On The Brink with Castle Island

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Warning signs for the Bitcoin access vehicles? Has Bitcoin lost the MoE battle? Is OCP 2.0 over? The Dept of Labor rescinds their anti-crypto 401k guidance Cantor Fitzgerald is launching a bitcoin/gold fund Is it mathematically possible to give Bitcoin upside and gold downside? Content mentioned:  Stablecoin.fyi 

We sit down with Anthony Yim, Artemis cofounder, to talk about the latest report from Artemis, CIV, and Dragonfly, providing brand new estimates of stablecoin payments volume. In this episode: Why we decided to work on the new report How we obtained the estimates Why we decided to put together a bottom-up estimate Stablecoin b2b volumes compared to traditional b2b How do you measure stablecoin transactions? Download the report at stablecoin.fyi

Markus Franke and Denney Kwok from Mento Labs join the show. In this episode:  Non-USD stablecoins On-chain FX Microlending and financing for emerging markets

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Trump's crypto dinner reviewed Bitcoin access vehicles NYT stablecoin coverage Sui is hacked and censors the blockchain Kraken is launching tokenized stocks Circle in acquisition talks The GENIUS Act passes Cloture in the Senate Hong Kong passes stablecoin legislation

Wyatt sits down with Andrew MacKenzie, founder of Agant, the issuer of GBPA, a pound sterling stablecoin. In this episode:  The potential emergence of non-USD stablecoins The prospect of a GBP-backed stablecoin The British crypto regulatory environment How global financial institutions are positioning around stablecoins

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Why is Boston such a good sports city? Price inflation in dinosaur skeletons Cryptopunks IP is sold Machinsky is sentenced Nakamoto Holdings launches Meta wants to add stablecoins to its platforms Exchanges are honeypots for KYC data Coinbase suffers a data breach The GENIUS act is going to a vote next week GENIUS act new provisions More Movement shenanigans Thailand is launching a $150m crypto token Content mentioned in this episode: Tuongvy Le and Austin Campbell published a paper, "Crypto and The Evolution of Capital Markets", which dissects the current market structure for securities trading and settlement and discusses how blockchain networks can improve this architecture.

Wyatt sits down with Alex Cutler, founder of Aerodrome for another episode in our stablefi series. In this episode:  DEX trading advantages Building on-chain FX DeFi as a backbone

Wyatt sits down with TN, cofounder of Pendle. Covered in this episode:  How Pendle works The evolution from alt yield to stable yield DeFi's future core assets

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We have a new Pope The etymology of ampersand The GENIUS act collapses spectacularly Coinbase consummates its acquisition of Deribit Did World Liberty Financial's USD1 torpedo the GENIUS act? Did “pro crypto” democrats snake on the industry Scott Bessent thinks stablecoins could reach $2T The OCC says banks can provide crypto custody and execution Stripe is launching stablecoin financial accounts The SEC explores a sandbox for tokenized securities Tariff the L2s

Adam Healy, co-founder of Station 70 and Josh Schwartz, co-founder of Fordefi join the show. In this episode we discuss: The collaboration between Station 70 and Fordefi on failover MPC wallets. Announcement here. The state of the wallet category Best practices for blockchain cybersecurity The future of bank custody for digital assets Station 70's Bunker product Station 70 and Fordefi are holding a joint webinar to showcase this product collaboration. You can register here. Learn more about Station 70 Learn more about Fordefi

Wyatt sits down with David Taylor of Etherfuse. In this episode:  MXN stablecoins and other currencies Shaping regulatory frameworks Who wins out: innovators vs financial incumbents

Wyatt sits down with Justin Garland and Hannah JoJo of Asymmetry Finance. In this episode, we cover:  The evolution of yield in DeFi Primitives users want Crypto risk assessment Learn more about Asymmetry

