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Eric Wall is a cryptocurrency researcher, analyst, critic, and investor. In this episode we sit down to discuss the creation and premise of his new project, the Orb. 

• What is the orb?
• How did the orb come about?
• How to bet on the human capital and reputational growth of individuals
• Why previous social tokens failed
• What does the orb entitle you to?
• Why the orb is not a security
• Harberger taxes and their implementations so far
• How harberger taxes create better allocative efficiency
• Harberger taxes and domain names
• The problem with social tokens as a way to invest in people
• Why an obligation to a single holder is better than one to many holders
• Eric’s feud with the Hex community and how the rb could solve this
• Possible orb failure modes
• Possible AI issues with the orb
• Why orb issuers have an incentive to provide value to holders
• The possible role of orbs in venture capital
• How the orb could disrupt expert networks
• How to parameterize the orb
• The significance of the orb animations

Further reading:

• Orb.land

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

• Is Ethereum going through a ‘bullish unlock’?
• Did the SEC decicion around staking help decentralize Ethereum?
• What is a commodity?
• We pitch futures for restaurant bookings
• The problem with ‘phygitals’
• What’s going on with DWF labs?
• Twitter users will be able to trade crypto through the app
• Is FedNow a CBDC?
• Does FedNow introduce risks to the banking system?
• A relaunch of FTX gets more likely
• How the DOJ caught the Silk Road hacker
• Could a CBDC emerge which is actually private?
• We roll out the Tap In or Tap Out segment
• Is France going to become a crypto haven?
• The NYT article on Bitcoin mining
• Did the NYT doctor pictures to make Bitcoin miners look more polluting than they are?
• CIV is hiring

Sponsor notes: 

• Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter: this week, Ethereum’s Shanghai redemption

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Dennison Bertram, the co-founder and CEO of Tally, returns to the show. In this episode we discuss:

• Dennison’s career in the crypto industry from exchange founder to founding Tally.
• How to frame DAOs from a total addressable market perspective.
• What types of companies and industry categories would be better served as DAOs.
• Best practices in managing DAOs.
• The regulatory landscape for DAOs and how state LLC regulations could factor into future legislation.
• How Tally works with leading DAOs.

To learn more about Tally visit their website and follow Dennison on Twitter.

See also: 

• On The Brink, Dennison Bertram and Raf Solari on Reforming DeFi Governance (March 2021)

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

• What are the prospects for dealing with OCP 2.0?
• Creditors are considering relaunching FTX int’l
• The boundary between being a visionary and a scammer
• Nic’s feud against NPR
• What’s the deal with the bug eating meme?
• Are lobsters bugs?
• What happened to the tungsten cube NFTs?
• Singapore banks might be warming up to crypto
• Hong Kong is red hot as a crypto zone
• A new paper alleges the Fed has overstepped its discretionary authority
• The Case for Banning Crypto
• The US treasury report on DeFi protocols
• Apple embeds the Bitcoin whitepaper on all laptops
• Nic’s UFC picks and Matt’s golf picks

Content mentioned in the episode:

• Julie Hill, From Cannabis to Crypto: Federal Reserve Discretion in Payments
• Politico, U.S. Diplomat to Washington: You’re Becoming Obsolete in One Big Area of Tech Policy
• US Treasury, Illicit Finance Risk Assessment of Decentralized Finance
• Kathleen Breitman in Fortune, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and why L2 solutions are such a mess

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Lorien Gabel and Benjamin Thalman of Figment join the show. In this episode we discuss:

• The founding story of Figment and the focus of the firm.
• The evolution of proof of stake blockchains and how Figment helps their customers with staking.
• Ethereum, the Shanghai upgrade and the likely impacts of withdrawal functionality on the network.
• Views on the current regulatory environment and how that impacts proof of stake participants.

To learn more about Figment visit their website and follow Lorien and Benjamin on Twitter.

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In this episode I sit down with David Thompson, managing partner at Cooper & Kirk. We cover the emergence of Operation Choke Point 2.0 and what recourse can be sought by the industry. In this episode: 

• Cooper & Kirk’s track record and reputation
• The story of Choke Point 1.0 and how Cooper & Kirk helped end it
• How was OCP 1.0 resolved? 
• Why Cooper & Kirk wrote their recent white paper on OCP 2.0
• Differences between Choke Point 1.0 and 2.0 
• Inconsistencies in FDIC Chair Gruenberg’s Congressional testimony
• Why David thinks that a complaint on due process grounds might be the best option for affected firms 
• Relevant constitutional protections 
• How OCP 2.0 might resolve
• The fate of the SPDIs
• Possible violations of the Administrative Procedures Act by the Fed
• How SCOTUS might rule on this issue 

Further reading: 

• Cooper & Kirk: Operation Choke Point 2.0: The Federal Bank Regulators Come For Crypto

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Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. 

