They partied like rock stars, searched for aliens, practiced survivalism, and sometimes showed up without shoes. Then crypto winter came—and they lost billions. Clara Molot talks to the zealots who are holding the line.
My first impressions of web3
Despite considering myself a cryptographer, I have not found myself particularly drawn to “crypto.” I don’t think I’ve ever actually said the words “get off my lawn,” but I’m much more likely to click on Pepperidge Farm Remembers flavored memes about how “crypto” used to mean “cryptography” than ...
The crypto dream
Arvind Narayanan just gave a fascinating talk at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy entitled ‘What Happened to the Crypto Dream?’. That link is to the video, whi…
Politically Connected Crypto Project Pursued Resort With Alleged Scam Syndicate Figures
AB is a little-known blockchain network that recently partnered with the Trump family’s crypto firm. But one of the projects it has promoted — a proposed crypto technology resort in Southeast Asia — involved people sanctioned by the U.S. last year for ties to the Prince Group, an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud...
Cryptopedia — Oakland Public Library
Cryptopedia — Demcak, Andrew — Cryptopedia by Andrew Demcak speaks directly to the secret sides of our beings, to our shadow-selves. It is the oldest story we have, and it wants to be told. This collection comes from a place where children go missing, where monsters roam freely, and urban myths transform into realities.
Mapping Trump's Crypto Empire
Untangling the sprawling web of Trump family crypto ventures, and the fortune they’re making by cashing in on the presidency.
Web Crypto’s SubtleCrypto: A Masterclass in Developer Hostility and How It Strangles the Modern Web
Not Subtle, Just Sabotage — An API Against the Web
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform | Kai Nicol-Schwarz
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform --- When AI erotic companion startup Oh raised a $4.5m funding round in January, it had something few in the shadowy new sector could boast. A roster of named investors, publicly backing the company. VCs are often bound by “vice clauses”, which prohibit firms from investing in controversial products like pornography or weapons. As a result, startups working on ethically contentious products often rely on angel investors and family offices to stay afloat. But Oh, which generates NSFW adult content and conversations with both fictional characters as well as bots based on real people, has tapped into a group of seemingly less squeamish investors: crypto VCs. It’s drawn backing from the likes of Tangent, Kosmos Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Bodhi Ventures and Tagus Capital. “Raising money for a business like this from non-crypto VCs is very difficult,” says Oh founder and CEO Nic Young, who positions the startup as a “decentralised platform” and offers payments via crypto. “A lot of crypto VCs don’t have vice clauses — it’s more liberal and free.” Oh wants to use those fresh funds to build the “AI OnlyFans”, with plans to roll out autonomous scantily clad bots that can market themselves on social media and direct message users with spicy conversation starters. The biggest challenge? Convincing enough users it’s not that weird turning to AI when you’re looking for romance. https://lnkd.in/eRF7a5Dn
Privy Blog | Privy and Stripe: Bringing crypto to everyone
We started Privy a little over three years ago to make it easy for any developer to build better products on crypto rails. Whether crypto is core to your app or simply a new layer of functionality, a good crypto product should just feel like a good product, period. By making crypto usable, we help make it useful for everyone.
Meredith Whittaker on Twitter / X
I read it. And I'll engage here in good faith. But before I get into substance, I implore you to open the window, touch grass, and let yourself connect with the reality of what’s happening right now. This is a world historical moment. Please recognize what ICE is at this time,… https://t.co/DJVVqNX6oX— Meredith Whittaker (@mer__edith) January 29, 2026
The $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy
Deepfake scam services. Victim data. Electrified shackles for human trafficking. Crypto tracing firm Elliptic found all were available for sale on an online marketplace linked to Cambodia’s ruling family.
Issue 104 – World Tyranny Financial
As the Trump family’s crypto dealings raise more alarms, crypto enforcement is falling to new lows
Tracers in the dark: the global hunt for the crime lords of cryptocurrency
"A propulsive story of a new breed of investigators who have cracked the Bitcoin blockchain, taking once-anonymous realms of money, drugs, and violence and holding them up to the light Black markets have always thrived in the shadows of society. Increasingly, these enterprises-drug dealing, money laundering, human trafficking, terrorist funding-have found their shadows online. Digital crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. At the heart of their massive conspiracies: cryptocurrency. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in Bitcoin-a currency with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers-black marketeers robbed law enforcement for years of their chief method of cracking down on criminal markets, namely, following the money. But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn't so cryptic after all? An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence could crack open an entire world of crime. Men with No Names is a story of crime and consequences unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak; a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur; and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld. The result is a thrilling, globe-spanning story of dirty cops, drug bazaars, sex-abuse rings, and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the internet. This is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship that's utterly of our time. Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists, it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world's most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught?"--
Meeting where AI eyes can't follow
I applied to the Community Privacy Residency, and the past projects reminded me of a cryptographic exploration I come back to every once in a while, just for...
Trust Revolution
Unfiltered conversations with builders, thinkers, and operators in Bitcoin and beyond. Exploring systems we trust, why they work (or don't), and what's next.
