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 sufficient?
• How should stablecoins be regulated?
• Why are regulators looking into stablecoins today?
• Comparing stablecoins to Money Market Mutual Funds
• Why money market funds broke the buck in 08
• Are stablecoins as systemic as money market funds?
• George’s objections to Gorton and Zhang’s paper on free banking and stablecoins
• George’s definition of free banking
• Was the 1830s-60s period in the U.S. a period of genuine free banking?
• The actual causes of bank failures in the pre-Civil War period
• Why ‘unit banking’ was so fragile
• What lessons can be taken from Canada’s experience with free banking in that era
• Why the history of Free Banking is a red herring in the stablecoin debate
• George’s recommendations for a primer on free banking
• George’s reflections on Hal Finney’s reference to his work
• Why bank failures are often the consequence of regulation

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Selgin, Synthetic Commodity Money 
• The Alt-M Blog
• Selgin, Money Free and Unfree
• White, Free Banking in Britain
• Selgin, The Theory of Free Banking
• Dowd, The Experience of Free Banking
• Gorton and Zhang, Taming Wildcat Stablecoins

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.

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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 Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto.
• Eventus, the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

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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 estimate energy consumption from hashrate figures
• The meaning of the confidence interval in the electricity consumption figures
• How CCAF amassed the CBECI mining map
• Is the pool sample for the mining map representative?
• Methodological drawbacks with miner location assessment
• Why the CCAF is still reluctant to determine a carbon emissions figure for Bitcoin
• New evidence regarding the seasonal hashrate migration
• Is the Chinese crackdown going to lower the carbon intensity of the Bitcoin network?
• Is country-level granularity sufficient to determine the energy mix of mining?
• How the CCAF devised comparisons between the Bitcoin network and other consumers of energy
• Does Bitcoin get held to a different standard than other industries?
• Michel’s experience talking to the press about Bitcoin energy consumption
• Has the narrative changed in the press at all?
• Michel’s level of optimism regarding the decarbonization of Bitcoin mining

This episode supported by: 

• Eventus, the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

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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 speech 
• Gerald Dwyer in AIER, What do Wildcat Banks tell us about Stablecoins? 

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. Wherever your company is at, from pre-seed to IPO, we have tailored solutions just for you. To learn what our advisory, tax and audit services can do for you, visit withum.com/crypto.

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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 Randal Quarles has some good takes on stablecoins and CBCS

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Randal Quarles’ speech 
• Circle’s announcement on becoming a public company

Check out this episode!

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 Technology practice. Wherever your company is at, from pre-seed to IPO, we have tailored solutions just for you. To learn what our advisory, tax and audit services can do for you, visit withum.com/crypto.

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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 ahead for Talos

To learn more about Talos visit www.talos.com

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. Wherever your company is at, from pre-seed to IPO, we have tailored solutions just for you. To learn what our advisory, tax and audit services can do for you, visit withum.com/crypto.

Check out this episode!

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 surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

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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 miners at large
• Why Greenidge decided to offset their CO2 emissions and how they went about procuring them
• How natural gas has a much lower carbon intensity than coal
• Why banning Bitcoin in NY would actually raise the carbon intensity of Bitcoin
• How the energy debate ultimately comes down to the societal merit of Bitcoin
• How Greenidge sent 60% of their 2020 generated energy to the grid
• How Bitcoin mining has allowed Greenidge to run continuously and better contribute to grid stability
• Demystifying concerns about the trout habitat
• Has Greenidge fielded inquiries from mining firms looking to leave China?

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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 analysis of the NYDIG/ core banking provider integrations
• Why social graph portability is so important
• Taleb writes a bad bitcoin paper
• Bitcoin still has a GBTC overhang

Content mentioned in the episode: 

• Nic in Coindesk, Go West, Bitcoin! Unpacking the Great Hashrate Migration
• NYDIG/FIS press release
• Rebuttals to Taleb’s paper on Bitcoin

This episode supported by: 

• Eventus, the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

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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.bitwiseinvestments.com. Follow Hunter on Twitter @HHorsley

Sponsor notes: 

• Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Check out this episode!

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 ‘forced tender law’?

