What is Ecash and how does it related to Bitcoin? Why is a layered approach to digital money important? Why is it important to get the UX of payments right?
In 2024 Erik Cativo left his design job at Ericsson in Sweden to start building on Bitcoin full-time. This year he received a grant from the Human Rights Foundation to work on improving the user experience of Ecash, including both the Cashu and Fedimint protocols. Erik is also the Lead Designer at Hoseki, building proof of ownership infrastructure for Bitcoin.
Erik's website - https://www.erik.day/
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Athena Tong previously served as Director of Public Relations for the now disbanded pro-democracy Demosistō party in Hong Kong.
Now based in Japan as a visiting Researcher at the University of Tokyo, Athena focuses on infrastructure resilience, political warfare, and economic security, with an emphasis on communist China’s influence in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
Her writing has been published by the Jamestown Foundation, Nikkei Asia, and the China Strategic Risks Institute.
Athena on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/athena-kerin-tong/
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Greg Girard is a Canadian photographer who has spent much of his career capturing the urban landscapes and people of Asia. He has authored several photographic books, including City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City, Phantom Shanghai, and most recently his upcoming book Snack Sakura, which explores Japan’s iconic night-time snack bars.
Greg Girard on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gregforaday
Greg Girard website - https://www.greggirard.com/
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What are charter cities? Is law really just like computer code that can be forked and modified? How do you bootstrap an economy?
Patri Friedman founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit exploring the creation of sovereign ocean colonies. He is on the board of the Startup Societies Foundation, advising a variety of new governance projects. Most recently he founded Pronomos, the first charter city investment fund.
Pronomos Capital - https://www.pronomos.vc/
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Kevin Whitmore is Chair of the Bitcoin Policy Institute New Zealand, and CEO of Cashbucket.
On November 12th, 2025, the institute held its official launch event in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, and released its first tax policy paper. The event had a great turnout, with leaders from the Bitcoin community, industry, and across government, including Minister for Courts and Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee and MPs Joseph Mooney, Greg Fleming, and Cameron Luxton.
Bitcoin Policy Institute NZ - https://nzbitcoin.org/
Cashbucket - https://getcashbucket.com/
Taiwan sits at the heart of global geopolitics, caught between history, identity, and rising tensions with China. In this episode, Chris Horton takes us inside the island’s struggle for survival and what it means for the world today.
Chris is a journalist based in Taiwan since 2015, covering the country’s foreign relations, domestic politics, economy, and society. Chris’ writing has appeared in The New York Times, Nikkei Asia, Bloomberg News, the Financial Times and other publications.
Chris has released his first book: Ghost Nation: The story of Taiwan and its struggle for survival.
Chris Horton's website - https://www.chrishortonwriter.com/
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Peter Fzero is a tattoo artist, designer, and decade-long Bitcoiner. He is part of the 2140 Art Collective which includes over 50 artists exploring themes of Bitcoin / privacy / freedom / and consciousness through art.
Peter's website - https://fzero.pro/
2140 Art Collective - https://2140.wtf/
Ivy Lumi - https://ivylumi.com/
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It has become increasingly difficult, and even dangerous to report on China. What does this mean for journalists covering sensitive topics like military defence, human rights, and politics?
Peter Langan is a journalist with extensive experience including almost 20 years with Bloomberg News in various roles such as: Asia Editor-at-Large and Tokyo Bureau Chief. He later worked as senior editor for the China Desk at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, during the time of the 2019 democracy protests, the emergence of Covid 19, and the imposition of the National Security Law upon Hong Kong.
Peter Langan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterlangan/
Yanking the Tiger’s Tail - Reporting in China via the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2wBd-MHZnw
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For over 20 years Stiven Kerestegian has been exploring questions of design, innovation, and disruption, working with some of the world’s biggest brands including Microsoft, LEGO, and recently as Head of Global Innovation at IKEA.
But since discovering Bitcoin in 2017 everything has changed, Stiven has turned his focus towards applying design thinking to this new form of money, and how we might use it to build a more open and resilient financial system for the world.
CAOS Global - https://caos.global/
Stiven on X - https://xcancel.com/stiven_hey_
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Mishima Yukio was an iconic Japanese author who wrote on the deepest questions of beauty, life, and death. But who was he as a man?
Paul McCarthy holds a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard, and has taught Japanese, Anglo-American, and Comparative Literature at universities in the US and Japan as well as translating many works of Japanese literature.
