced fundraise The diversity in culture, language, history, and economy across the 54 countries in the region and why Yellow Card is on a pan-African journey The popular use cases...
Sep 29, 2021•43 min•Ep. 245
Christian Dittmeier, cofounder and CEO of Evaluate Market joins the show. In this episode we discuss: How Christian and his cofounders Alex and Cody came to find themselves spending their free time analyzing NFTs The insight that led them to start Evaluate Market, a platform for discovering, search for, and evaluating NFTs Christian's perspective on the emerging taxonomy of NFTs and how Evaluate prioritizes the assets that it lists The projects and categories of NFTs that Christian is most excit...
Sep 27, 2021•31 min•Ep. 244
Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Latest on the infrastructure bill The latest on the platinum coin Zany things that financial regulators said this week Gensler continues to misrepresent the free banking era How bad was the wildcat banking era really? Why are financial regulators so interested in free banking? The SEC and CFTC are nearing the end of their fiscal year The prospects for 'pipe to crypto' Why miners are participating in 'demand response' progra...
Sep 24, 2021•38 min•Ep. 243
Matt and Nic return to recap a tumultuous week. In this episode: Matt's ongoing war against the turkeys Fidelity thinks the SEC should approve a spot ETF The Futures based Bitcoin ETFs are nearing approval The SEC stonewalling an ETF is a political choice The OpenSea insider scandal Elizabeth Warren's critiques of the industry get more and more specific and niche Do we event want to know which tokens are securities according to the SEC? Ripple is asking the SEC to compare them to Ethereum Solana...
Sep 17, 2021•50 min•Ep. 242
Matt and Nic are back for another week. In this episode: El Salvador's bitcoin launch Was the Chivo rollout really that bad? Bukele buys the dip Did El Salvador's bitcoin day cause a 20% selloff? McDonalds supports lightning in El Salvador SEC v Coinbase Introducing the Reves test Takeaways from the Miami Bitmain conference What is the NFL planning with NFTs? Oil majors are getting into bitcoin mining Is flare gas the future? Sponsor notes This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 acco...
Sep 10, 2021•41 min•Ep. 241
We welcome Alex Svanevik, CEO of Nansen.ai to On the Brink to provide color on Nansen's unique approach to on-chain data and analysis. We discuss: The evolution of Nansen from a wallet labelling tool to an end-to-end analytics platform How Nansen provides actionable insights from its analysis of individual addresses, transactions, and contracts Nansen's process to scale the collection of individual wallet level data over time Specific ways end-users are leveraging Nansen to make data-driven NFT ...
Sep 06, 2021•52 min•Ep. 240
Nic and Matt are back for another week. Patriots choose Mac Jones Kanye releases Donda Two year anniversary of OTB The fate of the OTB lost episode Matt's peculiar NFT acquisition strategy What the hell is Loot Punks weren't the first NFTs Square is making a Bitcoin DEX The SEC sues Bitconnect Sponsor notes This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit withum.com/crypto ....
Sep 03, 2021•47 min•Ep. 239
Matt and Nic return for another week. In this episode: Nic sells an NFT to Von Miller OnlyFans and financial inclusion Visa buys a cryptopunk Do stablecoins have a future outside of the banking sector? The history of Choke Point and what it means today Our merch supply chain issues Tungsten talk Content mentioned Iain Murray's OTB appearance on Choke Point Nic in Coindesk, OnlyFans Shows How the Banking System Is Politicized Sponsor notes This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 accou...
Aug 27, 2021•42 min•Ep. 238
Nic and Matt are back for news and deals. In this episode: Our current sentiment on the Senate infrastructure bill The controversial Flipside/Uniswap portfolio MIT's 2014 Bitcoin airdrop Chainalysis' new data on Bitcoin adoption shows that it's a developing markets phenomenon Is there a conflict between good stablecoins and a competitive market for stablecoins? Are lossmaking stablecoins anti-competitive? Gensler makes more noise about DeFi The problem with futures-based ETFs Content mentioned i...
Aug 20, 2021•36 min•Ep. 237
Nic and Matt return for more deals and news of the week. In this episode: Where we stand on the Senate infrastructure bill Is Bitcoin a bipartisan issue? What the prospects for the House to change the language in the infrastructure bill? The crypto lobby shows its teeth Why is Bitcoin rallying in the presence of this bill? What is Gensler cooking up for the crypto industry? The Economist publishes a pair of critical articles on Bitcoin Should stablecoins be regulated like banks What's Tether's l...