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Will stablecoins disrupt credit cards? The US Treasury Advisory Committee drops a report on stablecoins Mastercard and Visa launch stablecoin integrations Movement labs has more scandals Are quantum timelines accelerating? The real risk of quantum to Bitcoin Could a quantum break fix Bitcoin's security budget? Are any Bitcoin purists left? Circle turns down Ripple's acquisition offer Machinsky is facing a 20-year sentence Arizona passes an SBR bill  Cambridge releases a new report on bitcoin mining Bitcoiners are fighting about OP_RETURN again  What is Bittensor  Content mentioned: US Treasury, Report on Digital Money Coindesk, Inside Movement's Token-Dump Scandal: Secret Contracts, Shadow Advisers and Hidden Middlemen Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report: Global Operations, Sentiment, and Energy Use  

Wyatt sits down with Kedian Sun, the founder of Level Money. In this episode:  Stablecoin usage in DeFi today Fiat-backed stablecoins vs other "stable" assets Ethereum vs other blockchains for stablecoins

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Is Bitcoin decoupling? The Fed rescinds anti-crypto letters from 2022 and 2023 Upexi raises $100m PIPE to invest in Solana Cantor, Tether, Softbank and Bitfinex inject $3.6b into 21 Capital, a Bitcoin acquisition vehicle Bitcoin ETFs versus bitcoin acquisition companies Trump is hosting a dinner for $TRUMP holders Charles Schwab wants to launch crypto trading Citi thinks stablecoins could reach $3.7T in supply by 2030  

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We recap Nic's article on why Signature collapsed Crypto exchange OKX announced their plans to expand to the US Kraken announced that US equities are now supported on the exchange MANTRA, a layer 1 network focused on RWAs, saw the price of its native token crash 90% in a matter of hours Global Payments agreed to acquire Worldpay, a payments processor, for $24 billion from FIS and private equity firm GTCR The US Department of Homeland Security has launched a probe into Anchorage, the digital asset custodian, related to the company's AML polices Jerome Powell reiterates his support for stablecoin legislation Strategy (and others) buy more Bitcoin Content mentioned in this episode: Galaxy Digital,  The State of Crypto Lending Nic Carter in Piratewires, Signature Didn't Have to Die, Either

Wyatt sits down with Fred Hsu and Michael Ho of D3 to talk domain markets. In this episode:  The existing domain name industry and legacy systems An interoperable marketplace for domains New financial promitives around domains and RWAs More about D3

Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki, co-founders of Digital Asset join the show. In this episode we discuss: The origins of Digital Asset and the path to starting the firm. Views on privacy in the context of public blockchains. How enterprises and financial institutions are approaching tokenizing assets and leveraging blockchain technology. Examples of how on-chain privacy enables use cases in collateral management and stablecoin payments.   The role of the Canton Network public blockchain for enabling institutional use cases. How Canton Network works from a design perspective. To learn more: Digital Asset Website Canton Network

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Is dedollarization happening? The SEC's Division of Corporate Finance released a "Statement on Stablecoins" The US Justice Department has disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement team The SEC releases new guidance on securities offerings in crypto markets FDIC Chair relaxes rules on crypto activities at banks Paul Atkins is confirmed The SEC has approved options trading for spot ETH ETFs Tether is exploring a US stablecoin Janover is doing a Microstrategy for SOL strategy Michelle Bowman is launching a review of the Fed's failures in 2023 around the banking crisis What happened to Signature?  Matt's critter situation Content mentioned: SEC, Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets

Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez of Vaneck Ventures join the show to talk stablecoins and institutionalization. In this episode, we cover:  The landscape of stablecoin growth and activity A world with many stablecoins vs few stablecoins Winning/losing companies in the new stablecoin era Impact on the longer tail of altcoins

Hoolie Tejwani, the head of Coinbase Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The history and rationale behind the launch of Coinbase Ventures. The evolution of the crypto venture category. Areas of focus for Coinbase Ventures. Stablecoins, Crypto/AI and consumer startup category. The regulatory landscape in the United States. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the impact on startups. The rise of the Coinbase Mafia. To learn more visit coinbase.com/ventures

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  What's the deal with the tariffs? Are the tariffs 4D chess? STABLE Act advances from committee Galaxy settles with the NYAG for touting Luna Trump pardons the BitMEX founders Coinlist returns to the US FDUSD has a depeg amidst Justin Sun drama Fidelity launches a no-fee crypto IRA product Larry Fink is bullish bitcoin Content mentioned: AI 2027, by Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland, Romeo Dean

