Galaxy Brains

Optimistic Rollups, Solana, and Markets

Alex talks with Beimbet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) about markets, Charles Yu (Galaxy Research) about optimistic rollup on Ethereum, and Sal Qadir (Galaxy Research) about Solana. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Jason Urban from the Option Pits to Galaxy

Alex talks with Jason Urban (Head of Trading, Galaxy) about his career in markets from the options pits in Chicago to learning about crypto and leading Galaxy Trading. Alex also checks in with Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) about current macro and crypto market conditions. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Crypto VC, Markets, and Macro

Alex talks with Beimnet Abebe and Trey Aslanian (Galaxy Trading) about markets and crypto's outlook in 2023. Alex also shares data on crypto VC in 2022 from his new report. Check out the Galaxy Crypto VC report here. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, January 4, 2023. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

2022 Year in Review

Alex talks with six return guests about Bitcoin, Ethereum, alt L1s, layer 2s, zero-knowledge, NFTs, stablecoins, policy, and more. We take stock of the past year in markets and technology and look ahead to 2023. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Erik Voorhees on Crypto & Freedom

Alex talks with Erik Voorhees, founder of Shapeshift and longtime bitcoiner, about decentralization, political philosophy, bitcoin development and culture, Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, and much more. Sal Qadir (Galaxy Research) and Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) also join the show. Links referenced in the show: SBF's regulatory proposals: https://www.ftxpolicy.com/posts/possible-digital-asset-industry-standards Erik's response to SBF's regulatory proposals: https://www.moneyandstate.com/blog/response-to-sbf Galaxy Research's response to SBF's regulatory proposals: https://research.galaxy.com/webmail/994012/29795279/2deb1f4e38f0e6ba217c688e58ec25045b1312e1843c63c050c941ea0709f409 This episode was recorded on Wednesday, December 15, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Caitlin Long (Custodia) on Bitcoin and the Future of Banking

On this week’s episode, Alex talks with Caitlin Long about bitcoin, banking, property, credit contagion, and more. Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) joins to discuss markets, and Alex and Christine Kim (Galaxy Research) discuss data on Ethereum’s transition to PoS, another attempt by a DAO to purchase a rare copy of the US constitution, and a new lawsuit filed against asset manager Grayscale. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Dan Matuszewski (CMS) on FTX, Tether, and Crypto History

On this week’s episode, we talk with Dan Matuszewski of CMS Holdings (@cmsholdings) about FTX, Tether, crypto market history, and the future of the industry. Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) joins to offer market insights, and Alex and Christine Kim (Galaxy Research) discuss Fidelity Crypto, BlockFi, and other news from this week. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Lucas Nuzzi on Tracking FTX & Alameda On-Chain

This week Alex and Christine Kim (Galaxy Research) are joined by Lucas Nuzzi (CoinMetrics) to discuss his work identifying and tracking misappropriation of client funds from FTX to Alameda Research. Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Digital Trading) joins to discuss markets, and Alex and Christine discuss this week’s FTX bankruptcy hearing and ongoing fallout at Genesis and Digital Currency Group. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 23, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Nic Carter on Proof of Reserves

This week, Alex sits down with Castle Island Ventures co-founder Nic Carter to discuss proof of reserves and how it could improve safety in the cryptocurrency industry in the wake of FTX’s blowup. Christine Kim joins to discuss developments in the Ethereum ecosystem, and Beimnet Abebe from Galaxy Digital Trading gives a market update. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

FTX, CPI, and Washington DC

On this week’s episode of Galaxy Brains, Alex talks markets with Beimnet Abebe, details the blow-up of FTX, and talks Washington politics and crypto policy with Galaxy’s head of public policy Tyler Williams. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 10, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Zero-Knowledge and the Future of Blockchain Scaling

This week, Alex and Christine dive deep on the state of zero-knowledge rollups, and specifically the "zkEVM," which many believe will be the "holy grail" of Ethereum scaling (and Bitcoin?). We also talk markets with Beimnet, Elon's takeover of Twitter, and Ethereum's forthcoming Shanghai upgrade. During the conversation on ZKRs, we reference this paper by John Light: www.bitcoinrollups.org  This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

NFT Royalties and MEV-Boost Adoption

In this episode, we talk markets with Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Trading) and discuss several NFT-related topics with Sal Qadir (Galaxy Research) including the surge in popularity for Reddit NFTs and the ongoing controversy around NFT royalties. Also, we discuss the MEV landscape on Ethereum post-Merge with Christine Kim (Galaxy Research) and the impact of increase censorship through the Flashbots relay on network block production. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, October 16, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Aptos and the Future of Blockspace