Aug 13, 2021•36 min•Ep. 236
Nic and Matt return for another week. In this episode: Gensler makes a landmark speech Gensler asks for a futures-based ETF Will the crypto taxation in the infrastructure bill be sufficient to pay for the new spending? What explains the 11th hour language in the infra bill? When does the Bitcoin lobby become a meaningful voter bloc? BSV gets 51% attacked Sponsor notes: This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technolo...
Aug 06, 2021•40 min•Ep. 235
George Selgin, director of the Center of Monetary Alternatives at the Cato Institute joins the show to discuss Bitcoin, Free Banking, and stablecoins. In this episode: Why George refers to Bitcoin as a synthetic commodity money Why George was excited by the possibility for synthetic commodity money What conditions would have to hold for Bitcoin to be considered money Why money is a spectrum rather than binary Are stablecoins prone to bank runs? Is Tether's melange of underlying collateral suffic...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 234
Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Warren's shadowy super coders Was Digicash the first stablecoin? Is TVL overrated ? Castle Island adds a new partner An anti crypto rider inserted into the Congress infrastructure bill Does taxation pay for government spending? Goldman applies for a 'DeFi ETF' Exxon looking at flare gas? China's crackdown on big tech Sponsor notes: This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digit...
Jul 30, 2021•36 min•Ep. 233
We welcome Michel Rauchs , research affiliate and longtime contributor to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance which just released an update its Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index featuring new mining location data . Covered in this episode: Why Michel returned to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance The evolution of the CCAF's miner benchmarking efforts The original motivation for the Bitcoin Energy Index The relationship between the CCAF and Cambridge University How to estim...
Jul 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 232
Nic and Matt are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: We debate the merits of the Merritt parkway We reflect on the B Word conference SpaceX owns Bitcoin We cover the Elonfolio Gensler covers tokens giving synthetic exposure to underlying securities Are stablecoins appropriately regulated? Can stablecoins learn from the free banking era in the 1830s? Is there a future for Ripple or Stellar as a bridge currency? What's next for US CBDCs? Content mentioned: Gary Gensler's spee...
Jul 23, 2021•41 min•Ep. 231
Nic and Matt are back for a sideways week. In this episode: BlockFi's credit card comes out How mesopotamian clay tablets are blockchains Cambridge releases new data regarding bitcoin mining distribution Shapeshift decentralizes itself Can corporations successfully decentralize? Elizabeth Warren writes a letter to the SEC Larry Fink sees little demand for crypto Sponsor notes: This episode is brought to you by Withum , a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain ...
Jul 16, 2021•46 min•Ep. 230
Nic and Matt are back. In this episode: Circle's SPAC filing Circle's evolution over the year The business model behind stablecoins Circle's risk factor slides The SEC is targeting centralized exchanges for trading unregistered securities Senator Pat Toomey buys BTC and ETH Matt tries out the Blockfi credit card GBTC unlocks wrapping up this summer Why are congresspeople allowed to trade financial assets? Warren grumbles about crypto markets once again Bullish exchange is SPACing Fed vice chair ...
Jul 09, 2021•38 min•Ep. 229
Anton Katz and Ethan Feldman , the cofounders of Talos join the show. In this episode we discuss: Anton and Ethan's path from roles at AQR and Broadway Technologies and into the world of cryptoassets The problem they are seeking to solve for market participants How the exchange and OTC liquidity landscape is evolving How custodians and exchanges have evolved their offerings The challenges of capital efficiency in the cryptoasset markets What it was like to fundraise in a bear market What is ahea...
Jul 05, 2021•48 min•Ep. 228
Nic and Matt return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: A new twist in the turkey tale Why airdrops historically haven't work Sam Altman's eyeball-based cryptocurrency Brady partners up with FTX The FCA tangles with Binance Nic's paper on DeFi risks NYDIG deepens their bank partnerships Mexico's bitcoin rebuke Coinbase's aggressive new strategy The Bitcoin Mining Council shares Q2 data This episode supported by: Eventus , the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade su...
