Zach Abrams (Bridge) on Moving Money (EP.500)

Nic and Matt return for a week of blockbuster price action and new ATHs. In this episode: 

• ETF flows recap
• Warren favorite Katie Porter loses her primary in CA
• Super Tuesday recap 
• Are crypto PACs working? 
• Why the Ohio senate race matters for crypto 
• State AGs amicus brief in Kraken v SEC
• The WSJ is accused of defamation in their Tether coverage
• Were Signature and Silvergate wrongly accused? 
• Arizona state Senate considers adding Bitcoin to state reserves
• Saylor buys Bitcoin 
• SEC comissioners Pierce and Uyeda write an entertaining dissent in the Shapeshift case 
• Is Prometheum the SEC's patsy? 
• Nic reviews ETH Denver
• How priced in in the Halving? 

Sponsor notes: 

• Following Flows V: Pool Cross-Pollination
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 249, we examine fund flows among mining pools and miners, revealing hidden connections to gauge mining decentralization

Join the conversation on Farcaster

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

• Funding rates in crypto
• Blockbuster ETF flows
• Bitcoin Renaissance
• BitVM opening the overton window
• Remembering PlusToken
• SBF is “too autistic” to go to jail
• The 3ac boys have another fake fundraise announcement
• Genesis reaches a settlement proposal
• The DOE’s demand for information from miners has been halted for now
• Should the Bahamas be a state
• Marathon is launching their own L2

Content mentioned in this episode:

• Alex Thorn, Why we aren’t Stopping
• Fidelity Digital Assets, Addressing Ethereum Risks

Sponsor notes:

• In the Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 248, we provide an overview of the paper—Breaking BFT—and examine the importance of network security

Guy Young, the founder of Ethena, rejoins the show to give us an update on Ethena and to discuss the nature of crypto interest rates.

In this episode:

• Reflections on the Ethena launch
• ETH funding rates versus ETH ETF expectations
• Funding rates on crypto native exchanges versus CME
• Why Ethena versus doing the cash and carry trade
• At what point does Ethena start to drive down funding rates
• The history of the cash and carry trade in crypto
• Did yield farming represent a real form of yield?
• Why is yield farming less viable today?
• The ultimate convergence between tradfi and crypto yields
• Where risk premia come from for Ethena versus the risk free rate
• ETH taking yields and their development
• Guy’s concerns about Eigenlayer and its effect on DeFi
• Interactions between real rates and crypto rates
• Stablecoin supply versus tradfi interest rates
• Crypto yields versus RWA supply
• The share of stablecoins that is speculative in nature
• Guy’s expectations for the medium term future of crypto rates

Crusoe CEO and Co-Founder Chase Lochmiller joins us for an episode sharing an update on improving the efficiency of power production with on-site digital infrastructure. In this episode:

• Solving the broken links between supply (flaring, renewables) and demand for energy (BTC, high performance compute)
• Engineering a portfolio of applications to pair with different sources of energy
• Aligning economic incentives with climate solutions
• New hardware coming online and the impact to AI inference and training
• Decentralized Airbnb for GPU networks – what works and what doesn’t
• Halvening impact on BTC Miners
• Crusoe’s climate impact

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

• Wireless outage in the US
• Russia's space weapons and Rods from God 
• Will the market like the cubes once again? 
• Brink nation farcaster update 
• Our ETH ETF skepticism
• Circle leaves Tron
• Revolving door between SEC and biglaw
• Whip Emmer's letter to the OMB
• The ECB's very bad, no good Bitcoin blog
• Reddit hold Bitcoin and ETH 
• SBF's photoshoot
• Latest on the 3AC boys
• The SEC's mysterious ETF correlation analysis

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• ECB, ETF approval for bitcoin – the naked emperor’s new clothes
• Rep. Emmer letter to OMB over Bitcoin mining data request
• NYMAG, 'They are very comfortable lying' 3AC update

Sponsor notes: 

• The Coin Metrics Team will be hosting a Data Challenge at ETH Denver! Learn more about the event & register for it here.
• At the Crossroads: Bitcoin ETFs & Coinbase
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 247, we zoom into the latest developments with Bitcoin ETFs and Coinbase Q4 2023 earnings

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

• On The Brink is now on Farcaster
• The pitfalls of Web3 social
• The boys have problem with seed phrases
• Optimistic rollups on Bitcoin are now possible? 
• ETF flow updates
• GBTC and Mt Gox flows 
• Why the halving may not be bullish
• SEC vs Debt Box 
• Why we think an Ethereum ETF is unlikely
• SAB121 update
• The Treasury rebukes the WSJ's story on Hamas' use of crypto
• Can John Deaton unseat Elizabeth Warren? 

Sponsor notes:

• Navigating the Avalanche: An Introduction to the Avalanche Network
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 246, we navigate Avalanche’s role in the digital asset ecosystem

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

• OPNX is very sadly shutting down 
• Is jail good for you? 
• GBTC outflows are declining
• Solicited versus unsolicited treatment of ETFs
• The Bitcoin L2 space is heating up
• The latest on COPA 
• We revisit the Satoshi is the NSA conspiracy 
• SAB121 stuff
• The DoE's Bitcoin mining data collection emergency
• What's happening with Farcaster? 
• Brink Nation joins Farcaster 
• Monero delisted from Binance 
• Solana outage this week

Content mentioned: 

• Fidelity Digital Assets, Q4 2023 Signals Report

Sponsor notes: 

• Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 245, we dive into the details of the Ethereum Dencun upgrade and highlight key indicators to monitor its success

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

• Where is the FTX tungsten cube?
• FTX will make a 100% recovery for creditors
• FTX 2.0 is not happening
• The Genesis Digital Assets mystery
• Tether’s blockbuster quarter
• Chris Larsen hacked
• New legislative developments on SAB121
• Bitcoin Season 2 is underway
• The Biden admin is requesting information from Bitcoin miners
• How anti-AI energy activism is revealing about the decel agenda
• The CSW v COPA case is nearing trial 
• We reflect on the terrible CSW era 
• Elizabeth Warren letter watch 
• The SEC withdraws their case against DebtBox in shame

Content mentioned: 

• IEEE, Bezos Bucks? Get Ready for Corporate Digital Currency

Sponsor notes: 

• Conducting the ETH Census
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 244, we highlight the complexities of calculating ETH’s total supply and share our method for arriving at an accurate figure

Matt and Nic are back with a celebratory 500th episode. In this episode: 

• ETFs are off to a rocky launch with the GBTC premium trade closing
• Bitwise launches real time transparency for their ETF holdings
• Fraud in the metals market versus Bitcoin
• The boys confront some fake news
• Is there light at the end of the tunnel for GBTC redemptions?
• Nic’s spat with Bloomberg
• The US is selling $130m of BTC seized from the Silk Road
• TFL declares bankruptcy
• The boys learn about a face amount certificate
• We answer your listener questions 

Content mentioned:

• Bloomberg, Crypto fans lured by 20% stablecoin yiekds

Sponsor notes:

• Tether’s Ascent: Breaking Down the Dominant Stablecoin's Growth
• In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 243, we explore Tether's impressive growth, adoption, nature of USDT usage and reserves through on-chain data

Bridge CEO and Co-Founder Zach Abrams joins us for an episode chronicling the explosion of stablecoin volume and how Bridge is building critical infrastructure. In this episode: 

• Zach’s origin story and how he arrived at building Bridge
• Bridge’s core products today and how clients use their APIs
• Future issuance of stablecoins
• Key global use cases for stablecoins today
• Evolution of the stablecoin market
• Building a crypto company in a bear market

Learn more about Bridge