In this episode, we talk markets with Beimnet Abebe (Galaxy Digital Trading) and discuss several topics with Trey Aslanian and Walt Smith (Galaxy Digital Trading) in a roundtable. Specifically, we cover the troubling launch of Aptos, a new blockchain spun out of Facebook’s Libra project, whether we expect blockspace to be abundant or scarce in the future, and an embarrassing security situation for BSV, a fork of a fork of Bitcoin. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Tyler Williams on Crypto Reg and the Fed

In this episode, we are joined by Galaxy's Head of Public Policy Tyler Williams to discuss crypto regulation and the federal reserve. Christine reports on DevCon from Bogota, Colombia, and we talk with Beimnet Abebe from Galaxy Digital Trading about markets. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, and read our research at www.galaxydigital.io/research/to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer here:https://adobe.ly/3yX2Pdn

Tim Grant and Crypto Around the World

In this episode, we talk markets with Beimnet Abebe from Galaxy Digital Trading and are joined by Tim Grant, Head of EMEA, to talk about crypto around the world. Alex and Christine also discuss new developments in Elon Musk's ongoing saga to purchase Twitter. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, October 5th, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Market Update, Bitcoin Payments, Blockchain Gaming

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Ben Edgington on Ethereum & Proof of Stake

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter (@glxyresearch), and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer here: https://www.galaxy.com/podcast-disclaimer/

Michael Ashe on M&A in Crypto in a Bear Market

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 14th, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Bitcoin Mining Outlook for the Second Half of 2022

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 7th, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Jackson Hole, Arbitrum Nitro, Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Increase

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, August 31, 2022.  ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Stephane Gosselin on Flashbots and MEV

Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, August 24, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

NFTs: Licenses, Ownerships, Copyrights, & More

On this week’s episode of Galaxy Brains, the Galaxy Research team is joined by Research Analyst Gabe Parker and Legal & Compliance Director Michael Marcantonio to discuss NFTs and highly restrictive license agreements. Read our recent article NFT Licenses: Facts and Fictions here. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, August 17, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Tornado Cash, Stablecoins, & the Crypto Market

Welcome to Episode 22 of Galaxy Brains! This week, Alex and Christine are joined by Beimnet Abebe and Trey Aslanian from the Galaxy Digital Trading team. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital.  This episode was recorded on Thursday, August 11, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Alex Gladstein on Bitcoin Activism

Welcome to Episode 21 of Galaxy Brains! This week, Alex and Christine are joined by Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. He talks to the GDR team about his work, HRF, and his thoughts regarding cryptocurrency adoption around the world, particularly in emerging economies under authoritarian regimes. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, August 3, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Fed rates, Central African Republic’s first digital coin, and AntPool’s $10M investment

Welcome to episode 20 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by VP of Principal Trading, Beimnet Abebe, to talk about the Fed’s recent rate hike, Central African Republic’s first digital coin, and AntPool’s $10M investment into the Ethereum Classic Ecosystem. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Nic Carter on The Future of Blockchains

Welcome to episode 19 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by Nic Carter from Castle Island Ventures, and Galaxy Research Associate, Christine Kim, and VP of Principal Trading, Beimnet Abebe. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

CPI Numbers, Stratum V2, MakerDAO SocGen Governance Vote

Welcome to episode 18 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by Research Associate, Christine Kim, VP of Principal Trading, Beimnet Abebe, and Rachel Rybarczyk from Galaxy’s Bitcoin Mining team. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

Round Table; Sepolia Merge Upgrade, Antminer S19, $540M Social Engineering Attack, and More

Welcome to episode 17 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by Christine Kim, Sal Qadir, Beimnet Abebe, and former Galaxy Researcher Karim Helmy. This week the team has a round table discussion on the Merge activation on Sepolia testnet, MakerDAO’s community vote on a $100M DAI vault, one of the biggest known crypto hacks to date ($540M) and more. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

MakerDAO, BofA's Report, and the Gray Glacier Delay on Ethereum

Welcome to episode 16 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by Christine Kim, Beimnet Abebe, and Summer Research Intern Lucas Tcheyan. The team discusses MakerDAO, BofA's Report on digital asset and blockchain Interest, and the Gray Glacier Difficulty Bomb Delay on Ethereum.  Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

The State of Crypto in Europe, and DeFi Markets Behavior

Welcome to episode 15 of Galaxy Brains! This week Alex is joined by Christine Kim, Sal Qadir, Beimnet Abebe, and special guest, Tim Grant, Galaxy’s Head of Europe. Galaxy Brains is a weekly podcast providing insights and analysis on trends and events taking place across the cryptocurrency ecosystem, hosted by Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/