Weekly Roundup 12/01/22 (Is SBF playing the media, more Bad Boys, Binance’s Proof of Reserve) (EP.377)

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

  • Tether collapse scenarios
  • The wrapped Bitcoin issue
  • Ria and others are named Forbes 30 under 30
  • Sam is still not in jail
  • Sam’s hidden media strategy
  • How Sam could be positioning himself for the case
  • Was FTX really a case of negligence or was it fraud?
  • Sam is muddying the waters
  • Sam Trubucco is our bad boy of the week
  • Should the US really annex the Bahamas?
  • Members of CT are running around Nassau looking for Sam
  • Should the US be pressuring the Bahamas for more action here?
  • Beto returns his FTX donation
  • The CFTC met with FTX 10 times
  • The SEC’s culpability in the FTX scandal
  • The Farmington Bank acquisition scandal
  • Did Sam Trubucco and Caroline really not know about the malfeasance?
  • SBF is throwing his former colleagues under the bus
  • Kyle Davies’ embarassing attempted comeback
  • What’s the fate of the charity boxing match?
  • Casa rolls out support for Ethereum
  • Binance rolls out a Proof of Reserve – but it has issues

Content mentioned: 

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
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Mike Belshe (BitGo) on FTX and the impact on crypto market structure (EP.375)

Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Mike’s thoughts on FTX and the unfolding fraud case.
  • His views on crypto market structure and how it is likely to evolve in the face of the FTX collapse.
  • The regulatory landscape and the path forward for spot market regulation.
  • Views on the MPC custody landscape and advances in zero knowledge cryptography.

To learn more about BitGo visit bitgo.com

 

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Weekly Roundup 11/24/22 (SBF is at large, DCG’s fate, what we are thankful for) (EP.374)

Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode: 

  • Liz Warren writes her first good letter ever?
  • SBF is striking a defiant tone
  • Sam’s new letter to employees
  • Is the Alameda/FTX situation really that complicated?
  • Sam’s parents bought tens of millions worth of Bahamas property
  • The Bahamas steps in and seizes some funds
  • Should the US annex the Bahamas?
  • Should the US use ‘extraordinary rendition’ on SBF?
  • Is this the death of meme rounds of financings?
  • Semafor reports on SBF without disclosing that he was an investor
  • Was FTX ‘just a classic bank run’?
  • Why don’t journalists understand that the FTX situation was fraud?
  • Where are the Bahamas prosecutors in all this?
  • Further contagion in the crypto lending market
  • What is to become of DCG?
  • Could Grayscale use Reg M to do GBTC redemptions?
  • NY Governor Kathy Hochul finally signs a moratorium on Bitcoin mining
  • OkX launches a Proof of Reserve
  • Who are we thankful for?

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
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Travis Scher on the FTX impact on Crypto VC (EP.373)

Travis Scher, co-founder of North Island Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Travis’ investing career including his tenure at DCG and his path to founded North Island Ventures.
  • How Travis initially met SBF and his reasons for passing on the deal.
  • Analysis of the bankruptcy process and the likely second order impacts.
  • How this event will change the early crypto VC landscape.

To learn more visit northisland.ventures and follow Travis on Twitter.

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Weekly Roundup 11/17/22 (John Ray’s FTX filing, will FTX political contributions be repaid, what’s wrong with effective altruism?) (EP.372)

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

  • Matt’s blog post, ‘It’s Time to Grow Up’
  • The Alameda – FTX relationship was always sketchy
  • Would FTX ever have been able to go public?
  • Why don’t we have decent disclosure for token emissions?
  • How do we put this crisis to use?
  • John Ray’s Day 1 filing about the state of affairs at FTX
  • So what in the hell happened to the client funds at FTX?
  • Will funds donated to politicians be clawed back?
  • What’s wrong with utilitarianism?
  • How effective altruism is like Stalinism
  • One theory on how Alameda lost money on Luna
  • Some lending firms kicked out Alameda after the summer credit crisis
  • Is Serum forking out coins which are due to FTX creditors?
  • Why has the DOJ been so passive so far?
  • We introduce some new bad boys
  • Su Zhu and Kyle are trying to redeem themselves
  • Do Kyle and Su have a new venture underway?
  • Rep. Tom Emmer is elected as the GOP Whip in the House
  • Will the Republican led House subpoena Gensler?

Content mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
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Garrett Weaver (Juke) on Digital Collectibles (EP.371)

Garrett Weaver, the co-founder and CEO of Juke joins the show.

In this episode we discuss:

  • Garrett’s career as an entertainment industry executive and the path that led him to starting Juke.
  • How Hollywood intellectual property works and how blockchains can open up revenue opportunities for studios.
  • The use cases for NFT technology and the innovation on the horizon in the industry.