Alexei Zamyatin, the cofounder of Build on Bitcoin (BOB), joins the show to talk about the state of the art in Bitcoin Rollups. In this episode:  Can Bitcoin achieve parity with Ethereum rollups? How BitVM and BitVMv2 changed the game for Bitcoin rollups When will Bitcoin rollups be considered “Stage 1” Ethereum's existential crisis Bitcoin fees in a rollup world The risk of L2s cannibalizing Bitcoin Will Bitcoin DeFi look different from Ethereum DeFi? Why Bitcoin deserves Rollups What soft forks is Alexei looking forward to? Does institutionalization ossify Bitcoin? BOB's progress and roadmap for 2025 Learn more about Build on Bitcoin 

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  We reflect on our podcast with Paolo Ardoino The EU's MiCA rules make launching a stablecoin virtually impossible We explain the Ghiblification crazy OCC removes Reputation risk from bank supervision World Liberty Fi launches a stablecoin Hyperliquid suffers an exploit - are they decentralized? Fidelity is exploring the launch of a stablecoin ICE is looking to use USDC Coinbase is reportedly looking to acquire Deribit US Treasury lifts sanctions on Tornado Cash Sei is looking to buy 23andme

Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, rejoins the show for a timely discussion. In this episode: How is Paolo feeling about political trends in the US today? Tether is the 7th-largest buyer of USTs at the sovereign level Paolo's decision to spend more time in the US What does Paolo make of the stablecoin bills in Congress? Does Tether want to eventually come onshore to the US? Tether is pursuing a Big 4 Audit The effect of Operation Choke Point 2.0 on Tether Tether is moving their HQ to El Salvador Paolo's thoughts on stablecoins in MiCA How does Tether get to the figure of 400m global users of the stablecoin? Tether's efforts to better understand their userbase and usage modes Tether's methodology around balance sheet investing Is Paolo concerned about crypto-dollarization? Tether's relationship with Cantor now that Lutnick is Commerce Secretary Is Paolo concerned about the emergence of interest-bearing stablecoins? See also: On The Brink ep.87: Paolo Ardoino (Bitfinex/Tether) – Managing the growth of Tether (June 2020)

Brian Foster, the Global Head of Wholesale at Coinbase joins the show for his second appearance. In this episode we discuss: A catch-up on the Wholesale business at Coinbase and the types of customers that are active in this market How banks and broker-dealers are accelerating their efforts post-election Perspectives on build vs. buy vs. partner decisions that are happening at banks after the repeal of SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 Views on how banks will approach M&A Coinbase's role in the digital asset ETF market How Coinbase engages with government customers Views on the Bitcoin strategic reserve To learn more about Coinbase visit coinbase.com. Also follow Brian on X.

Nic and Matt are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Trump speaks at DAS Is anyone in Washington talking about abolishing capital gains tax for crypto? Trump denounces OCP2.0 TON raises a huge round Remember IOTA? We reminisce about Slock it and the DAO What happened to Ethereum Classic? Can you redeem PAXG for physical gold? Kraken acquires NinjaTrader for $1.5b The SEC says PoW mining is not a security Tim Scott's debanking FIRM act advances from the Senate Banking Committee We review Bessent's appearance on All In  What was the deal with the 'vibecession'

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve exists Will the government buy additional Bitcoin? What does “cost neutral” mean? What's the deal with our cheese reserve Have Bitcoiners lost their libertarian origins? The OCC reverses their anti-crypto guidance Sentiment in crypto is at all time lows Is CZ seeking a pardon deal in exchange for a sale of Binance equity? Senate Banking votes to advance the Hagerty Stablecoin bill The banks are against interest-bearing stablecoins We recap the White House Crypto Summit Banks want to do crypto 

Jeff Park, the Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The latest developments at Bitwise, including the firm's Alpha Strategy division. Yield strategies in the digital asset ecosystem. Stablecoins and how the idiosyncratic opportunities that active managers are pursuing. MicroStrategy Thoughts on market structure and digital asset policy. To learn more about Bitwise visit their website.  You can also follow Jeff on X.

