Intelligence is becoming more abundant and cheaper by the day, but where does all that new value actually go? In this Read episode, I break down a brilliant report by Early Riders called "The Singularity Stack". I walk through the transition from energy to agent work, why fiat money bleeds out AI's deflationary gains, and how my own peer-to-peer tech stack is already proving this reality today. The tech is moving too fast to track, but the endgame is clear: AI needs a settlement layer, and a fixed-supply money seems to be the best candidate.

The Great Hackening of 2026 continues... and this time, it's Ledger. In this Guy's Take episode I break down this latest attack on self custody which has resulted in over $100M so far. I go into the history, the nature of the attack, what we know so far, and of course what we can do to protect ourselves. It's tough out there, and things seem bleak, but self custody is NOT dead. We must simply learn, evolve, and strengthen the immune system. And we will.

There's nothing "normal" about prices going up. Most people assume that things getting more expensive is a fact of life. But in a truly productive, advancing society, everyday goods should actually get cheaper over time. In this Guy's Take, I lay out a simple analogy to show exactly how the creation of new money is quietly stealing the prosperity we work so hard for.

In this clip, Steve, Jeff, Max, and I dig into how AI has erased the last excuse for not contributing to freedom tech. If you care and you can think, you can now build, but that also means shouldering real responsibility. We also talk about the cultural fear of decision-making, the fantasy that anyone can be a CEO, and the very real anxiety that comes with even a tiny company’s decisions.

In this short clip from Roundtable_025, Steve, Jeff, Max, and I unpack how a subtle bulletproof verification bug on Liquid turned into a 4,000 BTC peg-out disaster. We walk through the caching exploit, the dangers of fully automated custodial withdrawals, and why simple size limits and human checks could have mattered. Along the way we compare it to legacy bank reporting thresholds and show how inflation quietly turns “safety limits” into full-spectrum surveillance.

Is freedom tech actually heading in the right direction? We finally stopped being lazy and brought Max Hillebrand onto the Roundtable with Steve and Jeff to talk about this exact topic. From the panic around exchanges tracking flagged coins to the desperate need for open-source physical tech, the entire peer-to-peer space is shifting fast. This episode was the perfect place for us to exchange ideas about building a future we actually want to live in, and we didn't agree on everything.

Open-source AI models are rapidly changing the trajectory of AI, and threatening the economic models of American AI companies. Now, conveniently, we are being bombarded by doomsday scenarios about AI, along with calls for regulation. In this Take, I unpack how (and why) the US AI companies are trying to use the levers of government to pull up the drawbridge on AI and protect their failing business models.

In this brief clip from Chat_179, Cory and I unpack why Bitcoin still isn’t a real medium of exchange, even as it steadily outperforms the dollar in purchasing power. We break down how stablecoins have captured most of the so‑called Bitcoin industry, why this serves the existing fiat system, and why true Bitcoin spending won’t emerge at scale until its market cap and user base look radically different.

The crypto war is effectively over. So what are we actually fighting now? In this short clip from Chat_179, Cory Klippsten and I look at how the crypto space basically morphed back into traditional finance. Cory argues the ETFs put the final nail in the coffin, leaving Bitcoin completely separated from the pack. But that just means the real race is finally starting. Listen to us hash out where Bitcoin actually stands today.

Do we need the U.S. dollar to completely collapse for Bitcoin to win? Cory Klippsten and I explore how Bitcoin can win over the long run without requiring a dramatic dollar collapse or Weimar-style hyperinflation. We get into why true medium-of-exchange use is likely still a distant dream, how stablecoins are absorbing payments demand, the Coldcard exploit and navigating various self-custody tradeoffs, and much more.

Watching the recent back to back exploits in Bitcoin feels exhausting, and it exposes the uncomfortable truth that the skill barrier to exploiting open-source code has dropped to near zero. But bitcoin isn’t getting hit because it’s weak, but because the payout is irreversible, making it the perfect canary in the coal mine for the rest of the internet. Here’s my take on the changing economics of cybersecurity, and how the current turmoil is simply hardening the Bitcoin ecosystem towards becoming "impossibly secure".

Are we looking at the end of mass adoption? ⏱️ The recent entropy disaster has everyone panicked and questioning who they can actually trust. But throwing away your signing devices and giving up isn't the answer. In part 3 of the Coldcard Q&A, I address your questions and lay out the specific lessons we must learn to fix our security and recover from this trust crisis.

Is spam really the existential threat to Bitcoin that some claim it is? I once sat down with a few folks in El Salvador who tried to convince me it was. But if you didn't check your Twitter feed or do chain analysis, would you even notice it? In this clip from Roundtable_024, Steve, Jeff and I argue that mining centralization is a much bigger problem, and question if the panic over spam is completely misplaced.c

The Roundtable is back! Mechanic has stepped down from the Roundtable, so it is just Jeff, Steve, and me looking at the wreckage of the recent soft fork attempt. Is block-template centralization the true existential risk right now? We definitely didn't see eye to eye on how the latest moves impacted the ecosystem... so grab a coffee and listen to us argue this out!

Conspiracy theories about a retirement attack, fake wallet apps getting panicked holders rekd, and hard questions about how the Coldcard's RNG was handled... In part 2 of my Coldcard Q&A series, I address more audience questions, and dig a little deeper into what we know, and still need to uncover, about the exploit.

Do we actually have a chance to win the AI war? Or has the fight for internet freedom already been lost? One side of this conversation is completely blackpilled on the future of our online freedoms, but the other side pushes back hard. American HODL and Erik Cason debate the potential end of online freedom, and if a major tech-driven event will soon be used as the ultimate excuse to force KYC just to access the internet. This could be our wake-up call to stop living "rented lives" on Big Tech platforms and start building sovereign tools together.

What happens if Wall Street and banks already control enough Bitcoin to run their standard playbook? In this episode, Erik lays out why he sees Bitcoin stepping into the role of base money while the banking system quietly fractionalizes the BTC it already holds. He argues that the core case for self-custody isn’t economic but ideological, rooted in a clear-eyed view of how governments historically debase its currency and confiscate assets. From ETFs and exchanges to multisig and personal risk tolerance, we walk through a pragmatic path toward sovereignty without turning Bitcoiners into a priestly class.

Should "dice your 24 words" be a new mantra in bitcoin? Can the Coldcard still be trusted to generate a seed with dice rolls? Was the Coldcard's 2 secure elements just "security theater"? I tackle these questions and more in the first of this short series of Q&A sessions on the Coldcard exploit and lessons learned about self custody.

Remember how quickly the world flipped upside down in early 2020? In this short clip from Chat_178, Erik and Brandon break down a simple 80/20 life strategy for an uncertain future: double down on family, health, and local relationships, and a smaller slice learning AI and doing basic prepping. We also discuss realistic scenarios like cyber shutdowns, why a few days of food and water matter, and how to stop doomscrolling and start building real community. The goal is a grounded, optimistic way to stay resilient without losing your mind.

Want to actually protect your bitcoin from what's coming? Today, I'm sitting down with three sharp minds to cut through the noise on self-custody, freedom tech, and how to build real resilience against what's to come. American HODL, Erik Cason, and Brandon Quittem have each spent years in the trenches on this, and lay out what actually works best: the tools we need to build, the attacks we must prepare ourselves for, and how to think about hardening your setup the right way.