To learn more about Juke visit www.juke.io

Read about Juke’s launch 

 

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Weekly Roundup 11/10/22 (FTX fiasco, Su Zhu and Do attempt comebacks, Proof of Reserves redemption) (EP.370)

Nic and Matt return for one of the craziest weeks in crypto history. In this episode: 

  • Coin Metrics makes a key on-chain discovery regarding FTX’s insolvency
  • Will Castle Island buy the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena?
  • What in the hell happened to FTX/Alameda?
  • How big is the hole in FTX’ balance sheet
  • Was FTX/Alameda insolvent as early as Q2?
  • How this is reminiscent of the Bitfinex/Tether transaction?
  • What did CZ see that caused him to catalyze the attack on FTX?
  • How did FTX pass an audit?
  • Who will be affected by the FTX collapse?
  • How this will affect the already impaired crypto lenders
  • We revisit some of the recent departures from FTX/Alameda
  • This explains why FTX was bailing out the lenders in Q2
  • Will FTX US be firewalled off here?
  • Could this crisis have been forecasted?
  • Did Sam perjure himself in front of Congress?
  • Gensler’s responsibility in the FTX fiasco
  • Su Zhu is trying to do a redemption arc
  • Why is Su Zhu surfing?
  • Possible regulatory consequences
  • What are the midterm consequences for crypto?
  • A failure of corporate governance at FTX
  • Some venture funds were attesting to the solvency of FTX while withdrawing funds
  • FTX is selectively processing withdrawals to Bahamanian entities
  • Silver linings from the crisis
  • Proof of Reserves is having a moment
  • Sam’s crypto agenda in DC is thankfully dead
  • SBF was somehow an LP in Sequoia and Paradigm
  • Setting the record straight on Tom Brady

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
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Josh Schwartz and Dima Kogan (FORDEFI) on Building Institutional Custody for DeFi (EP.369)

Josh Schwartz and Dima Kogan, co-founders of Fordefi, join the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • MPC custody: what it is, its academic roots and how MPC works.
  • The tradeoffs and considerations that have led to the growth in popularity of MPC custody.
  • Josh and Dima’s backgrounds and the path that led them to founding Fordefi.
  • The institutional custody landscape and some of the challenges that firms face when engaging with DeFi protcols.
  • How Josh and Dima think about the security risks associated with smart contract platforms.
  • The types of customers that Fordefi is currently serving.
  • Their fundraise announcement and what is next.

To learn more visit fordefi.com

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Weekly Roundup 10/21/22 (Aptos launch, crypto vigilantes, FTX’s regulatory draft) (EP.363)

  • Matt and Nic return for news and deals of the week. In this episode: 
  • Why USDC is suffering redemptions but not USDT
  • Some new 3AC shenanigans are unearthed
  • The SEC and CFTC are investigating 3AC
  • Details from the Voyager bankruptcy filing
  • Avraham Eisenburg is crypto’s hottest new villain Is the Mango exploit against the law?
  • Is there a vigilante group out to get Do Kwon?
  • SBF is criticized for his regulatory draft proposal
  • The Texas securities regulators are investigating FTX
  • FTX shareholders at odds with FTT holders?
  • Aptos’ controversial launch
  • Have we forgotten how to do a fair launch?
  • How Ethereum’s merge put pressure on Bitcoin miners
  • Reuters’ Binance investigation
  • Unstoppable domains deprecates over 100k .coin domains
  • Is Bitcoin finally decorrelating from risk assets?

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com

  • Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter 

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Weekly Roundup 11/04/22 (Fidelity Crypto Launches, Alameda’s balance sheet, SDNY looks at Tether) (EP.368)

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

  • Bitwise is moving into active management
  • What’s the deal with Uber on the blockchain?
  • The boys review House of the Dragon
  • The history of land-based blockchain bets
  • Fidelity launches no-fee retail trading for trading BTC and ETH on their platform
  • Matt reminisces on Fidelity’s crypto journey
  • Google announces blockchain node engine
  • Nic’s 2-year pending transaction on Venmo
  • SBF continues to wrangle with CT
  • Sam’s debate with Erik Voorhees
  • Alameda’s questionable balance sheet is leaked
  • Can FTX buy its way into respectability despite the existence of Alameda?
  • What’s the deal with the MAPS token?
  • Is it far for FTX to start offshore and buy way into the regulated system?
  • Elon’s schemes for Twitter
  • Coinbase and the Blockchain Association are supporting Ripple in their case against the SEC
  • The Tether case is reopened at the SDNY
  • Tether rips us off with their own bootleg FUD Dice
  • What happens to Chinese Tether holders if Tether has to unwind
  • If Tether fails, do funds flow back into BTC?
  • The mining sector is deeply distressed
  • Why the mining bankruptcies may cause concentration in who controls hashrate
  • Circle delays their SPAC
  • Coin Metrics releases a taxonomy with Goldman and MSCI
  • Protos’ weird hatchet job on Nic’s tungsten cube infatuation
  • Did we manipulate the market for tungsten?

