Podcast

Trust Ole’ Ben: Privacy & Cryptography

The right to privacy is ever and anon under attack. From so-called ‘transparency’ laws to Internet licenses to Flock cameras, legislatures across the world are seeking to strip ordinary people of their right to remain unsurveilled. In this episode, we look at the societal impulses driving these surveillance efforts, the arguments that can be mustered against them, and, ultimately, fall back on the wisdom of our Founders.

AI, AI, on the Wall

From education to politics, economics to mathematics, AI had begun to warp all public discourse. Is it a trillion-dollar bubble? Or the birth of a secular god? Before we can even attempt to answer those questions, we need to strip away both hype and doom then look at where we are now.

The Irrational Hand of the Market

The seven most valuable companies account for 40% of the US stock market. Do these ‘Magnificent Seven’ really produce 40% of the value in the US economy? Is the ‘invisible hand of the market’ really guiding us in the right direction? Or is the market being propped up by hopes, dreams, and the belief that there’s a sucker born every minute? We’re not sure we have the answer, but we enjoy exploring it anyway.

Memecoin-in-Chief: Donald Trump’s Crypto Escapades

The sometimes sordid, sometimes humourous, always ridiculous story of the launch of Trump Coin and its aftermath. Along the way, we explore the role cryptocurrency - and grift - has played in the second Trump presidency and how that might shape crypto in the future.

• memecoin, crypto

The Coldcard Cold Shoulder

Good security is hard; good finance is hard. Cryptocurrency has tried, with varying degrees of success, to do both. In this episode, we look at the compromise of the Coldcard: a crypto wallet that purported to be built with security foremost in mind, rather than an afterthought. We break down the compromise: looking at where the security failed, how that failure was exploited, and what lessons we can learn from it.