Brandon Mulvihill, the co-founder and CEO of Crossover Markets joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The shifting regulatory landscape in the USA and the impact that it is having on traditional financial institutions. How banks and broker-dealers are responding to regulatory progress. The battle for “Primary Market” in the United States. The future of market structure and the bifurcation of exchanges vs. brokerages. How Crossover is positioned in 2025. To learn more about Crossover Markets visit their website.

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: We debate the prudence of a BTC reserve A Strategic Reserve of just BTC or altcoins? How would a crypto reserve be “strategic” Should the US Government just seize BTC to build the reserve? Is there a “strategic” purpose to owning a gas token? SEC task force for crypto is starting roundtables SEC drops lawsuits against Kraken, Cumberland, and Yuga labs Tim Scott's bill to eliminate reputational risk from bank regulation CME launches SOL futures An Argentine prosecutor is looking to seize $110m in the Libra case Tether and Circle are fighting in Washington SBF makes an appearance on Tucker 

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Figure Markets announced the launch of their YLDS stablecoin, which is the first yield-bearing stablecoin to be approved by and registered with the SEC Crypto exchange Bybit was hacked on Friday for an estimated $1.48 billion worth of ETH in the largest hack in the industry's history n the past week, the SEC dropped lawsuits and investigations related to Coinbase, Robinhood, OpenSea, Uniswap, Gemini, and MetaMask Microstrategy purchased an additional 20,356 BTC last week Crypto exchange OKX pled guilty and agreed to pay $504 million in penalties for anti-money laundering law violations U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has appointed Tyler Williams as an advisor on digital asset and blockchain policy During an interview with Bloomberg, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that in light of the expected upcoming stablecoin legislation, he expects that Bank of America will "get into that business," and may even launch their own stablecoin Content mentioned in this episode: Jameson Lopp, Jack Dorsey is not Satoshi Nakamoto DeFi Education Fund, Examining the burdens, costs, and failures of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and the potentially disastrous implications of applying the BSA to DeFi.

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Milei launches and immediately abandons the Libra memecoin Is the memecoin sector dead? What is the future of Solana post memecoin fallout? Hagerty's GENIUS act gains bipartisan support Why securities laws exist What laws apply to memecoins? What's going on with physical gold?

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Our episode with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce The SEC and Binance are pausing their litigation Brian Quintenz nominated for CFTC Jonathan Gould nominated for OCC Central African Republic launches a memecoin Is Vitalik crashing out? CBOE wants to add staking to their ETH ETF We reflect on the Tigran Gambaryan story Rep Waters rolls out a draft stablecoin bill Is there a run on gold vaults underway? Tungsten is rallying

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The past several years of digital asset policy at the SEC Different ways that regulators have the potential to stymie technical innovation through policy SAB 121 The impact on the SEC's policies on capital formation in the digital asset industry The role of Congress, specifically with regards to market structure The future of token disclosures Tokenization and how a regulatory framework could emerge in this category Advice to founders You can follow Commissioner Peirce on X.

Nathan McCauley, the co-founder and CEO of Anchorage joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The history of Anchorage and the evolution of the company from a product and regulatory perspective. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the debanking of digital asset startups. How banks are approaching the digital asset custody ecosystem and the sub-custody market. The evolution of stablecoins, the prospects of a stablecoin bill and the Global Dollar Network stablecoin consortium. Anchorage's Porto Wallet and Atlas products and the role they are playing with institutional customers. To learn more about Anchorage visit www.anchorage.com

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode:  Matt and Nic's ski adventure Berachain launches Mike Lempres of Silvergate finally speaks What we learned in the Senate debanking hearing The FDIC releases 790 pages of new documents related to the pause letters The FDIC is reprimanded by a judge in the Coinbase case Senator Lummis reveals a Fed memo that may be proof of OCP2.0 The SEC releases their list of priorities for the Crypto Task Force Hagerty releases the GENIUS Act on Stablecoins Czech Republic waives capital gains on Bitcoins held for 3 years Microstrategy is now just Strategy Truth.fi is releasing a Bitcoin product Ethereum's existential crisis