• Cooper and Kirk’s white paper on Operation Choke Point 2.0
• How bank regulators put crypto-facing banks in a catch-22
• SBF charged with bribing a Chinese official
• Is Sam funding his legal defense with funds purloined from FTX users?
• The CFTC charges Binance with operating an unlicensed derivatives exchange
• Binance execs haz no confidence in their geofencing
• How did the CFTC get their hands on CZ’s Signal history
• The SEC shuts down Beaxy
• Microstrategy buys another $150m worth of Bitcoin
• NASDAQ is aiming to launch their crypto custody platform in June
• What’s the deal with McHenry’s stablecoin bill?
• House Democrats would make issuing a stablecoin effectively illegal
• Elizabeth Warren is “building an anti-crypto army”
• Are DAOs unincorporated associations or general partnerships?
• Is the SPDI dead in the water?
• Did the FDIC Chair perjure himself in front of Congress this week?
• What’s the deal with the SigNet sale?
• Is dedollarization happening?

Content mentioned:

• Cooper & Kirk whitepaper on Operation Choke Point 2.0

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Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• The banking crisis and Operation Chokepoint 2.0
• The decisions facing the Fed and the second order impacts of Fed policy
• How the cryptocurrency industry has evolved post FTX
• Prospects for stablecoin and market structure regulation in the digital asset industry
• The bitcoin futures market
• The launch of the Bitwise Bitcoin Strategy Optimum Roll ETF (BITC)

To learn more about Bitwise visit www.bitwiseinvestments.com and follow Matt on Twitter.

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

• Matt’s turkey trouble continues
• Nic’s vespa problem
• Nic’s latest Choke Point 2.0 article
• Did the government destroy Signature on purpose?
• Who is the main architect of Choke Point 2.0?
• Why was Signature closed when PacWest and First Republic were given time?
• The Catch-22 in NY banking law
• Who has recourse in the Signature situation?
• Why we won’t be going offshore
• The SEC announces charges against Justin Sun and celebrity endorsers
• The SEC sends Coinbase a Wells Notice
• FTX creditors recoup $460m from Modulo Capital
• Reps Emmer and Soto introduce the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act
• The White House report is hostile to crypto
• Matt’s Hong Kong conspiracy theory
• Is the EU racing ahead of the US in terms of regulation?
• The XRP case is nearing summary judgment
• Bitwise announces their futures ETF $BITC
• We read some of our podcast reviews

Content mentioned:

• Nic in Pirate Wires, Did The Government Start A Global Financial Crisis In An Attempt To Destroy Crypto?

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Check out this episode!

Nick Hansen is the cofounder and CEO of Luxor, a Bitcoin mining pool. He joins to talk to us about his excitement around ordinals and inscriptions, and how Luxor is thinking about the opportunity.

• The history of ordinals and how Luxor got started in the space
• How Luxor mined the first 4MB block in Bitcoin
• Luxor’s decision to acquire Ordinalhub and their intentions with the project
• Risks Luxor incurred by mining the first 4MB block
• Transaction standardness versus validity
• How ordinals increase the overall quantity of Bitcoin blockspace
• The risks of out of band fees to Bitcoin
• Does Bitcoin already have MEV?
• How does the block reward decay make reorgs more likely?
• Where Luxor sees opportunity in ordinals
• Have inscriptions had a material impact on miner rewards?
• The effect of inscriptions on fees
• Transacting with PSBTs versus standard NFT marketplaces
• Nick’s confidence in the long-term persistence of Bitcoin state
• Why it’s virtually impossible to purge state in Bitcoin
• Are ordinals and inscriptions a violation of the implied Bitcoin social contract?
• Have inscriptions inadvertently ossified Bitcoin at the protocol level?