Jul 02, 2021•42 min•Ep. 227
Kinjal Shah of Blockchain Capital and Manasi Vora of Skynet Labs join us to discuss their recently launched investment DAO, KomorebiCollective. We discuss: 1) The motivation behind Komorebi and its mission to fund female and non-binary founders 2) The decision to structure the collective as a DAO 3) The cost, transparency, and speed benefits DAOs provide 4) What use cases DAOs are serving well today and could serve as they mature To learn more about Komorebi , you can visit their website and app...
Jun 28, 2021•45 min•Ep. 226
Matt and Nic are back for another rocky week in the markets. In this episode: Our thoughts on the Chinese mining situation Is Sichuan being spared the crackdown? Why Bitcoin's hashrate may not recover for a while Why China is cracking down on mining now How China's ultra-high voltage transmission is affecting mining policy How is miner selling influencing price? Our remaining China grey swans Our theories on the relationship between price and hashrate The SEC settles another ICO from 2017 Our an...
Jun 25, 2021•49 min•Ep. 225
Hunter Horsley, the co-founder and CEO of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Bitwise's recent $70M Series B fundraise and how he approached building a roster of unique investors Views on what is driving interest in cryptoasset products Decentralized Finance and how Bitwise is approaching constructing products to enable exposure to this part of the market NFTs and how Hunter contextualizes this segment of the market To learn more about Bitwise visit www.bitwisein...
Jun 21, 2021•38 min•Ep. 224
Nic and Matt return for deals and news of the week. In this episode: What's the biggest story with Bukele that isn't being covered? Is Bukele motivated by a sanctions threat from the US? Will Salvadorians use the Lightning Network? How Bitcoin elevates heads of state in the popular consciousness Nic's paper on DeFi protocol risks The SEC's year-ahead agenda has no mention of Bitcoin The NY anti-mining bill fails The World Bank joins the IMF in spurning El Salvador Is the Salvadorian law a 'force...
Jun 18, 2021•34 min•Ep. 223
In our second OTB AMA, we field questions from Brink Nation. In this episode: What other countries are good candidates to ratify Bitcoin next? What are the prospects for DeFi on Bitcoin? Is price to hashrate a viable ratio to use to value bitcoin? Will other countries follow El Salvador's lead in light of the pushback from the IMF? Who will win Euro2020? Are ransomware attacks good because they will get directors to add Bitcoin to corporate balance sheets "just in case"? Will users eventually ho...
Jun 14, 2021•44 min•Ep. 222
Nic and Matt are back and recovered from an insane Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. In this episode: Our lost roundup from last week Our reflections on Bitcoin 2021 Nic reacts to his spaces with President Bukele El Salvador accepts Bitcoin The story behind the 25k attendee Twitter space Does the Salvadorian law change the accounting treatment for Bitcoin in the US? President Bukele's geothermal Where else is the Bitcoinización likely to happen? A new non-aligned movement The Bitcoin Bloc MSTR's...
Jun 11, 2021•40 min•Ep. 221
Chris Blec is a researcher and the founder of DeFi Watch , a project dedicated to identifying points of centralization and risk factors in DeFi, in particular the presence of admin keys. In this episode: How Chris got interested in DeFi How he first noticed the risk of admin key usage The changing nature of admin keys and multisigs Whether project multisigs reduce dependence on trust Why worry about Admin keys in the first place? Have DeFi projects improved their key management and trustlessness...
Jun 07, 2021•49 min•Ep. 220
Jeff Kirt and Ted Rogers, CEO and board director of Greenidge Generation LLC respectively, join the show to discuss the Greenidge plant and Bitcoin mining operation in upstate New York. In this episode: The origins of Greenidge Why Ted Rogers chose to join the Greenidge board How Atlas/Greenidge converted their NY plant from coal to natural gas Ted's retrospective on the Segwit 2x drama in the context of the Crypto Mining Council How US-based mining has a lower carbon intensity than global miner...
Jun 02, 2021•52 min•Ep. 219
Matteo Leibowitz of Uniswap and Eric Stone of Flipside Crypto join the show. In this episode we discuss: Uniswap v3 and how it differs from v2 and other AMMs Broader implications of Uniswap v3 for DeFi Uniswap v3 metrics and how the system is being used today Uniswap treasury and grant program How Flipside is engaging with Uniswap and other DeFi communities Follow Teo on Twitter @teo_leibowitz and learn more about Uniswap at Uniswap.org . Follow Eric on Twitter @theericstone and learn more about...
May 31, 2021•54 min•Ep. 218