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, Operation Choke Point 2.0 Is Underway, And Crypto Is In Its Crosshairs  Nic Carter in Piratewires, Did The Government Start A Global Financial Crisis In An Attempt To Destroy Crypto? Nic Carter in Piratewires,  Inside the Biden Admin's Plot to Destroy Silvergate and Debank Crypto for Good 

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Should we revisit Basel rules on Bitcoin?  Jay Powell evolves on banks serving crypto  Are banks going to offer crypto custody post SAB121?  Gensler joins MIT Sloan Should crypto firms boycott MIT?  The Senate will hold a hearing on debanking next week  Choke Point 2.0 is getting caught up in conservative debanking  Where are we on DeSci?  Is tokenization finally going to happen?  X is adding payments to the platform with Visa  Truth Social is launching Truth.Fi Christine Lagarde says the ECB will not buy Bitcoin  Is the Czech Republic buying bitcoin?  Kraken turns back on staking Apollo is launching a tokenized credit fund on Ethereum and Solana Fairshake raises another $116m for the midterms  SBF is asking Trump for a pardon Elliott says crypto is in a bubble Content mentioned:  Blockchain Association Unveils Digital Asset Market Structure Principles

The episode where we logged on and won forever. Probably the biggest week in crypto history...  In this episode:  Ross Ulbricht is granted a full pardon  Did Ross Ulbricht deserve a life sentence? SAB121 is finally gone  Why SAB121 was bad Crypto ball review Trump launches a memecoin Trump is inaugurated OCP2.0 is over  CBDCs are banned We review Trump's Executive Order No Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but a stockpile instead Larry Fink calls for 600-700k BTC Mark Uyeda, announces the formation of a new task force: SEC Crypto 2.0 Senator Cynthia Lummis announces the formation of the Senate Banking Committee on Digital Assets A US court in Texas overturnes the sanctions placed on Tornado Cash

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: Lummis instructs FDIC staff to not destroy evidence of Chokepoint Did the FDIC call Nic poor? Coinbase wins a partial victory against the SEC Canary Capital files for a Litecoin ETF Tether is moving to El Salvador and building an HQ there Atlanta Fed gets stablecoins The case for non-USD stablecoins Is there a case for other assets in a Strategic Reserve? 

Matt and Nic are back after a week off. In this episode: Southern District of New York grants Coinbase's appeal in their case against the SEC The Governor of the Czech national bank is considering Bitcoin in their reserves Do Kwon is extradited to the US E-trade is launching crypto trading The FDIC is forced by a court to further un-redact documents Coinbase asked for in a FOIA request We cover the FDIC's Pause Letters Content mentioned in this episode:  Fidelity Digital Assets, 2025 Look Ahead Bitwise, Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Crypto Assets Nick Anthony, Fair Access to Banking

Dana Syracuse and Josh Boehm of Paul Hastings LLP join the show. In this episode we discuss: The common legal and regulatory considerations that are encountered by companies in the digital asset industry. Common pitfalls that entrepreneurs in this ecosystem should avoid. The state of the stablecoin industry and the regulatory considerations in this category. Potential changes ahead in 2025 on how digital assets are regulated in the United States. To learn more about Paul Hastings and their fintech and digital asset practices visit www.paulhastings.com  

Matt and Nic are back for an end of year episode. In this episode:  Tether invests $775m in Rumble  Who are the Rumble shareholders in Trump's admin?  Microstrategy seeks approval for more Bitcoin buying We review the quantum risk to Bitcoin Matt and Nic's predictions for 2025  Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics, State of the Network's 2024 Year in Review In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 291, we revisit major stories that shaped the digital asset industry in 2024 with a data-driven lens

Janusz and Red from Bitcoin Layers join the show. In this episode:  Innovation on Bitcoin, previously and now Technology vs consumer adoption The future of BTC use cases More about Bitcoin Layers