Paul met Mishima Yukio on a number of occasions. Paul most recently translated the title story in a new anthology of short fiction by Mishima: Voices of the Fallen Heroes & Other Stories, published this year.
Voices of the Fallen Heroes: And Other Stories by Mishima Yukio - https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Fallen-Heroes-Stories-International/dp/059380435X
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How does population density effect the economic development of an entire continent? What about agricultural and manufacturing industrial policy? What lessons can we learn from the economic growth of Asia for understanding Africa?
Joe Studwell is a journalist and bestselling author known for his work on East Asian economic development. His 2014 book, How Asia Works, explores the different economic and political trajectories of Asian countries after WW2, and was named by Bill Gates as one of his Top 5 Books of the Year.
Joe is now working on a new book asking similar questions of economic development, this time exploring: How Africa Works, set for release early next year.
How Africa Works: Success and Failure on the World's Last Developmental Frontier by Joe Studwell - https://www.amazon.com/How-Africa-Works-author/dp/0802158439
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What does it mean to have the ability to simply exit and walk away from a nation state or a company? What does it mean when you can’t? In the situations where it is harder or impossible to leave, what is the role of voice, of expressing your opinion, and trying to affect change in these relationships from the inside, and what happens when they don’t listen?
German economist Albert Hirschman wrote about these questions in his 1970 book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organisations, and states.
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Why does Bitcoin struggle to find its place in the real economy of supply chains, factories, and things? What role does credit play in building the economy, and could a new layer on top of Bitcoin be the missing piece?
Hubertus Hofkirchner is an economist and entrepreneur from Austria. Hubertus is a key figure in developing the Bitcredit Protocol, an open-source initiative focussed on building a flexible credit money layer on top of Bitcoin for enabling businesses to finance working capital needs, using bills of exchange and ecash.
Bitcredit on X - https://xcancel.com/bitcr_org
Bitcredit Website - https://www.bit.cr/
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What do we mean when we talk about mass adoption of Bitcoin? Is it even possible? Or is something like parallel resistance more likely?
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How do American prison gangs facilitate money, trade, and economics behind bars? What causes this and what can we learn from it?
David Skarbek is Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brown University.
David’s award-winning book, The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System, challenges the view that inmates create prison gangs to promote racism and violence. On the contrary David argues that gangs form to create order and protection within prisons. We discuss his book, which explores prison governance and economics, and in many ways also asks us to look closely at the hierarchy and functioning of the world outside of prison.
David Skarbek website - http://www.davidskarbek.com/
David Skarbek on X - https://xcancel.com/DavidSkarbek
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Who are we and what grounds us?
Mike Grimshaw is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Mike writes and speaks about New Zealand history, economics, education, and culture. In particular he asks critical questions about the future of the country, which faces economic stagnancy, political malaise, and perhaps most dangerously, a complacency with our lot at the bottom of the world.
Mike Grimshaw on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-grimshaw-89461124a/
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Keyan Kousha is the founder of Stacker News, an online forum where you can share and discuss articles and content without the attention manipulation of social media. Instead of “likes” or invisible algorithms, Stacker News uses Bitcoin as an incentive mechanism, and for ranking content.
Stacker News rewards users for thoughtful contributions, and enables you to support your favourite content with micro-payments via the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Stacker News - https://stacker.news/
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Johan Nylander is an award-winning author and freelance correspondent from Sweden. His work covering Asia has been published by CNN, National Geographic Travel, and Forbes.
Johan wrote "The Wolf Economy Awakens – Mongolia's fight for democracy, and a green and digital future." He also wrote “The Epic Split – Why ‘Made in China’ is going out of style.”
Johan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannylander/
Johan's website - https://www.johannylander.asia/
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Parker Lewis is the author of Gradually, Then Suddenly, A framework for understanding Bitcoin as money. Parker previously worked in finance in the heart of wall street before discovering Bitcoin in 2016. He is now the Head of Business Development at Zaprite, helping businesses migrate to a Bitcoin standard.
Parker on X - https://x.com/parkeralewis
Gradually, Then Suddenly: Essays on Bitcoin Monetization - https://graduallythensuddenly.xyz/
Zaprite - https://zaprite.com/
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Erik Cason, author of Cryptosovereignty: The Encrypted Political Philosophy of Bitcoin. Erik is a regular speaker and essayist, focussing on the social, political, and philosophical aspects of bitcoin.
Erik's new company - https://vora.io/
Erik Cason on X - https://x.com/Erikcason
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