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com
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Jeff Park (Bitwise) on Active Management in Crypto (EP.367)

Jeff Park, an active Portfolio Manager at Bitwise joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • The state of active crypto asset management.
  • How Bitwise approaches the active management opportunity.
  • The taxonomy of strategies that Jeff observes in the market.
  • Perspectives on MEV and other crypto specific opportunities.
  • The institutional LP landscape for active management vs. passive.

To learn more about Bitwise visit bitwiseinvestments.com and see their announcement of new active strategies.

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Brian Venturo and Brannin McBee (CoreWeave) on Building an Industrial Scale GPU Cloud (EP.366)

CoreWeave‘s Brian Venturo (CTO) and Brannin McBee (CSO) return to On The Brink for a discussion of their journey through the merge and beyond. In this episode: 

  • Are they relieved that the merge finally happened?
  • Will there be some form of non-Bitcoin PoW in the future?
  • Could Ethereum conceivably return to PoW?
  • The effect of PoS on ETH’s censor resistance
  • What quantity of ETH miners shifted to other PoW chains and what portion went elsewhere?
  • What is the best use of capital for former ETH miners now?
  • Did the merge really reduce global electricity consumption by 0.2%?
  • Brannin’s estimate for precise electricity reduction from the merge
  • How feasible is it for former ETH miners to get into GPU clouds?
  • How Core Weave built their cloud product
  • What it takes to be competitive in the high performance computing sector
  • Why the generalized providers of cloud can’t just win when it comes to rendering and ML/AI
  • Why the HPC market is exploding right now
  • How open source communities behind text and image models contributed to the explosion in use cases
  • The importance of Stable Diffusion versus Open AI
  • The explosive growth of Stable Diffusion and Stability AI
  • How the growth in infrastructure contributed to the emergence of these newer image models
  • New directions in AI models like video creation
  • Will generative AI be attacked by environmentalists?
  • Can cloud data centers handle interruptible loads like Bitcoin miners can?
  • How industrial compute will play a role in emerging metaverses
  • Use cases Brannin and Brian are excited about
  • Why hardware is actually a constraint to the number of metaverse users today

Learn more about CoreWeave here.

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Roundup 10/28/22 (Bitcoin’s hashrate spike, Miner insolvencies, Lightning v Rollups) (EP.365)

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

  • Full time crypto haters
  • What’s the deal with the nocoiner think tank?
  • Eric Wall and Udi vs Bitcoiners
  • Did Bitcoin put all of its eggs in the LN basket?
  • Scaling isn’t LN versus big blocks any more
  • Is there just one scaling solution for blockchains?
  • What are the prospects for ZK Rollups on Bitcoin?
  • Spam attacks on BSV and Zcash
  • Bitcoin Miners are going bankrupt
  • How did the Ethereum merge affect Bitcoin miners
  • What’s the deal with Bitcoin’s hashrate spike?
  • Are non-economic Bitcoin miners killing the free market for mining?
  • What’s the deal with miner lenders?
  • Synthetic Bitcoin stablecoins
  • Is Twitter fairly priced at the deal price?
  • Matt Levine’s 40k word article on crypto
  • Is the pivot finally in?

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com

  • Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter 

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Mike Cahill (Pyth) on Solving the Oracle Problem (EP.364)

Mike Cahill, Director of the Pyth Data Association joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • The origin of Pyth and how the project is addressing the ‘Oracle Problem’.
  • How Pyth works and how companies and protocols are using the product today.
  • Mike’s views on how equities on chain will evolve, and how Pyth is positioned in this market.
  • The recent Mango Markets exploit and the future of on-chain market manipulations in DeFi.
  • Pyth’s network of partners and how the network is growing in 2022.

To learn more about Pyth visit Pyth.Network.  