Content mentioned: 

• Max Raskin in the WSJ: A Global First: Bitcoin as National Currency

This episode supported by: 

• Eventus, the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

Check out this episode!

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 new bond offering
• Basel changes the rules for bank regulatory capital regarding Bitcoin
• Liz Warren attacks Bitcoin
• The Bitcoin political demographic grows

Content: 

• Recording of Nic’s spaces room with President Bukele (and 25,000 others) 

This episode supported by: 

• Eventus, the leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and market risk solutions. Its award-winning trade surveillance platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate. Eventus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments and supports many of the industry’s leading crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, ErisX and OSL. Find them at onthebrink.link/eventus

Check out this episode!

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 hold their bitcoin through banks?
• What is missing to make lightning workable?
• Why do people allocate energy cost pro rata across bitcoin transactions?
• Matt’s turkey update
• Stablecoin yields as an attractive product for corporate treasuries?
• Why doesn’t bitcoin just increase the block size?
• Our takes on DAOs
• What govt action could turn bitcoiners into dissidents?
• Our proposed improvements for twitter spaces

Sponsor notes: 

Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

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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 over time? 
• Chris’ letter to 0xPolygon
• Chris’ plans with DeFi Watch 
• Should Bitcoiners care about DeFi? About admin key failures? 
• Why transparency is a self-regulatory measure 

Sponsor notes:

Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ

Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Check out this episode!

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 Flipside Crypto at flipsidecrypto.com.  

Sponsor notes:

Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ

Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Check out this episode!

Matt and Nic are back for another roundup. In this episode: 

• Elon is back
• Our take on the mining council
• Is Twitter Spaces killing Clubhouse?
• Prepare yourself for Kazakh FUD
• Is Chia driving up hard drive prices?
• OneRiver’s green Bitcoin ETF
• The SEC asks for help regulating crypto
• The key catalysts we’re watching in China
• Lael Brainard spreads historical fake news about free banking
• The Fed is concern trolling stablecoins
• Why neo Free Banking can work today

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Hass McCook on OTB
• Fed Governor Lael Brainard’s speech 

This episode supported by: 

• Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
• Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Check out this episode!

Hass McCook is a civil engineer who has been delivering estimates of Bitcoin’s energy use and CO2 emissions since 2014, as well as alternatives like gold or finance. In this episode: 

• Hass’s background in civil engineering and how it prepared him for the energy debate
• The conflation between energy generation and electricity generation
• Why you can’t just generalize energy consumption to carbon emissions
• Hass breaks down the varying carbon intensities of different sources of generation
• How much energy goes to waste globally
• The difference between CO2 and CO2e / greenhouse gases
• Why today’s US grid has lowered its carbon intensity over the last decade
• Why combusting methane is a net good from an emissions perspective
• Hass’ level of optimism around flared gas mining
• Why the changing rate of ASIC innovation affects bitcoin’s energy consumption
• The opportunity for stranded gas at landfills
• Hass’ estimates of the gold and the financial system’s energy footprints
• How gold mining actually works
• The ecological and human cost of gold mining
• Hass’ thoughts on offsets

Sponsor notes:

Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ

Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.

Check out this episode!

Matt and Nic are back for another volatile week. In this episode: 

• Nic’s 72h fast
• Nic explains the Moscow time joke on Bloomberg
• Coinbase sells off
• Our explanations for the selloff
• Tax selling or Fed discussion of tapering?
• Taproot edges towards activation
• Eth monetary hardening – improving or impairing its monetary credibility?
• IRS demands cash transaction reports for transactions over $10k
• FinCEN doesn’t inflation-index their reporting thresholds
• OCC reviews Brian Brooks’ rules
• Will the new OCC be hostile to Bitcoin?
• Tom Emmer asks accounting regulators to revisit their accounting treatment of digital assets
• Elon suggests miners disclose their energy mix
• Should miners buy carbon offsets? 

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Nic’s appearance on Bloomberg
• NyMag, Jack Dorsey Says Bitcoin Can Make the World Greener

This episode supported by: 

• Sovryn, DeFi on Bitcoin
• Eventus, global leader in trade surveillance, market risk and transaction monitoring solutions

Check out this episode!