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Matt and Nic are back to cover a dramatic week in crypto. Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn also joins to provide market color. In this episode: 

• Bitcoin’s price action in response to the bank runs
• USDC recovers its peg
• FTX crime family news
• Signature bank is shut down somewhat arbitrarily
• What happened with Silvergate?
• Is Operation Choke Point 2.0 real?
• Blockchain Association FOIA’s federal banking regulators
• Are macro funds dipping their toes back into Bitcoin?
• Crypto Banks are gutted
• Was Signature solvent when it was shut down?
• Will Signet be sold off in the Signature auction?
• What was the importance of SEN and Signet?
• First Republic secures $30b in deposits
• What happened with Silvergate and the FHLB?
• Galaxy Digital’s head of research Alex Thorn joins the show
• Arbitrum announces their airdrop

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

• Nic’s Vespa crisis
• FTX crime family update
• Grayscale’s oral arguments go well against the SEC in the GBTC case
• Binance.US wins the right to buy the Voyager assets in court
• NYAG sues Kucoin and alleges that ETH is a security
• Silvergate is undergoing an orderly wind-down of the bank
• Why did Silvergate really collapse?
• Why are regulators trying to precipitate bank runs?
• Structural issues explaining why Silvergate’s deposits were so correlated
• SVB experiences a bank run
• Are the Silvergate and SVB difficulties warning sights that the Fed’s rate regime can’t last?

Content mentioned: 

• How Banks Fail, by Austin Campbell

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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.

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Check out this episode!

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?

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

• Ryan Salame pleads guilty
• Our thoughts on the latest turn of the Bitcoin security budget debate
• What are the prospects for fees to develop on Bitcoin long term?
• Is blockcspace a race to the bottom?
• Visa adds merchant settlement tools for USDC on Solana
• The significance of Visa’s move toward merchant settlement with stablecoins
• CBOE files for spot Ether ETFs
• We reflect on El Salvador’s Bitcoin law
• The FASB moves to fair value accounting for Bitcoin
• Greenpeace files a comment letter on the GlobalX Bitcoin trust
• Are the ESG tides turning for Bitcoin mining?
• Has El Salvador’s Bitcoin project been a failure? 

Sponsor notes: 

• Coin Metrics STATE OF THE NETWORK — Evaluating the Market Quality of DeFi collateral
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 223, we explore predominant collateral types in DeFi lending protocols and evaluate their liquidity & volatility characteristics to determine their desirability as collateral

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Martin Carrica, cofounder of Mountain Protocol, joins us to discuss their launch of their USDM, permissionless interest-bearing stablecoin. In this episode: 

• Martin’s story and origins of his desire to create a stablecoin
• Obtaining a registered digital assets company in Bermuda
• Martin’s review of regulatory options worldwide and how they ended up in Bermuda
• How Bermuda has distinguished itself from other financial hubs in the Atlantic
• How reinsurance is like stablecoins
• What it takes to get licensed as a digital asset business in Bermuda
• How Mountain Protocol’s USDM stablecoin works
• How rebasing stablecoins work – and how they integrate in DeFi
• How USDM differs from on-chain T bills and other interest bearing stable products
• How USDM was able to achieve a permissionless structure
• How Mountain avoids US clients
• Why the market for stablecoins is mostly ex-US
• Stablecoins as a backend for emerging market fintechs
• Different exchange rates in Argentina
• How Argentine firms use Argentine ADR stocks to manage their corporate cash
• How street moneychangers on the street in Argentina work
• Milei and the prospects for dollarization in Argentina
• The importance of a stablecoin being issued out of a bankruptcy remote structure

Disclaimer:

• USDM and other Mountain Protocol products and services are not available for U.S. persons as well as other restrictied jurisctions. 
• For more information and disclosures on Mountain Protocol, please refer to the Terms and Conditions.

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

• Tether is actually the most interventionist stablecoin when it comes to freezing
• Should we be bullish on PYUSD? 
• Why stablecoin data shows meaningful utility for public blockchains 
• Is the idea of a ‘crypto generalist’ dead? 
• The meaning of the SEC’s loss in court to Grayscale
• Why the SEC was ‘arbitrary and capricious’
• The SEC’s blunder over their approval of Futs ETFs
• The SEC’s possible options 
• Our guesses for how the SEC reacts to their loss
• The SEC delays other pending spot ETFs
• The SEC wins against Impact Theory
•  Why the case against Impact Theory could implicate a lot of other NFT projects 
• Uniswap wins a class action case 
• What does the SEC’s case against Binance being under seal mean? 

Content mentioned: 

• BH Digital, The Relentless Rise of Stablecoins
• WSJ, The SEC Strikes Out Again on Crypto With Grayscale

Sponsor notes:

• Coin Metrics STATE OF THE NETWORK — Coin Convergence: Piecing Together Common Ownership Patterns Across Major Stablecoins
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 222, we highlight trends in user behavior & common ownership across major stablecoins on Ethereum

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