 

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Blake King (Galaxy Digital) on Mining, Transmission, and Curtailment (EP.362)

For another episode of the mining miniseries, Nic sits down with Blake King, power markets engineer at Galaxy Digital, for his second OTB appearance. In this episode: 

  • Blake reacts to the White House OSTP report on crypto mining
  • Does mining actually reduce the incentive for utilities to build additional transmission?
  • How transmission building decisions get made
  • How are ERCOT planners taking the price of Bitcoin into account?
  • The merits of proactive transmission construction
  • Why the existence of strong property rights makes transmission much harder to build
  • Can Bitcoin be understood as the electrification of gold?
  • Is there really 17-25 GW worth of Bitcoin miners in the process of connecting to the Texas grid?
  • How should we think about interconnection and load queues
  • Why would ERCOT exaggerate the planned scale of Bitcoin mining in Texas?
  • Do miners using renewables “not count” because they displace other consumers of renewable energy?
  • Why Blake expects the $/MWh revenue for Bitcoin to continue to trend down over time
  • Are Bitcoin miners forcing grids into grid scarcity events?
  • Economic curtailment versus formal demand response
  • Are Bitcoiners overestimating the importance of demand response for miners?

Content mentioned in this episode:

Intro and outro: Daniel Allan’s Collage #344

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Weekly Roundup 10/13/22 (FASB accounting rules update, Warren’s letter to Texas, Howey’s orange groves) (EP.361)

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

  • What is XEN and why is it driving up ETH fees?
  • Bittrex settles with OFAC
  • SEC is investigating Yuga labs
  • Mango and Binance Smart Chain are hacked
  • The FASB settles on fair value accounting for cryptoassets
  • Warren writes a letter to Texas about mining
  • Coin Center is suing OFAC

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com

  • Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter 

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Rob Behnke (Halborn) on Public Blockchain Cybersecurity (EP.360)

Rob Behnke, co-founder and CEO of Halborn joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Rob’s career journey in the cryptocurrency industry and the insights that led him to founding Halborn.
  • The 2017 ICO era and the security issues that plagued many projects.
  • How Halborn approaches engagements with DeFi ecosystem participants.
  • How centralized financial services companies are engaging with DeFi and how these firms think about cybersecurity.
  • How Rob and his co-founder Steven Walbroehl approached their Series A fundraising process.
  • Halborn’s new suite of software products.

To learn more about Halborn visit halborn.com and follow Rob on Twitter

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Weekly Roundup 09/30/22 (CFTC comes after Ooki/bZX, the Fed abandons CFTC ambitions, the convenience yield of stables) (EP.355)

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

  • What caused the Pound Sterling to sell off?
  • Deglobalization picks up
  • Stirrings of a sovereign debt crisis emerge
  • Explaining Deribit’s insider-led down round
  • Can the market recover before Do Kwon, Machinsky, and 3AC are dealt with?
  • Celcius’ Machinsky steps down
  • Brett Harrison leaves FTX US
  • 7 states issue C&Ds against Nexo
  • The CFTC goes after Ooki DAO and DAO members
  • The CFTC serves Ooki through a chatbox and a forum post
  • How voting in a DAO can cause you to incur personal liability
  • Why putting a DAO in a ‘legal wrapper’ might make sense
  • The Fed will not pursue a digital dollar (for now)
  • The ‘convenience yield’ of holding a CFTC
  • OTB Bingo
  • Would it be good for Bitcoin to be flippened?

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com

  • Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter 

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Weekly Roundup 10/07/22 (Gensler’s theatrics, tokenization picks up, MKR buys Treasuries) (EP.358)

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

  • Kim Kardashian settles with the SEC
  • Gensler’s promotional campaign ruffles feathers at the SEC
  • Was the SEC indirectly throwing shade at Jake Paul with their video?
  • Is Gensler cracking down on crypto as part of a bid for Treasury secretary?
  • Can the industry outlast the SEC?
  • CBOE signs on to Pyth
  • Hamilton Lane is tokenizing three funds
  • GoldenTree invests in Sushi
  • Should DAOs pursue an LLC wrapper?
  • Maker is buying Treasuries and IG debt
  • Should stablecoins pass along interest from treasuries to tokenholders?
  • Celsius executives cashed out prior to bankruptcy
  • Starry Night NFTs are on the move
  • Ark Invest partners to put their active strategies on the Eaglebrook platform

Sponsor notes:

  • Talos powers institutional access to the entire digital assets ecosystem via a single-point of entry. Connect directly to your preferred prime brokers, lenders, investors, custodians, exchanges, OTC desks and more, or meet them on Talos. Get started at Talos.com

  • Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter 

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Vivek Raman (BitOoda) on Second Order Effects of the Merge (EP.357)

Vivek Raman, Head of Proof of Stake at BitOoda joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Vivek’s career journey from traditional financial services to the world of public blockchains.
  • Views on the impact of Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake, including his perspective on the new financial products on the horizon.
  • The path of CeFi as it relates to DeFi and where Vivek sees overlap.
  • How BitOoda is working with bitcoin miners to manage risk.
  • The smart contract platform category and how Vivek stays current on the latest developments in the industry.

To learn more about BitOoda visit their website. Follow Vivek on Twitter.

Check out this episode!