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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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Lorien Gabel, the founder and CEO of Figment joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• The latest developments at Figment.
• Post-election impact on the general crypto markets and the staking category.
• How Figment is approaching the institutional staking market opportunity.
• Staking in the context of investment products.
• Evolving ecosystems like Eigen Layer, Babylon and Bitcoin Layers 2s.
• The stablecoin market.

To learn more about Figment visit www.figment.io

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Matt and Nic are back for another Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode:

• Fire departments love thanksgiving
• Who we’re thankful for
• Eggnog is underrated
• Justin Sun puts $30m into World Liberty Financial
• Marc Andreessen appears on Joe Rogan and covers OCP 2.0
• Why were non crypto tech peopled shocked by Choke Point revelations?
• Trump is looking to shift power from the SEC to the CFTC
• An appeals court rules that OFAC exceeded its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash
• Cantor owns a 5% ownership stake in Tether that they acquired at a $12b valuation
• How prudent is the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
• Can the government pay down its debt with Bitcoin?
• Careful what you wish for on the strategic reserve

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics: MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Mega Strategy: Analyzing MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings, acquisition strategy, and its role as a Bitcoin treasury company

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Matt and Nic return for another week in the markets. In this episode:

• How is the DOGE going to work?
• Bitcoin is heading to 100k
• Gary Gensler announces his resignation as SEC chair
• We look back at Gensler’s awful term
• 18 state AGs file a lawsuit against the SEC
• The SEC’s dealer rule is tossed by a judge
• Trump is mulling the creation of a crypto czar
• Microstrategy is trading at a massive premium
• The latest on OCP 2.0
• FDIC Gruenberg chair testifies in the House and potentially perjures himself
• FTX cofounder Gary Wang given no time in prison
• Coinbase is delisting wBTC
• Trump nominates Lutnick for Commerce Secretary
• Bitcoin Options launch on IBIT
• Shaq settles a lawsuit for his NFT touting
• Solana ETFs are filed
• Goldman is spinning out their digital assets platform
• We unveil our first nocoiner draft picks
• We reflect on Bitcoin’s progress after 10 years in the industry

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics, A Data-Driven Update on Stablecoins: Analyzing growth in stablecoin supply, trading volumes, on-chain usage, and yield generation.

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Aaron McDonald, the founder of Futureverse joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Aaron’s professional career and the path that led him to founding Futureverse.
• How he has built the company through a mix of organic growth and acquisitions.
• How blockchains and digital currency interact with Metaverse technologies.
• The future of virtual worlds and gaming technologies.
• The L1 and L2 blockchain ecosystem and how Futureverse has built their platform.

To learn more about Futureverse visit their website.  

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

• Nic recaps his trip to Congress
• Vibes in Congress post election
• The likelihood for stablecoin and market structure bills
• What are the prospects for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
• What’s happening in Devcon?
• 18 state AGs are suing Gensler and the SEC
• Gensler is hinting at retirement
• FTX sues Binance and CZ
• Sam Trabucco forfeits $70m in assets to the FTX estate
• Polymarket’s Shayne Coplan raided by the FBI
• Doodles partnership with McDonalds
• The verdict on Fairshake’s efforts in the election 
• OCP developments and how Congress will tackle it
• We review Trump’s cabinet appointments so far 

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics, The Election Bull Run From the Perspective of Options Markets: Analyzing options markets to contextualize the election bull-run that brought BTC prices to $85,000.

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David Low, CEO and cofounder of Hata joins the show. In this episode, 

In this episode, Wyatt and David discuss:

• Crypto adoption in Southeast Asia
• Regulatory attitudes
• Operating a centralized exchange
• Bitcoin interest vs other cryptoassets in the region

Check out this episode!

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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Check out this episode!

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

Check out this episode!

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

Check out this episode!