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Nic comes out against the SBR on Bloomberg More Prometheum nonsense MicroStrategy acquired an additional 15,350 BTC for roughly $1.5 billion, bringing the company's total holdings to 439,000 BTC. Microstrategy was also added to the Nasdaq 100  this week, which will lead to the stock's inclusion in several large ETFs including Invesco's QQQ. Anchorage Digital has received New York BitLicense approval, enabling them to offer digital asset custody and trading services to more customers in the state such as RIAs and other institutional asset managers. The US Senate scrapped a vote to renominate SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw in response to immense backlash from the crypto community, led by Coinbase-backed non-profit Stand With Crypto, for Commissioner Crenshaw's treatment of the digital asset industry. A Texas state representative, Giovanni Capriglione, introduced a bill for the state to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Riot Platforms, the publicly traded Bitcoin miner, acquired 667 BTC this week for $67.4 million to add to their balance sheet, bringing their total holdings to 17,429 BTC. The NFT collection CyberKongz announced they had received a Wells Notice from the SEC. A California judge sided with Coinbase in a suit brought by BiT Global over the exchange's delisting of wBTC. Coinbase had recently moved to remove the asset, a tokenized version of BTC tradeable on Ethereum-based networks, following BiT Global, a custodian closely affiliated with Tron founder Justin Sun, assuming custody services for wBTC. Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics, State of the Network's Q4 2024 Mining Data Special A quarterly update on Bitcoin mining in Q4 2024

Wyatt sits down with Reforge VC's Alex Lin. In this episode: Alex's interdisciplinary road into crypto Innovation in blockchain infrastructure Crypto-powered consumer applications Learn more about Reforge, a blockchain and frontier tech investment firm.

Rodrigo Seira, Special Counsel at Cooley and Ron Hammond, Director of Government Relations at The Blockchain Association join the show. In this episode we discuss: The 2024 election and the impact of the crypto vote. Executive branch actions to keep an eye on in 2025. Potential SEC related actions that would impact the digital asset market. The future of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121. Where digital asset legislation fits into the 2025 legislative priorities. Stablecoin legislation. Market structure legislation. To learn more about Cooley visit: www.cooley.com To learn more about The Blockchain Association visit: www.theblockchainassociation.org

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: French Hill wins the nomination to chair the House Financial Services Committee Riot Platforms, a bitcoin mining company, announced the intention to raise $500 million via a convertible note offering. The proceeds will be used to acquire additional bitcoins, and for general corporate purposes. MicroStrategy acquired another 21,550 bitcoin for roughly $2.1 billion. Circle and Binance announced a partnership with the goal of expanding the reach of Circle's USDC stablecoin across Binance's trading, saving, and payments platforms. Additionally, Binance plans to adopt USDC as part of the company's corporate treasury. Coincheck, the second largest crypto exchange in Japan, went public via SPAC, joining Coinbase as the only other crypto exchange listed on Nasdaq. The total stablecoin market cap eclipsed $200 billion this week, a record high following a 13% increase in supply in the past month. Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin gained approval from New York's Department of Financial Services, a key step in the company's plan to launch the tokenized dollar by year-end. Google announced a new quantum computing chip, though the specs are still many orders of magnitude away from threatening the encryption levels of Bitcoin and other crypto protocols. Sponsor notes:  Coin Metrics State of the Network: Where in the World is Crypto Trading? Exploring the Kimchi premium, regional exchange activity, and crypto seasonality

Matthew Le Merle and Mitch Mechigian of Blockchain Coinvestors return to the show. In this episode we run through the Blockchain Coinvestors 2025 Predictions for the digital asset industry. To learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors visit their website. To view the full Blockchain Coinvestors 2025 Predictions webinar visit this link.

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Bitcoin finally hits $100k Our reflections on 100k BTC Declaring victory Machinsky pleads guilty Rep French Hill pledges to investigate Operation Choke Point Trump nominates Paul Atkins for SEC Chair Hawk Tuah memecoin fiasco Sponsor notes: Coin Metrics State of the Network: Understanding Staking Yields and Economics on Ethereum & Solana Contextualizing staking yields, inflation, and network economics on Ethereum & Solana